Sabinet | "Akkedisdis eet die visvis" : orale narratief en persoonlike transformasie in die Karoo - &apos;n gevallestudie : geesteswetenskappe
oa Litnet Akademies : &apos;n Joernaal vir die Geesteswetenskappe, Natuurwetenskappe, Regte en Godsdienswetenskappe - "Akkedisdis eet die visvis" : orale narratief en persoonlike transformasie in die Karoo - &apos;n gevallestudie : geesteswetenskappe
Author Jaco Kruger1
Source : Litnet Akademies : &apos;n Joernaal vir die Geesteswetenskappe, Natuurwetenskappe, Regte en Godsdienswetenskappe, Volume 12, Issue 3, Dec 2015, p. 274 - 307
Keyword(s) : Afrikaans, Autobiography, Karoo, Oral narrative, Orale narratief, Outobiografie, Transformasie, Transformation, Woordkuns and Word art
Die orale outobiografie van Sina de Wee, digter van die Karoodorp Murraysburg, integreer verskillende uitdrukkingsvorme. Hierdie vorme behels haar lewensverhaal, gedigte, sangspraak, raaisels, aforismes en metanarratiewe. Hulle word gekenmerk deur sekere gedeelde temas en die wisselende gebruik van styleienskappe soos rym, ritmisiteit en dramatiese handeling. De Wee se lewensverhaal ontplooi op hierdie wyse nie as blote "konteks" om haar woordkuns nie, maar integreer eerder daarmee in &apos;n wedersydsgekonstrueerde diskoerstotaliteit. De Wee se narratief verwoord haar pogings om haarself en haar sosiale omgewing te transformeer deur die beklemtoning van sekere persoonlike en sosiale kwessies, veral haar stryd met epilepsie en ongeletterdheid, asook die dinamika van politiek, klas, gender en ouderdom. Daarteenoor is haar woordkuns eerder gerig op die realisering van haar subjektiwiteit binne gemeenskapsverband, en wend sy haar uitsonderlike spraakvermoë aan vir persoonlike mobilisering, asook die bevordering van sosiale welstand.
"Akkedisdis eet die visvis" : oral narrative and personal transformation in the Karoo - a case study
This discussion stems from interviews conducted in 2014 with the 62-year-old Afrikaans oral poet Sina de Wee of Murraysburg, South Africa. It identifies De Wee&apos;s autobiographical narrative as a "universe of discourse" (Young 1987:77, 101) that integrates various "expressive transformations of the same life" (Baumann 2004:84). These forms involve a life story, poetry, chants, riddles, aphorisms and metanarratives that share themes and varying degrees of rhyme and rhythmicity as well as dramatic qualities.
The narrative describes the material circumstances of De Wee&apos;s life, as well as its imaginative, creative dimension (Baumann 2004:97). In doing so, it shows how her expressive oral skills have transformed her identity in certain important respects. Born in humble conditions to parents who were farm labourers, De Wee has not been able to overcome the material constraints of her circumstances. Although she addresses her poverty, her narrative in fact prioritises her illiteracy and its state of consciousness. Her narrative is, therefore, a selective reconstruction of the "mess" of her past experience (Sheringham 2015:4-5) - one that emphasises certain circumstances and events that lead to a strategic decision and its life-long consequences: as a playmate of the school-going daughters of a farmer, a young De Wee realises in an epiphany that she probably would be denied the privilege and advantages of literacy forever. However, she frees herself from this banal destiny (Bruner 2001:32) by deciding to assert herself by means of her expressive oral skills ("but let me just speak with my mouth"). Her narrative accordingly portrays her as a popular, if controversial, local word artist who utilises her expressive skills to position herself in terms of politics, class, gender and age.
Persistent Link : http://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC182672