Power and the Praise Poem: Southern African Voices in History - Softcover

Leroy Vail; Landeg White

Softcover

ISBN 10: 085255088X ISBN 13: 9780852550885

Publisher: James Currey, 1992

Synopsis

Vail and White present the case for the dynamism of oral culture and the active role of poets and poetry in Southern African history. North America: The University Press of Virginia

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Highly regarded for their interdisciplinary approach to the history of central and southern Africa, Leroy Vail and Landeg White now provide us with a thorough study of the political role of the poet in the oral societies of southern Africa.

Review:

The collaborative work of Leroy Vail and Landeg White has once again yielded significant scholarship on the oral literature of Southern Africa ...This indigenous form of free speech is important, not just as a scholarly notion, but as the key to re-energizing the African oral tradition as a tool of social transformation. - Njabulo S. Ndebele in THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT ... highly readable, wry and remarkable text. JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY ...impressive book. MAN An eloquent and masterful presentation of the voice of the voiceless in southern Africa for the last century, the voiceless who are not just the masses or popular culture but distinct groupings within the population with different concerns and interests and also different views on the past. To me this message is crucial for any historical understanding and because it does so and because it does it so well, this book transcends its stated goal. - Jan Vansina, University of Wisconsin ... elegantly, at times movingly crafted ... .There is no comparable work in terms of the substantive subject and the hypotheses argued. Their conclusions represent a significant advance on anything around. The closest competition is their own previous publications. - Joseph C. Miller, University of Virginia

About this edition

• Publisher: James Currey
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 085255088X
• ISBN 13: 9780852550885
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336