Category : Translators Literary Award
Authors : Jeff Opland, Wandile Kuse and Pamela Maseko
Book : William Wellington Gqoba: Isizwe Esinembali
Xhosa Histories And Poetry (1873 – 1888)
The book William Wellington Gqoba is a great collection of poetry and history. The tapestry it displays shows an incredible connection between culture, language and poetry. This is one book that would be invaluable as we search for the decolonisation of knowledge. Gqoba was trained by missionaries, the colonialists, yet the topics covered by the collection in this volume makes the reader pose questions to that system. The Great Debate on Education, The Xhosa Idioms, the religious debate as well as the history of the Xhosa are relevant topics as we search for relevant knowledge in the contemporary Africa. The book will also enable the reader in Africa a chance to dig deep into Africa’s past whilst also trying to understand the Western notions of knowledge. Furthermore, Gqoba’s works put into context the reason to fight selfish Eurocentric knowledge.