Course outline
Module 1
Module 1: Foundations: Oral Traditions and Early Writing
Foundations: Oral Traditions and Early Writing
Knowledge check
Q1. Which term describes the body of stories, songs, praise poems and histories passed down by word of mouth among South Africa's Indigenous peoples before and alongside written literature?
- A. Oral tradition ✓
- B. Epistolary fiction
- C. Colonial verse
- D. Dramatic monologue
Why: Oral tradition refers to knowledge and literary forms transmitted through speech and memory across generations. In South Africa it includes praise poetry, izibongo and folktales, which existed long before written literature arrived.
Q2. Which genre of oral poetry, performed by Xhosa and Zulu poets to honour a person or leader, is known in isiZulu and isiXhosa as izibongo?
- A. Lullabies
- B. Praise poetry ✓
- C. Riddles
- D. Elegies
Why: Izibongo (praise poetry) is a form in which a performer recites the lineage, deeds and attributes of a leader or notable person. It is one of the most celebrated oral genres in southern African Nguni-language traditions.
Q3. Which early written work by a South African author, published in 1883, is often cited as the first English-language novel by a woman writer from the region?
- A. Cry, the Beloved Country
- B. Life on a South African Farm
- C. The Story of an African Farm ✓
- D. Dusklands
Why: Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm (1883), published under the pseudonym Ralph Iron, is widely regarded as a landmark early South African novel in English, exploring gender, religion and colonial life on the Karoo.
Q4. What was the main purpose of many early written texts in South Africa produced by missionaries in the 19th century?
- A. To record purely secular entertainment
- B. To translate the Bible and create religious and educational materials in African languages ✓
- C. To promote Dutch-language poetry exclusively
- D. To document the trade in gold and diamonds
Why: Missionary presses were central to early writing in South Africa. Missionaries translated the Bible and produced primers and hymnals in isiXhosa, Sesotho and other languages, which also helped standardise written orthographies.
Q5. Which early Afrikaans literary development is associated with the move away from Dutch as a written standard in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
- A. The rise of Afrikaans as a distinct written language ✓
- B. The adoption of Latin as the official literary language
- C. The abandonment of all written poetry
- D. The introduction of Portuguese orthography
Why: Afrikaans developed from Dutch vernacular speech in the Cape and gradually gained recognition as a written language. By the early 1900s it was being used for poetry, newspapers and religious texts, marking a distinct literary identity.
Module 2
Module 2: Colonial Encounters and the Literary Imagination
Colonial Encounters and the Literary Imagination
Knowledge check
Q1. Which early colonial text, written by a Portuguese poet, is often cited as one of the first European literary depictions of the southern African coast?
- A. Os Lusíadas ✓
- B. Diálogo do Soldado Português
- C. Relação do Naufrágio de Sepúlveda
- D. Crónica de Diogo do Couto
Why: Luís de Camões's epic Os Lusíadas (1572) describes Portuguese voyages around the Cape, including the coast of southern Africa, making it an early literary encounter with the region.
Q2. What term describes the shipwreck narratives of Portuguese and other European sailors that recounted their suffering on the southeast African coast?
- A. Captivity narratives
- B. Travel itineraries
- C. Naufrágio accounts ✓
- D. Pastoral elegies
Why: Naufrágio (shipwreck) accounts, such as those collected in the Portuguese tradition, described disasters along the Cape route and shaped European imaginings of Africa as dangerous and mysterious.
Q3. Which Dutch explorer's journals about the Cape and the Khoikhoi were widely read in Europe and influenced colonial perceptions of the region?
- A. Jan van Riebeeck's successors who wrote the Cape diaries were recorded in the Dagregister, while travellers like Peter Kolb wrote Description of the Cape ✓
- B. Cecil Rhodes's private letters
- C. Robert Moffat's missionary sermons
- D. Thomas Pringle's Narrative of a Residence in South Africa
Why: The Dutch East India Company's Cape records (the Dagregister) and later accounts such as Peter Kolb's Description of the Cape of Good Hope shaped European views of the Khoikhoi and Cape society.
Q4. Which 1719 text by a Dutch-born author is often cited as an early example of an European literary portrayal of the Khoikhoi as 'noble savages' or as an object of ethnographic fascination?
- A. Peter Kolb's Description of the Cape of Good Hope ✓
- B. Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm
- C. Sol Plaatje's Mhudi
- D. Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country
Why: Peter Kolb's Description of the Cape of Good Hope (published in German in 1719) offered detailed, often sensationalised ethnographic portraits of the Khoikhoi that shaped European literary and scientific imagination.
Q5. Which Xhosa-language or early African-authored text is considered among the first works by a Black South African writer to engage with colonial encounters and the conflict between African and European worldviews?
- A. Tiyo Soga's writings and Sol Plaatje's later Mhudi (1930), which imagines pre-colonial and frontier conflict ✓
- B. J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians
- C. Nadine Gordimer's July's People
- D. Athol Fugard's Sizwe Bansi Is Dead
Why: Tiyo Soga, a Xhosa minister and writer of the 19th century, and Sol Plaatje, whose novel Mhudi (1930) dramatises frontier conflict from an African perspective, are early examples of Black South African authors engaging with colonial encounters.
Module 3
Module 3: Apartheid Era Voices: Resistance and Censorship
Apartheid Era Voices: Resistance and Censorship
Knowledge check
Q1. Which government body was responsible for reviewing and banning books and films during the apartheid era in South Africa?
- A. The Publications Control Board ✓
- B. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission
- C. The Afrikaner Broederbond
- D. The Native Affairs Department
Why: The Publications Control Board, established under the Publications Act of 1974 (building on earlier censorship legislation), reviewed and banned publications deemed objectionable on political, moral, or security grounds. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a post-apartheid body, while the Broederbond was a secret Afrikaner society and the Native Affairs Department administered segregation policy rather than censorship.
Q2. Which novel by Alan Paton, published in 1948, became one of the most widely read anti-apartheid novels internationally?
- A. Waiting for the Barbarians
- B. Cry, the Beloved Country ✓
- C. Life and Times of Michael K
- D. Burger's Daughter
Why: Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) follows the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo searching for his son in Johannesburg and portrays the social devastation of racial segregation. Waiting for the Barbarians is by J.M. Coetzee, Life and Times of Michael K is also Coetzee, and Burger's Daughter is by Nadine Gordimer, so they are not Paton's work.
Q3. Which South African writer's novel Burger's Daughter was banned in South Africa shortly after its publication in 1979?
- A. Athol Fugard
- B. Nadine Gordimer ✓
- C. Breyten Breytenbach
- D. Ingrid Jonker
Why: Nadine Gordimer's Burger's Daughter (1979), which explores the life of a white activist's daughter, was banned in South Africa. Gordimer was a prominent critic of apartheid and her work was frequently censored. Fugard was a playwright, Breytenbach was a poet who was imprisoned, and Jonker was a poet whose work was also restricted, but Burger's Daughter is the novel in question.
Q4. What was the name of the 1960s-era poetry and prose movement associated with Black South African writers that emphasized Black consciousness and resistance?
- A. The Harlem Renaissance
- B. Black Consciousness Movement literature ✓
- C. The Negritude Movement
- D. The Beat Generation
Why: Black Consciousness literature emerged in the 1960s and 1970s under leaders like Steve Biko, emphasizing psychological liberation and self-determination for Black South Africans. The Harlem Renaissance was an American movement, Negritude was a Francophone movement from Africa and the Caribbean, and the Beat Generation was American postwar literature, so they are not the correct answer.
Q5. Which South African playwright, working with actors Winston Ntshona and John Kani, created the anti-apartheid play Sizwe Bansi is Dead?
- A. Athol Fugard ✓
- B. Zakes Mda
- C. Mbongeni Ngema
- D. Gcina Mhlophe
Why: Athol Fugard co-created Sizwe Bansi is Dead (1972) with Winston Ntshona and John Kani, and the play critiques the pass laws and the dehumanizing effects of apartheid. Zakes Mda is a novelist and playwright known for later works, Mbongeni Ngema created Woza Albert! and Sarafina!, and Gcina Mhlophe is a storyteller and playwright, but Fugard is the co-creator of this specific play.
Module 4
Module 4: Township Stories and Urban Realism
Township Stories and Urban Realism
Knowledge check
Q1. Which South African literary movement is most closely associated with depicting everyday life in the townships and urban centres?
- A. Pastoral romanticism
- B. Urban realism ✓
- C. Afrikaans high modernism
- D. Magical realism from the Cape
Why: Urban realism focuses on the lived experience of working-class and township communities, portraying their streets, work, and social pressures in a grounded, documentary-like manner. This is the core mode of much township fiction.
Q2. Which author wrote 'Mine Boy' (1946), a novel set in the Johannesburg mining compounds and widely regarded as an early landmark of township fiction?
- A. Alan Paton
- B. Peter Abrahams ✓
- C. Nadine Gordimer
- D. J.M. Coetzee
Why: Peter Abrahams, a mixed-race writer raised in Johannesburg, wrote 'Mine Boy', which follows a Black migrant worker navigating urban life and exploitation. It is considered a foundational text of urban South African realism.
Q3. In township fiction, what does the term 'tsotsi' typically refer to?
- A. A traditional healer
- B. A township gangster or street criminal ✓
- C. A government official
- D. A mining union leader
Why: 'Tsotsi' is a colloquial term, drawn from urban slang, for a young street criminal or gangster in the townships. Its prominence in Gangster-themed township novels, including Athol Fugard-era and later works, reflects the social conditions of the period.
Q4. Which sociopolitical system strongly shaped the layout, housing, and daily realities depicted in township literature?
- A. Apartheid spatial segregation ✓
- B. Colonial plantation economy
- C. Post-independence socialism
- D. Feudal land tenure
Why: Apartheid's Group Areas Act and related laws forced racial segregation, creating townships on the outskirts of cities. Township literature often explores how these enforced spatial divisions structured work, family life, and community identity.
Q5. Which township-set novel by Sarah Mkhize-era writers is noted for its focus on the Soweto uprising of 1976?
- A. Ellen Kuzwayo's 'Call Me Woman' only
- B. Mbulelo Mzamane's 'The Children of Soweto' ✓
- C. Andre Brink's 'Looking on Darkness'
- D. Herman Charles Bosman's 'Mafeking Road'
Why: Mbulelo Mzamane's 'The Children of Soweto' addresses the 1976 Soweto student uprising, a pivotal event in township history. Note that this is a beginner-level overview; verify the attribution against your course reading list.
Module 5
Module 5: Women Writers and Shifting Narratives
Women Writers and Shifting Narratives
Knowledge check
Q1. Which South African author won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991 and wrote novels such as 'The Conservationist' and 'July's People'?
- A. Nadine Gordimer ✓
- B. Bessie Head
- C. Miriam Tlali
- D. Antjie Krog
Why: Nadine Gordimer received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991. Her novels, including 'The Conservationist' and 'July's People', examine apartheid and its effects on South African society, often from a white liberal perspective that she critically interrogated.
Q2. Bessie Head, a writer who lived much of her life in exile in Botswana, is best known for which novel drawing on her own experience of mental illness and displacement?
- A. Maru
- B. A Question of Power ✓
- C. Burger's Daughter
- D. Age of Iron
Why: 'A Question of Power' (1973) is a semi-autobiographical novel about a woman's psychological breakdown and exile in Botswana. Head drew heavily on her own experiences of displacement and mental distress. 'Maru' is also by Head but is a different novel.
Q3. Miriam Tlali is recognized as the first Black South African woman to publish a novel in English. What was the title of her 1975 work?
- A. Muriel at Metropolitan ✓
- B. Soweto Spring
- C. Mine Boy
- D. Long Walk to Freedom
Why: 'Muriel at Metropolitan' (1975) depicts the daily experiences of a Black woman working in a Johannesburg office under apartheid. Tlali's work was significant for giving voice to Black women's everyday realities at a time when such perspectives were rarely published.
Q4. Which term describes the rethinking of established historical or cultural narratives from marginalized perspectives, a key feature of many women writers' work in South Africa?
- A. Revisionism ✓
- B. Positivism
- C. Naturalism
- D. Formalism
Why: Revisionism refers to reinterpreting established accounts to include previously silenced voices. Many South African women writers revise dominant narratives about colonialism, apartheid, and gender to foreground women's experiences and perspectives.
Q5. Antjie Krog is known for her book 'Country of My Skull', which addresses which national process?
- A. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission ✓
- B. The Land Restitution Act
- C. The Sharpeville Inquiry
- D. The Freedom Charter Congress
Why: 'Country of My Skull' (1998) is Krog's account of reporting on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. It explores testimonies of apartheid-era violence and the complexities of national healing, reflecting on language, race, and personal identity.
Module 6
Module 6: Post-Apartheid Fiction and the Politics of Memory
Post-Apartheid Fiction and the Politics of Memory
Knowledge check
Q1. Which event is most often cited as the formal turning point that opened South Africa's transition away from apartheid, creating the conditions for post-apartheid literature?
- A. The Soweto uprising of 1976
- B. Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990 ✓
- C. The Sharpeville massacre of 1960
- D. The adoption of the 1996 Constitution
Why: Mandela's release on 11 February 1990, after the unbanning of the ANC and other liberation movements, is widely treated as the start of the negotiated transition. The 1996 Constitution marked the end of that process, while Sharpeville and Soweto were earlier moments of repression and resistance.
Q2. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established to address human rights abuses committed under apartheid. What was its central approach?
- A. Prosecuting every perpetrator in criminal courts
- B. Offering amnesty in exchange for full disclosure of politically motivated crimes ✓
- C. Awarding reparations without any public hearings
- D. Excluding victims from testifying to protect national unity
Why: The TRC, chaired by Desmond Tutu, offered individual amnesty to those who fully disclosed politically motivated offences. Its hearings gave victims a public voice, which shaped much post-apartheid memory writing.
Q3. Antjie Krog's 'Country of My Skull' (1998) is a key text on the TRC. What is its main literary characteristic?
- A. It is a strict chronological novel about a single family
- B. It blends journalistic reportage, poetry, and personal reflection ✓
- C. It is a collection of pre-apartheid folk tales
- D. It is a science fiction story set in a future republic
Why: Krog, a poet and journalist who covered the TRC hearings, combined reportage with lyric verse and personal testimony. This hybrid form reflects the difficulty of representing trauma and memory after apartheid.
Q4. Which term, widely used in post-apartheid writing and debate, describes the South African policy of addressing historical injustice through redistribution and empowerment?
- A. Ubuntu tourism
- B. Black Economic Empowerment ✓
- C. Structural adjustment
- D. Pass law reform
Why: Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is the government policy framework aimed at redressing the economic exclusion of Black South Africans. Its debates frequently appear in post-apartheid fiction as a question of who benefits from transition.
Q5. Zakes Mda's novel 'Ways of Dying' (1995) is set in a township during the transition period. What does its narrative focus primarily explore?
- A. The lives of white settlers in the Cape colony
- B. Violence, bereavement, and survival in a township on the cusp of change ✓
- C. The gold rush of the nineteenth century
- D. Life in exile in London
Why: Mda's novel follows Toloki, a professional mourner, through a township during political upheaval. It examines how communities cope with death and violence as apartheid ends, making it a foundational early post-apartheid text.
Module 7
Module 7: Contemporary Poetry, Drama, and New Voices
Contemporary Poetry, Drama, and New Voices
Knowledge check
Q1. Which South African poet is known for the collection 'Anthem of Light' and writing on post-apartheid identity and language?
- A. Wole Soyinka
- B. Ingrid de Kok ✓
- C. Chinua Achebe
- D. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Why: Ingrid de Kok is a South African poet and anthologist whose work engages with post-apartheid identity and language. Soyinka and Achebe are Nigerian, and Ngũgĩ is Kenyan, so they are not South African poets.
Q2. Which of the following best describes the 'New Voices' movement in contemporary South African writing?
- A. A colonial-era movement promoting European literary forms
- B. A wave of emerging writers from previously marginalized communities telling their own stories in post-apartheid South Africa ✓
- C. A government program that banned Afrikaans literature
- D. A 19th-century missionary publishing initiative
Why: The term broadly refers to writers from historically marginalized backgrounds who, after 1994, gained greater access to publishing and wrote about their own experiences, reshaping the national literary landscape.
Q3. Athol Fugard is most closely associated with which dramatic form in South African theatre?
- A. Musical theatre focused on township jazz
- B. Anti-apartheid protest drama that often used improvisation and collaboration ✓
- C. Classical Greek tragedy translated into Zulu
- D. Silent mime performance
Why: Fugard's plays, such as 'Sizwe Bansi is Dead' (developed with actors Winston Ntshona and John Kani), addressed apartheid's injustices and were often created collaboratively through improvisation.
Q4. Which language is most commonly associated with contemporary South African poetry that blends English with indigenous languages such as isiZulu, isiXhosa, or Sesotho?
- A. Latin
- B. Portuguese
- C. Multilingual code-switching ✓
- D. Esperanto
Why: Many contemporary South African poets code-switch between English and indigenous languages, reflecting the country's eleven official languages and its multilingual reality.
Q5. What is a key theme frequently explored by contemporary South African writers in the post-apartheid period?
- A. The absence of any social issues after 1994
- B. The legacy of apartheid, including memory, trauma, identity, and reconciliation ✓
- C. Exclusive focus on European immigration
- D. Strict avoidance of political subjects
Why: Post-apartheid writers commonly grapple with how the past shapes the present, examining trauma, collective memory, national identity, and the difficult work of reconciliation.