Account-giving in the narrative of farming in isiXhosa
Date
2009-03
Authors
Ralehoko, Refilwe Vincent
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine message production and image restoration in the
narratives of isiXhosa-speaking farming communities. According to Gergen (1994), narrative
forms – such as the stability narrative, progressive narrative and regressive narrative – are
linguistic tools that have important social functions to fulfil. Gergen (1994) further indicates
that self-narratives are social processes in which individuals are realised on the personal
perspective or experience. The self-narratives used and analysed in this study portray the
contemporary, truth-based elements of a well-formed narrative. Narrative accounts are also
embedded within social action; they render events socially visible and typically establish
expectations for future events because the events of daily life are immersed in narrative.
The study starts by laying the foundation for the reasons why human beings tell stories and
why stories are so important in people’s daily lives, since most people begin their encounters
with stories at childhood. Possibly because of this intimate and long-standing acquaintance
with stories from childhood, stories also serve as critical means by which human beings make
themselves intelligible within the social world. This study further examines the motivations
and conditions for account-giving in isiXhosa. Accounts are similar to narratives and can be
retained at the level of private reflections for others to read, to be educated and to learn from
and to refer to from time to time.
Gergen (1994) considers self-narratives as forms of social accounting or public discourse. In
this sense, narratives are conversational resources, their construction open to continuous
alteration as interaction progresses. The study elaborates on this phenomenon, especially in
the narrative accounts of the various isiXhosa stories that were collected and analysed. What
emerges from the analyses is that the individual characters whose stories are told are
portrayed as moving through their experience, dealing with some conflict or problem in their
lives and, at the same time, searching for a resolution.
It also emerges from the collection of these various isiXhosa narratives that they sharpen our
understanding of the major stressful situations in each person’s mind and how the individual
reasons about the difficulties encountered in life. The narratives prove, in this regard, to be a
cultural resource that serves social purposes, such as self-identification, self-justification, self criticism and social solidification. In this sense then, for an account to be true, it has to be
goal-orientated and relate to people’s day-to-day lives.
The study finds that the social-interactive aspects of account-giving involve severe reproach
forms, including personal attacks and derogatory aspects, which elicit defensive reactions
resulting in negative interpersonal and emotional consequences.
Description
Thesis (MA (African Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
Keywords
Account giving, Dissertations -- African languages, Theses -- African languages