"Die kleur van mens" : Antjie Krog se Kleur kom nooit alleen nie (2000) en die rekonstruksie van identiteit in post-apartheid Suid-Afrika
Date
2002
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Afrikaanse Letterkundevereniging
Abstract
This article discusses the way in which Antjie Krog reconstructs her personal as well as collective identity in the volume of poetry Kleur kom nooit alleen nie (2000) by considering the role of landscape, language and race in the construction of identity. The discussion firstly focuses on the poet's use of other voices than her own in the text in order to establish a dialogue (in the Bakhtinian sense) with other inhabitants of South Africa as well as the African continent, something which can be seen as a prerequisite for transformation and the reconstruction of identity in post-apartheid South Africa. The article then goes on to consider the poet's criticism of the trade taking place at the "new barcounter of identities" in the poem "ai tog!", as well as the importance of landscapes and a language that can be defined in terms of a common humanity and vulnerability in the poet's sense of being South African. This is followed by a discussion of the deconstruction of race as a basis for African identity in the poems discussing skin, colour and race. The final section of the article discusses the poet's use of the metaphor of the Niger river with its many mouths to describe the diversity of African identity, as well as refers to her sense of homecoming in Africa.
Description
CITATION: Viljoen, L. 2002. "Die kleur van mens" : Antjie Krog se Kleur kom nooit alleen nie (2000) en die rekonstruksie van identiteit in post-apartheid Suid-Afrika. Stilet, 14(1).
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Citation
Viljoen, L. 2002. "Die kleur van mens" : Antjie Krog se Kleur kom nooit alleen nie (2000) en die rekonstruksie van identiteit in post-apartheid Suid-Afrika. Stilet, 14(1).