S NOEI1IO NOVERINO CANONICI A

235 Pages·2012·13.8 MB·English

/JJ.
L. S • NYEfJffiEZI' S
USE OF TRADITIONAL ZULU FOLKTALES
IN HIS IGODA SERIES OF SCHOOL
READ~~S
J
BY
NOEI1IO NOVERINO CANONICI
A Thesis submitted for the Degree of M.A.
at the University of Natal
Durban
January 1985
A C K NOW LED GE M E N T S
I '!lis: to express my sincere thanks to:
1
* Professor C.L.8. Nyerebezi for collecting and
writing the material on which this research is
based, and for granting me an interview which bas
been a guiding light throughout this whole work.
* My supervisors, Professor A.T. Cope and t-1r A. Koopman,
for encouraging and supporting me in this project,
and for sharing with me their insight on the subject.
* My wife Catherine for typing most of my script.
* The Human Sciences Research Council for a grant
to carry out my research.
C.L.S. NYEMBEZI'S
USE OF TRADITIONAL ZULU FOLKTALES
IN HIS IGODA SERIES OF SCHOOL READERS
CONTENTS
Page
FOHEWORD 1
CHAPTER 1
C.L.S. Nyernbezi's Life and Literary Work
1.1 C.L.S. Nyembezi's Life 5
1.2 Nyembezi's Literary Work 8
1.2.1 Novels 8
1.2.2 Collection of Traditional Cultural
Elements 13
1.2.3 Teaching Material 15
1.2.3.1 School Publications 15
1.2.3.2 The IGODA Series 17
CHAPTER 2
The Folktale in the General Context of Folklore
2.1 What is Folklore? 26
2.2 Approaches to Folklore Studies 29
2.2.1 Diachronic Approach 29
2.2.1.1 The Solar Theory 29
2.2.1.2 The Evolutionary Theory 30
2.2.1.3 The Diffusionist Theory 30
2.2.1.4 The Psycho-Analytic Theory 31
2.2.2 The Synchronic Approach 32
2.2.2.1 The Functionalist Approach 32
2.2.2.2 The Structuralist Approach 36
2.2.2.2.1 The Morphological Approach 37
2.2.2.2.2 The Paradygmatic Approach 38
2.2.2.2.3 The Literary-Artistic Approach 39
2.3 Approach Adopted in this
Dissertation 43
CHAPrER 3
Classification of Prose Narratives in IGODA
3.1 Myths 44
3.2 Legends 46
3.3 Folktales 46
3.3.1 Animal Tales 48
3.3.2 Trickster Tales 50
3.3.3 Human Tales 54
3.3.3.1 Human Beings Only 54
3.3.3.2 Human Beings with Cannibals 55
3.3.3.3 Human Beings with Animals 58
3.3.3.4 Human Beings with Fantastic
Elements 61
3.4 Note on Aesop's Fables 63
3.4.1 Aesop's Orieinal Fables 63
3.4.2 Aesop's Fables in Africa 65
3.4-.3 C.L.S. Nyembezi's Adaptation
of Aesop's Fables 66
3.5 Note on Violet Dube's Phoshozwayo 71
CHAPTER 4
The Folktale as a Cultural Event
4.1 Performance of Folktales 77
Th~
4.1.1 Time and Place of Performance 78
4.1.2 The Performer 80
4.1.3 Composition and Participation
of the Audience 89
4.2 Categories of Traditional Culture
Recognized by the People 91
4.3 The Cultural Context of Folktales 94-
4.3.1 Details of Ceremonies 94
4.3.2 Social Institutions 95
4.3.3 Social Structures 96
4.3.4 The Expression of Beliefs and
Attitudes 97
4.4 Educational Value of Folktales 99
4.4.1 Educational Aspects of Folktales
as Literature 100
4.4.1.1 Folktales and the Theatre 101
4.4.1.2 Folktales as Imaginative Literature 103
4.4.2 Folktales as a Means of Social
and Moral Education 107
4.4.2.1 Moral Directives in Folktales 108
4.4.2.2 Themes in Folktales 110
CHAPTER 5
A Structural Analysis of Folktales in IGODA
5.1 Basic Terminology 113
5.1.1 Function 114
5.1.2 Function Sequence 114
5.2 Zulu Functions and Sequences 116
5.2.1 Cope's Suggestions 116
5.2.2 Oosthuizen's Suggestions 117
5.2.3 Functions and Sequences in IGODA 119
5.2.4 Description of Some Zulu Functions
and Sequences 123
Combinations of Zulu Functions
and Sequences 130
5.2.6 Embedding and Sequential Depth 131
5.3 Hoves 134
5.4 Core-Images 135
5.5 Image Expansion 140
5.6 Core Refrains 145
5.7 Linking the Narrative Elements 152
5.8 Translation and Analysis of Chosen
Folktales from TGODA 159
Yazilaya Imbila 161
uMaqinase 167
uMshayandlela 172
uNkombose noSihlangusabayeni 175
uMkhwekazi Namasi 181
uMamba kaMaquba 187
Wangiweza Phela 193
Imfene Nempungushe 198
uNanana Boselesele 203
uBhadazela 208
no~mingi
CONCLUSION 213
APPENDIX: An Interview with C.L.S. Nyembezi 219
BIBLIOGRAPHY
225
FOREWORD
The first Zulu books I ever possessed were Sibusiso Nyembeti's
LEARN ZULU, A COMPACT ZULU DICTIONARY and the IGODA series of
school readers. Through those books Nyembezi was my first
Zulu teacher, guiding my first hesitant steps in the use of
the Zulu language and introducing me to Zulu culture by
means of the numerous folktales, idioms and proverbs
disseminated in IGODA. Later, when I came into contact with
more advanced Zulu literature, I was pleasantly surprised
to realize that Sibusiso Nyembezi held a very high position
also in this field as well as in the field of collections of
Zulu cultural material.
It is with a sense of gratitude to Sibusiso Nyembezi that I
have undertaken this research into his use of traditional
Zulu folktales in lGODA.
The foremost aim in Nyembezi's work has been the preservation
of Zulu culture, so as to foster a national identity among the
Zulu people. The best place to start with this task is with
the school children, because they are tomorrow's leaders and
must feel steeped in the life and history of their people in
order to know who they truly are.
For centuries, folktales have been the textbook of African
education. They have been used as a means of entertainment
and as an attractive channel to pass on traditions and beliefs,
ideas and customs. They are a mirror of life and of society.
Although they do not present an organized system of philosophy
or of morality, they are an effective means of education
because they bring about that emotional involvement through
which the child learns.
Folktales are essentially an oral art form which must be
performed. By re-creating this art in writing, Nyembezi has
stifled a part of its life, because he has had to curtail
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references to the atmosphere and the environment which make
the performance of a folktale a natural event.
He has, however, endeavoured to create the traditionally
rural and familiar atmosphere in which folktales are born
and kept alive. This oral art, in fact, has its roots in
the past but the tree has grown through the centuries and
its branches breathe to-day's air and are fed by our own sun.
To cut them off from the past would mean to cut off their
life-giving sap; to disregard the present situation would
mean burning the leaves of this vigorous tree.
Both aspects, the past and the present, are needed, to make
the folktale a credible and viable art form and an effective
educational tool.
Richard M. Dorson (1972:3) remarks that only in recent
years has the "rich, luxuriant folklore of Africa" been
seriously studied. He offers the following reasons for
this phenomenon:
i. of national states in which not all the
The~ergence
population groups share in the same cultural background.
"In the national culture, a schism divides the society.' .
ii. The emergence of a cosmopolitan elite, keen, educated
and well prepared for the task of recording and analyzing
the rich heritage of their tribes of origin, of which
they are rightly proud.
iii. The rich folklore of Africa is increasingly used as
a source for the new African literature in European
languages.
I
iv. Traditional cultural elements are seen as a unifying
factor for people trying to establish their political
and cultural identity.
In using folktales in IGODA Nyembezi has not posed as an
external collector, a field worker whose main aim is to
publish some interesting paper. He has assumed the role of
the traditional storyteller, the traditional creator and
performer of folktales, who is also regarded as the educator
in traditional societies.
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R.M.Dorson (1971:11) remarks:
The text of a tale or song written down from an
oral performance falls far short of conveying the
ambience of the event. The bard and narrator facing
their live audience employ gestures, eye contact,
intonation, pantomime histrionics, acrobatics, and
sometimes costumes and props, as the author of
written words never does.
Nyembezi, however, is not simply recording tale texts from
some performer. Following on the rich tradition of Zulu
folktales, he uses traditional motifs, episodes and stock
characters to re-create a tale for his audience, composed of
school children.
This contextual situation forces him to use a language that
is both idiomatic and easily understandable, while keeping
in mind the educational value of folktales from the linguistic
and the social/moral points of view. The result is both
traditional and modern, is both entertaining and educational.
In this way the "rich, luxuriant" oral traditional forms
blend with the new medium of the written word to create a
harmonious product, without fear of oral tradition encroaching
on the path of written literature and yiceversa, to invest
his writing with a truly Zulu sensibility and flavour.
This dissertation comprises five parts, corresponding to
the five chapters.
In the first chapter I present C.L.S. Nyembezi's life and
literary work, including a detailed expose of his IGODA series
of school readers. In this part Nyembezi's important place
in Zulu literature, as well as his educational work, are
briefly examined.
The second chapter presents the folktale in the general
context of folklore, with a discussion of the main folklore
schools and different approaches to the understanding and
analysis of the folktale.
4-
The third chapter considers a classification of the folktales
in IGODA according to their content. There is also a brief
presentation of Nyembezi's translation and adaptation of
Aesop's fables as well as ot Violet Dube's Phoshozwayo story.
The fourth chapter discusses the folktales as a cultural
event in the light of the background information presented
in IGODA. Since lGODA is a school series, the educational
value of folktales is also discussed from both the literary
and the social points of view.
The fifth chapter contains a discussion in terms of the
morphological structure and the semantic content of the
folktales in IGODA. I also present a translation and analysis
of some chosen folktales.
The work concludes with an interview which Professor Nyembezi
allowed me: this offers an insight into Nyembezi the man,
and the way he feels about his literary work.