From oral performance to picture books: a perspective on Zulu children’s literature

Abstract

While over the years stakeholders such as publishers and academics have taken a keen interest in research into writing and publishing, they have been less concerned about research into indigenous children‟s literature. In this thesis a comprehensive examination of children‟s literature in the indigenous African languages of South Africa and in Zulu in particular, is presented. Qualitative research methods have been applied, using questionnaires and interviews to gain first-hand knowledge of problems and possible solutions to the dearth of original children‟s literature in the indigenous languages. The data obtained in this regard has proved invaluable to the researcher and, hopefully, will be so to others in the future. Oral folktales narrated before the influence of the missionaries qualify as children‟s literature. The transition from the oral performance of these folktales to the reading of written children‟s texts is discussed in detail. This is achieved by considering the milieu, themes, content, functions and values of this children‟s literature. The discussion of imilolozelo (lullabies) and izilandelo/izidlaliso (game songs) presents the genre of children‟s traditional oral poetry as a form of performance based not only on narrative but also on songs and/or chants interspersed with rhythmical movements to relay their message. Zulu school readers as modern literature for children are also examined by tracing their background and the development of original Zulu children‟s written literature since it was first recorded by the missionaries. Contents and themes of these early readers, dating from the 1800s, are examined and compared with a series of graded readers published in 1962 by C.L.S. Nyembezi. The sixth chapter of the thesis investigates Zulu children‟s picture books as contemporary literature. Various types of picture books and their functions are discussed. Research findings point to an urgent need for the training of African authors in the writing of age-appropriate books in indigenous African languages. Lastly, the study proves that it is feasible to regard traditional oral and modern indigenous texts as children‟s literature.