23 februari 2022
As die Cape Flats kon praat, Brian Fredericks, Human & Rousseau, 2020
ISBN: 9780798180917, € 14,22
Brian Fredericks, ‘n aangrypende nuwe stem, skryf met nege kortverhale ‘n wêreld oop in die Cape Flats. Hy werp lig op ‘n komplekse wêreld waar die grens tussen reg en verkeerd heeltyd verskuiwe, maar bowenal het hy ‘n sonderlinge insig in die feilbaarheid maar ook die broosheid van menswees. Karakters kry lewe op papier, en maak jou opnuut kyk na die wêreld om jou en in jou. Met dié bundel kortverhale vestig Fredericks hom as baanbreker in die Afrikaanse kortkuns.
With this collection of nine remarkable short stories set in the Cape Flats, Brian Fredericks establishes himself as a major new voice in Afrikaans. He closely examines the thin line between right and wrong, the brutality of poverty and also the tenderness between a mother and her prodigal son. Characters come alive between these pages, whether it be the vierhoeke in Pollsmoor, Elsiesrivier or Ruyterwacht.
Skadukant, Rika Cloete, Kwela, 2020, ISBN: 9780795709876, € 13,99
Die verminkte lyk van ‘n vrou wat op die strand gevind word, ruk die rustige Murraybaai, veral wanneer dit blyk dat die geweldenaar swanger vroue teiken. Die nagmerrie verdiep wanneer die verwagtende Deirdre O’Brien ook deur die gemaskerde moordenaar geteister word. Sy word die prooi in ‘n obsessiewe kat-en-muis-speletjie. Hy wil haar knak en haar lewe steel, maar sy gaan dit nie toelaat nie.
The maimed body of a woman found on the beach shakes the sleepy Murray Bay, as it becomes clear the murderer targets pregnant women. The nightmare deepens when Deirdre O’Brien, who is also expecting, becomes the prey in the murderer’s obsessive cat-and-mouse game. He wants to break her spirit and steal her life, but she is not going to allow that.
The Female Fear Factory, Pumla Dineo Gqola, Melinda Ferguson Books, 2021, ISBN: 9781990973093, € 16,26
Patriarchy does not respect national boundaries. It is unabashedly promiscuous in its influences and tethers. Yet, it does use nationalism very productively. Drawing on examples from around the world – from Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa to Saudi Arabia, the Americas and Europe, Gqola traces the construction and machinations of the female fear factory by exposing its lies, myths, and seductions. She shows how seemingly disparate effects like driving bans, higher education rape sexual harassment and femicide are all premised on the construction of people, mostly women, as female, and thereafter the use fear as a tool of patriarchal subjugation and punishment.
Where Rape: A South African nightmare introduced strategies for disrupting rape culture at an individual level, Female Fear Factory offers an even bolder vision for collective action against all cultures of sexual violence. Like the previous book on which it builds, Female Fear Factory fuses intellectual rigour and extensive research, written by one of South Africa’s keenest minds, award-winning Professor Pumla Dineo Gqola.
Becoming Men. Black Masculinities in a South African Township, Malose Langa, Wits University Press, 2020, ISBN: 9781776145713, € 15,99
This vivid evocation of the lives of 32 boys from a Johannesburg township is essential reading for anybody wishing to understand black masculinity in South Africa
Becoming Men is the story of 32 boys from Alexandra, one of Johannesburg’s largest townships, over a period of twelve seminal years in which they negotiate manhood and masculinity. Psychologist and academic Malose Langa has documented graphically what it means to be a young black man in contemporary South Africa. The boys discuss a range of topics including the impact of absent fathers, relationships with mothers, siblings and girls, school violence, academic performance, homophobia, gangsterism, unemployment and, in one case, prison life. Dominant themes that emerge are deep ambivalence, self-doubt and hesitation in the boys’ approaches to alternative masculinities that are non-violent, non-sexist and non-risk-taking. The difficulties of negotiating the multiple voices of masculinity are exposed as many of the boys appear simultaneously to comply with and oppose the prevalent norms. Providing a rich interpretation of how emotional processes affect black adolescent boys, Langa suggests interventions and services to support and assist them, especially in reducing the high-risk behaviours generally associated with hegemonic masculinity. This is essential reading for students, researchers and scholars of gender studies who wish to understand manhood and masculinity in South Africa. Psychologists, youth workers, lay counsellors and teachers who work with adolescent boys will also find it invaluable.
‘Ethnic Continuities and a State of Exception. Goodwill Zwelithini, Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Jacob Zuma’, Off Centre. New Perspectives on Public Issues vol.3, Gerhard Maré, University of KwaZulu Natal Press, 2020, ISBN: 9781869144562, €32,-
As we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century, South Africa continues to function under the oppressive burden – felt directly as such by all but the elite – of three continuities from apartheid: race thinking, capitalism and the politics of tradition. It is the last of this triad that is the focus of this book. Yet, as Gerhard Mare argues, continuities in the politics of tradition cannot be understood as separable from the other two, nor from the intimate metapolitics of patriarchy. Building on his previous research into how apartheid templates of ethnic separatism, and its popular mobilisations, played out in calamitous violence in Natal and Zululand, Mare now takes the story into post-1994 South Africa. He sets as his focus three powerful men – Goodwill Zwelithini, Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Jacob Zuma – to illustrate how, from different social locations, each has relied on claims to Zulu tradition to occupy powerful and financially rewarding positions. This book alerts readers to the dangers of tradition as a formal, structured politics, which enriches a narrowly elite minority while overriding democratic rights, effecting a ‘state of exception’ for the governance of millions who are rendered as ‘subjects’. At the same time, tradition in this form leaves intact another divide, at a time when health disasters, inequality and climate catastrophe can be addressed only through shared and collective human engagement.
The Boer War Atlas, Chris Ash, 30° South Publishers, 2020, ISBN: 9781928359838, € 62,30
This comprehensive military atlas covers every aspect of the Boer War in some 230 full-colour maps, diagrams and detailed ORBATs. Maps covering the conflict on a strategic, operational and tactical level guide the reader through each stage of the war, from Kruger’s invasions of Natal and Griqualand West, through the famous battles of the conventional period, to the vast ‘drives’ of the Guerrilla War phase which broke the back of the Bittereinders and brought the war to an end. By showing where every operation and battle fitted into the bigger picture, the reader is able to understand how and why any given action was fought, and how the war was ultimately won by Lord Kitchener’s men.
Utilising standard NATO symbols to represent the various units involved, all the maps in this unique resource were drawn specially for the Atlas, and combine contemporary military maps with modern 1:50000 survey maps to ensure unprecedented levels of accuracy and detail. A detailed time line helps explain how the war unfolded, and the maps are organised into sections which cover the various fronts.
The Atlas is also lavishly illustrated with contemporary photographs and drawings, as well as modern-day photographs to show how the battlefields look today, and to illustrate some of the many monuments erected to commemorate the men who fought and died. Though some of the battles covered are well known, this work also provides detail on many others which – though major actions – are almost forgotten today. The operations and smaller battles of the long and bitter Guerrilla War are also exhaustively covered. Other maps depict the details of the vast lines of blockhouses which were constructed across hundreds of miles of South Africa, and the critical role these played in the latter stages of the conflict. Whether you are new to the war, or a well-read enthusiast, The Boer War Atlas is an indispensable guide to understanding how this highly mis-understood war was fought.
Nêrens, Noord-Kaap, Nico Scheepers, Protea Boekhuis, 2020, ISBN: 9781485310952, € 10,76
Nêrens is ‘n plaas in die Noord-Kaap waar drie broers saam grootgeword het. Hulle lewens word onherroeplik verander deur die afsterwe van hul ma op ’n jong ouderdom onder tragiese omstandighede. Die drie het mekaar jare laas gesien. Nou moet hulle terugkeer plaas toe vir ‘n verjaarsdagbraai vir hul pa wat 60 word – op soek na die broederskap wat hulle verloor het.
God se kinders. Verhale uit die Bybel. Verhale uit die Bybel, Aartsbisschop Desmond Tutu, Wellington : Lux Verbi, 2010, ISBN: 9780796310644
In de bibliotheek aanwezig in de talen: Afrikaans, Engels, isiZulu en isiXhosa
In Kinders van God – Bybelverhale vertel aartsbiskop Desmond Tutu meer as vyftig van sy gunstelingverhale uit die Ou en die Nuwe Testament. Die lieflike en besielende teks word visueel aangevul deur ‘n buitengewone span van party van die voorste illustreerders ter wêreld, wat verseker dat hierdie Storiebybel wêreldwyd sal aanklank vind. Elke storie wys hoe God in en deur die geskiedenis werk en word afgesluit met ‘n kort gebed. Sodoende word die boodskap in die kind se eie lewe tuisgebring.
Dominee Tienie, Sallas de Jager (Filmregisseur)(Filmproducent)(Scenarioschrijver)Dana Snyman(Scenarioschrijver)Frank Opperman(Acteur)Henriëtta Gryffenberg(Acteur)Thapelo Mokoena(Acteur)Regardt Van den Bergh(Acteur)Indigenous Film Distribution(Filmdistributeur)Next Entertainment (Firm : Sandton, South Africa)(Filmdistributeur), 2019
After sixteen years as the pastor of the mother church, Tienie Benade is confronted with a steep decline in the number of churchgoers and a modern society that is rapidly changing. Do clergymen, or even the church, still have a role to play in this world? He is trying his best to adapt and make sense of the changes, but, in the process, he is alienating his wife and children. After an incident with a dying vagrant, Tienie finds himself at a crossroads. Would he be able to regain his self-confidence and win back the love of his family and would he be brave enough to provide guidance to his congregation in this new era?
Based on the play by Dana Snyman
