�Modern prophets, produce a new bible�: Christianity, Africanness and the poetry of Nontsizi Mgqwetho

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2008

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Southern African Literature and Culture Centre, UKZN

Abstract

In this article I consider how one might approach the apparently singular figure of Nontsizi Mgqwetho, a Xhosa woman who produced an extraordinary series of Christian izibongo in newspapers in the 1920s: through what kind of language, from what critical perspective, might one think and write about her? There have been various attempts to write about Mgqwetho, and there are certain obvious possibilities in terms of approach and methodology, which I explore briefly, but I want to suggest a mode of reading which provides a richer, more engaged and more engaging understanding � one which reads with and through, rather than onto or against, her African Christian articulations.

Description

Keywords

Nontsizi Mgqwetho, Xhosa woman, Christian izibongo, African christianity

Citation

Brown, D. (2008). �Modern prophets, produce a new bible�: Christianity, Africanness and the poetry of Nontsizi Mgqwetho. Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, 20(2): 77-91