The Intertextuality of SiSwati Literature Texts; a Review of Portrayal of Women in Two Short Stories
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47941/ijhss.2599Keywords:
Intertextuality, Works of art, PortrayalAbstract
Purpose: Emaswati literature texts, like other written works of art are cyclical, they resemble each other in different ways. This study is a qualitative analysis of the intertextuality of Emaswati literature texts, it analyses how Emaswati texts permeate each other. The main aim of this study was to analyse the interrelatedness of the portrayal of women in two short stories from Khulumani Sive by Zodwa Motsa, a collection of stories depicting Emaswati cultural values. It synthesizes mainly the social, cultural and political issues depicted in the short stories.
Methodology: It is a qualitative analysis of the interrelatedness of Emaswati literature texts. Document analysis was used as a data collection tool. The inclusion criteria were stories prescribed to be taught in the senior secondary school in Eswatini during the period 2021-2024. Purposive sampling was used to select prose fiction; the short story genre, a sample of two stories for the study. These were “Phumani Nelikhambi” and “Sewesitsatfu Lomnyaka” both authored by Thembekile Msibi. Content analysis was used to analyse data. The analysis of the content for the two stories was based on the ideas of the new historicism literary theory which regards that ideologies depicted in literature texts are situated within the surrounding context.
Findings: The findings revealed that the two short stories share the same social, cultural and political issues. Amongst others were that most of the responsibility in the home is assigned or expected to be done by women. Also, all the female characters in the stories are expected to adhere to societal conventions that they are to work harder above their husbands and see to it that things are in order.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy, and Practice: The conclusions drawn from the synthesis of the ideas portrayed in the two short stories were that the two women portrayed as protagonists shared the same fate. They were overburdened with family responsibilities while men were relaxed. Also, their progress and development were confined by societal conventions. The two stories are therefore intertextual. Another conclusion was that Emaswati culture, socialization and political environment greatly influenced the expectations from the two women in the stories. Therefore, the synthesis of the two short stories showed that siSwati literature texts are not only products but producers of culture as well. The pedagogical recommendations are that during the analysis of literature texts, the ideas depicted should be taught and synthesized alongside other works of art available in the society in different forms. Lastly, learners should be taught how to evaluate the ideas depicted in siSwati literature texts as opposed to mastering them.
Downloads
References
Anderson, C. (2022, June 06). What does new historicism mean? https://cadenkimibuchanan.blogspot.com.
Bertens, H. (2020). Literary and Critical Theory: Cultural materialism. In Oxford Bibliographies (Eds.).DOI:10.1093/OBO/9780190221911-0091. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com.
Bhatti, A. G., Afzaal, M., Shahzadi, A., & Hu, K. (2019). A New Historicist Perspective of Thomas Preston’s Cambyses: A lamentable Tragedy Mixed Full of Pleasant Mirth. International Journal of English Linguistics, 9(6), 85-92. https://www.resaerchgate.net
Brizee, A., Tompkins, J. C., Chernouski, L., & Boyle, E. (2012). Literary theory and schools of criticism: New historicism cultural studies. https://www.academia.edu.
Creswell, J. W., Erbersohn, L., Eloff., Ferreira, R., Ivankova, N. V., Jansen, J.D., Nieuwenhuis, J., Pietersen, J., & Clark, V. P. L. (2016). First steps in research (2nd ed). In Maree K. Hatfield, Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers
Gessesse, M. (2011). A course material to: Introduction to literary theories and criticism (ENLA 422). College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Department of English. 2010G.C/2003E.C. https://www.academia.edu.
Hoover, D. W. (1992). The New historicism. The History Teacher, 25 (3), 355-366. Society for History Education. https://doi.org/10.2307/494247.
Lyu, X. 2021. An introduction to new historicism(Ed). Proceedings of the 2021 6th International Conference on Social Sciences and Economics Development (ICSSED 2021), Huainan, China. Advances in Social Sciences, Education and Humanities Research, Volume 543. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.210407.203.
Mambrol, N. (2016, March 22). Literary Theory and Criticism. Literariness.org/2020/10/22/new-historicism. https://literariness.org.
Mkhonta, P. P., & Dlamini, B. (2023). Exploring the author’s use of pathetic fallacy in the short story “Phumani nelikhambi” by Thembekile Msibi. In Durban University of Technology (Ed.). Re-imagining the role of African languages for social justice and transformation in the digital age. Paper presented at the 25th International Conference of the African Languages Association of Southern Africa (ALASA). The Coastlands hotel, Umhlanga, Durban.
Msibi, T. (2006). Phumani Nelikhambi. In Z. Motsa (Eds.), Khulumani Sive. Manzini: Macmillan Boleswa Publishing Co (Pty) Ltd.
Msibi, T. (2006). Sewesitsatfu lomnyaka. In Z. Motsa (Eds.), Khulumani Sive. Manzini: Macmillan Boleswa Publishing Co (Pty) Ltd.
Pager-McClymont, K. (2022). Linking Emotions to Surroundings: A Stylistic Model of Pathetic Fallacy. Language and Literature, (31), 4. DOI: 10.1177/09639470221106021
Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Rahman, H. T. (2016). A study from a New Historicist Approach of Author Miller’s Death of a Salesman (Thesis submitted as Partial fulfillment for Masters’ Degree in English language and Literature at Middle East University (MEU). https://meu.edu.jo.
Romano, M., Cuenca, M.J. (2024).Conceptualizing the Covid-19 pandemic through similes. Cognitive Linguistic Studies, 11, (1), 99-129. DOI: 10.1075/cogls.00114.rom
Schrijvers, M., Janssen, T., Fialho, S. & Rijlaarsdam, G. (2016). The impact of literature education on student’ perceptions of self and others: Exploring personal and social learning experiences in relation to teacher approach. Contribution to a special issue on The Role of Writing in Literature Education. Li-Educational Studies in Language and Literature 17, 1-37 https://doi.org/10.17239/L1ESLL- 2016. 16.04.01.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2020. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dilthey.
Zekiye, E.R. (2005). Tom Stoppard New Historicism and Estrangement in Travesties. New Theatre Quarterly, (21), 230-240. Doi:10.101 7/S0266464X05000 138. https://journalcambridge.org.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Portia P. Mkhonta
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
