Xhosa Literature
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Xhosa Literature
Xhosa literature is the spoken and written literature of the Xhosa people of Southern Africa. The Xhosa language is spoken in South Africa and Zimbabwe. 20th-century literature Poet and teacher St John Page Yako wrote poetry using motifs derived from oral literature to describe the consequences of disastrous land politics of mid-century South Africa. Notable poets *Sipho Burns-Ncamashe *William Wellington Gqoba *Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi *Enoch Sontonga *St John Page Yako References {{reflist Literature by ethnicity Xhosa Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ... * ...
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Xhosa People
The Xhosa people, or Xhosa language, Xhosa-speaking people (; ) are African people who are direct kinsmen of Tswana people, Sotho people and Twa people, yet are narrowly sub grouped by European as Nguni people, Nguni ethnic group whose traditional homeland is primarily the Cape Provinces, Cape Provinces of South Africa, however the skulls from Mapungubwe empire shows that they have always been in Southern Africa like their kinsmen and had developed a sophisticated culture as well as civilization. They were the second largest racial group in apartheid Southern Africa and are native speakers of the Xhosa language, IsiXhosa language. Presently, approximately eight million Xhosa speaking African people are distributed across the country, and the Xhosa language is South Africa's second-most-populous home language, after the Zulu, again we must qualify the former statement as in great countries like China, Xhosa and Zulu language would not be classified as different languages, rather ...
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Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of river systems; the Zambezi River being the most prominent. The Zambezi flows from the northwest corner of Zambia and western Angola to the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique. Along the way, the Zambezi River flows over the mighty Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the world and a major tourist attraction for the region. Southern Africa includes both subtropical and temperate climates, with the Tropic of Capricorn running through the middle of the region, dividing it into its subtropical and temperate halves. Countries commonly included in Southern Africa include Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namib ...
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Xhosa Language
Xhosa (, ) also isiXhosa as an endonym, is a Nguni language and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language by approximately 8.2 million people and by another 11 million as a second language in South Africa, mostly in Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape and Gauteng. It has perhaps the heaviest functional load of click consonants in a Bantu language (approximately tied with Yeyi), with one count finding that 10% of basic vocabulary items contained a click. Classification Xhosa is part of the branch of Nguni languages, which also include Zulu, Southern Ndebele and Northern Ndebele. Nguni languages effectively form a dialect continuum of variously mutually intelligible varieties. Xhosa is, to some extent, mutually intelligible with Zulu and with other Nguni languages to a lesser extent. Nguni languages are, in turn, classified under the much larger abstraction of Bantu languages. Geographical distribution ...
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St John Page Yako
St John Page Yako (19011977) was a Qokolweni-born Xhosa poet and professor of Xhosa literature in the Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ..., South Africa. A translation of one of his poems was published as "The Contraction and Enclosure of the Land" in ''The Lava of the Land'', an anthology of South-African poetry edited by Denis Hirson. "The Contraction and Enclosure" uses imagery from oral poetry to illustrate the consequences of race-based land legislation of South Africa in the 1950s that destroyed the traditional ways of life of many tribes. Bibliography *''Umtha Welenga'' ("Ray of the Sun", 1959) *''Ikwezi'' ("Poems", 1959) References People from the Eastern Cape Xhosa-language poets 1901 births 1977 deaths {{SouthAfrica-writer-stub ...
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Sipho Burns-Ncamashe
Sipho Mangindi Burns-Ncamashe ''Aa! Zilimbola!'' (1920–1996) was a South African poet, short story writer and Xhosa ''imbongi'' (praise poet). He was also the chief of the AmaGwali Xhosa sub-group in Alice. He was also the leader of the Ciskei National Unionist Party from 1972–1978, the only member from his party to get a seat in the Republic of Ciskei National Assembly, until 1978 when he joined the Ciskei opposition party, the Ciskei National Party led by Chief Justice Mabandla. In 1979, Ciskei officially became a one-party state under the rule of Lennox Sebe and Burns-Ncamashe remained as one of the members of the Ciskei National Assembly. Sipho Burns-Ncamashe was the praise singer for Rharhabe Paramaount Chief, Velile Sandile, grandfather to the Rharhabe Xhosa king King Maxhob'ayakhawuleza Sandile ''Aa! Zanesizwe!''. Burns-Ncamashe's son Chief Sisanda Sipuxolo Burns-Ncamashe succeeded him after his death. His youngest son Zolile Burns-Ncamashe Prince Zolile Burns-Ncama ...
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William Wellington Gqoba
William Wellington Gqoba (August 1840 – 26 April 1888) was a South African Xhosa people, Xhosa poet, translator, and journalist. He was a major nineteenth-century Xhosa writer, whose relatively short life saw him working as a wagonmaker, a clerk, a teacher, a translator of Xhosa language, Xhosa and English language, English, and a pastor. Gqoba was born in Gaba, near Alice, South Africa, Alice, Eastern Cape. His father was Gqoba of the Cirha clan, and his grandfather, Peyi, had been a disciple and close associate of Ntsikana, who had played a key role in Xhosa literature, as well as in the Xhosa's conversion to Christianity. Gqoba attended the Mission School at Tyhume, followed by the Lovedale (South Africa), Lovedale Institute. In May 1856 he was indentured as a wagonmaker, working in Lovedale, then in King William's Town for a year, and finally at Brownlee Station. In 1858 he was installed as an elder in Tiyo Soga's mission church at Mgwali. From 1884 until his death in 188 ...
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Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi
Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi (S. E. K. Mqhayi, 1 December 1875 – 29 July 1945) was a Xhosa people, Xhosa dramatist, essayist, critic, novelist, historian, biographer, Translation, translator and poet whose works are regarded as instrumental in standardising the grammar of Xhosa language, isiXhosa and preserving the language in the 20th century. Life Mqhayi was born in the village of Gqumahashe (an old Mission station) in the Thyume valley near Alice, Eastern Cape, Alice in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa to parents Ziwani Krune Mqhayi and Qashani Bedle on 1 December 1875. Mqhayi's parents were Christians with his father Ziwani known as "a leading man in his church, famous for his counsel, his preaching, and his singing." Mqhayi began his primary schooling in the Thyume Valley. At the age of nine, Mqhayi moved with his father (his mother having died when he was 2 years old) to Kentani, Centane to stay with his uncle Nzanzana (the headsman of the area) during the witga ...
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Enoch Sontonga
Enoch Mankayi Sontonga ( – 18 April 1905) was a South African composer, who is best known for writing the Xhosa hymn "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" (), which, in abbreviated version, has been sung as the first half of the national anthem of South Africa since 1994. Previously, it had been the official anthem of the African National Congress since 1925. It was also adopted by South Africa's newly formed northern neighbour, Zimbabwe and translated into Shona, " Ishe Komborera Afrika" from 1980 until 1994. Early life and education Sontonga, a Xhosa, was born in the city of Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape Colony. He trained as a teacher at the Lovedale Institution and subsequently worked as a teacher and choirmaster at the Methodist Mission school in Nancefield, near Johannesburg for eight years.Enoch Mankayti Sontonga
SAHisto ...
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Literature By Ethnicity
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, much of which has been transcribed. Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment, and can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role. Literature, as an art form, can also include works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography, Diary, diaries, memoir, Letter (message), letters, and the essay. Within its broad definition, literature includes non-fictional books, articles or other printed information on a particular subject.''OED'' Etymology, Etymologically, the term derives from Latin language, Latin ''literatura/litteratura'' "learning, a writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from ''litera/littera'' "letter". In sp ...
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Literature By Language
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, much of which has been transcribed. Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment, and can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role. Literature, as an art form, can also include works in various non-fiction genres, such as biography, Diary, diaries, memoir, Letter (message), letters, and the essay. Within its broad definition, literature includes non-fictional books, articles or other printed information on a particular subject.''OED'' Etymology, Etymologically, the term derives from Latin language, Latin ''literatura/litteratura'' "learning, a writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from ''litera/littera'' "letter". In sp ...
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Xhosa Culture
Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See also * * Khosa (other) * Kosa (other) Kosa may refer to: Places * Kosa, Azerbaijan * Kosa, Croatia, a village in Croatia * Kōsa, Kumamoto, a town in Japan * Kosa, Russia, several places with the name in Russia * , a village in Bolhrad Raion, Ukraine People * Kosa (surname) * Kōs ... {{disambiguation Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...
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