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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Rethinking Sol Plaatje's Attitudes to Class, Empire and Gender |
Author: | Limb, Peter |
Year: | 2002 |
Periodical: | Critical Arts: A Journal of Media Studies |
Volume: | 16 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 23-40 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | anticolonialism biographies (form) History and Exploration nationalism Ethnic and Race Relations Politics and Government Literature, Mass Media and the Press |
About person: | Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje (1876-1932) |
External link: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02560240285310031 |
Abstract: | Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje (1875-1932) is a cultural and political symbol of the 'new' South Africa: apostle of reconciliation, pioneer of integrating nationalism, a founding father of the ANC, and champion of the survival and vitality of African culture. Plaatje was a political leader and writer who challenged the inequality of settler colonialism. Throughout his life, he remained deeply concerned about the harsh conditions of African workers and the plight of African women. To understand Plaatje's position as an icon of the new South Africa, the author examines his complex attitudes to nation, class and gender, with a focus on his attitudes to African workers. He argues that recent insights of literary scholars, together with a close analysis of historical records and especially his journalism, and a re-envisaging of his life project, all point to 'another' Plaatje: not the stereotypical gentlemanly pro-Empire moderate, but the obstinate if at times timid fighter for the rights of all Africans. This necessitates significant modifications to the portrait crafted by Plaatje's biographer Brian Willan in 1984. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract] |