The use of the concept of imbokotho in the study of selected isiXhosa poetry

Abstract

IsiXhosa poetry about women and by women is one of the growing areas that attracts the attention of literary scholars today. Scholars have posed a challenge to study these works as they offer new insights and nuances in scholarship. Although scholars have turned their attention to these aesthetic works about women and by women in isiXhosa poetry, they rely heavily on Western frameworks to examine these works. Scholars use literary criticism theories such as feminism, African feminism, South African feminism and intersectionality to examine and interpret these works. These theories tend to look at women in literary texts in relation to men, forcing critics to examine women in literary texts in the light of their male counterparts. This limits scholars to only that and does not explore what women can do on their own. It is against such a backdrop that this article aims to evaluate the concept of imbokotho for use in the study of literary texts about and by women. In investigating the use of the concept of imbokotho, I have used conceptualisation and propositional theorising as a form of investigating the concept of imbokotho. To evaluate the concept of imbokotho in studying literary texts, I used two poems and an anthology about women and two anthologies by women. The focus was on how women are portrayed as individuals and in groups, the definition of their beauty, and their roles. As this concept was examined in isiXhosa poetry, it calls for future examination in other genres and literature from other languages.

Contribution: This study adds a voice in scholarship about women in literature and in approaches used to study literary texts about and by women. It adds a nuance by evaluating the concept of imbokotho as an approach to study literary texts about and by women. This approach encourages critics to view women as they are and not in comparison to men. Although the article used poetry to test the approach, it can be used in all literary genres to examine texts.