Agitations for Self-Identification and (Re)presentation in Selected Tshivenda Poetry

Tshivenda poetry thematises varied notions of selfhood and culture, among others. Within this thematisation, longings for the freedom to self-identify and (re)present the self or selves show up as recurrent themes. For analytical convenience, 10 Tshivenda poems were purposively selected and analysed in this article. The analysis is based on a predetermined set of themes, namely, the quest for identity and authenticity, notions of being and belonging, and intersections of identity, memory, home and renaissance. The paper deployed a qualitative research approach and was theoretically undergirded by Afrocentricity. The analysis reveals that Tshivenda poetry demystifies the metanarratives propounded by colonialists and apartheid exponents to negate African people’s selfhood and culture. The analysis further reveals that the indigenes have always had ways to express their selfhood and ideological outlook, including agentively challenging false hegemonic discourses about them. This paper adds to the ongoing discourse on the politics of identity, belonging and discourses focused on how the formerly colonised asserted and still assert their presence and agency during and after decades of marginalisation and repression. It is recommended that aspects of African selfhood and culture captured in Tshivenda literature should form part of African indigenous knowledge systems that need to be studied in institutions of basic and higher education.