Critical Literary Arts in Action: The Decolonial Project of Ba re e ne re within and beyond Lesotho

Wed, 02 Sep 2020 14:23:15 +0000

In this article Lineo Segoete and Zachary Rosen of the Maseru Working Group explore the historical construction of literary infrastructure established in Lesotho. Building on an analysis of Sesotho language orthography by Dr Litšepiso Matlosa, the pair recall the colonial genesis of written Sesotho by Swiss and French missionaries. As a result of this influence, Lesotho’s written Sesotho remains embedded with marks of orthographic inconsistency. The legacies of written language in Lesotho inform the relationships the Basotho have with literature.

The article demostrates that through the ensuing dialogues, the Ba re e ne re Literature Festival has since served as a creative outlet and knowledge exchange for Basotho while expanding its reach through additional creative interventions rooted in decolonial theory. Partnerships with peer literary and cultural organisations in other African countries have generated valuable exchanges as well. In mapping out its myriad connections, Lineo and Zachary argue that through reflexive praxis, the Ba re e ne re Literature Festival served to delink literary culture in Lesotho from colonial institutions and practices through cultivating a new generation of storytellers, readers and cultures.

Find the article here.

Maseru Working Group Organises the Skima Sesotho Workshop Series (April - August 2018)

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 12:56:16 +0000

Between April and August 2018 the Maseru Working Group organised a series of workshops collectively entitled Skima Sesotho. These workshops, which brought together exercises and discussions about critical multimedia literacy with the BA RE Dictionary Project, aimed to get the Basotho excited about the Sesotho language and to demonstrate the playful malleability of Sesotho.

Through these workshops, which were free and open to the public, the Maseru working group introduced a process for cultivating new Sesotho words complete with definitions and example sentences. Words could be entirely new creations or could seek to capture slang words that are used in particular social contexts, e.g. schools, villages, churches, neighborhoods, etc. The workshops also explored media literacy, and how images, texts and sounds can be combined to create contrasting meaning about the same subject matter. Taking the comparison of British and Lesothan news footage as a starting point, the workshop then explored ways to read context and meaning in multimedia.

Africa Cluster's contents tagged with "sesotho"

Critical Literary Arts in Action: The Decolonial Project of Ba re e ne re within and beyond Lesotho

Maseru Working Group Organises the Skima Sesotho Workshop Series (April - August 2018)