Keorapetse Kgositsile & the Black Arts Movement: Poetics of Possibility

A comprehensive study of Keorapetse Kgositsile's work, exploring his mother's and grandmother's influence, oral/aural traditions, indigenous knowledge systems, and cosmologies, reveals a southern African modernity deployed in anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, anti-apartheid, and civil rights struggles. This study provides a new approach to studying the radicalism of Africa and its diaspora and makes a significant contribution to the histories of Black lives, gender studies, jazz studies, politics, and creativity.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 27 February 2024
Publisher: James Currey

A groundbreaking study on the writer and activist Kgositsile offers a fresh perspective on examining the radicalism of Africa and its diaspora, making a substantial contribution to the histories of Black lives, gender studies, jazz studies, politics, and creativity. The cultural configurations of the Black Atlantic cannot be fully comprehended without acknowledging the significant presence of writers and artists originating from the African continent itself. Among the most influential figures was the South African poet laureate Keorapetse Kgositsile, affectionately known as Bra Willie. However, until now, a comprehensive examination of his work has been lacking. In his comprehensive book, Uhuru Phalafala delves into the profound influence of Kgositsile's mother and grandmother on his artistic journey, shedding light on the significance of the oral/aural traditions, indigenous knowledge systems, and cosmologies he carried with him during and after exile. The author unveils a southern African modernity that was characterized by strong gender dynamics and played a pivotal role in anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, anti-apartheid, and civil rights struggles. By employing the original concept of "elsewhere," the author maps the origins of Kgositsile's transformative verse, which in turn sparked a poetics of possibility for his contemporaries in the Black Arts and Black Power Movements, as well as beyond. This includes renowned figures such as Maya Angelou, Larry Neal, Gwendolyn Brooks, Tom Dent, members of The Last Poets, Otabenga Jones & Associates, and rapper Earl Sweatshirt, who drew inspiration from Kgositsile's work to shape their identities, cultural movements, and radical traditions.

Weight: 1g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781847012777