Английская Википедия:Amandla (novel)
Amandla (1980) is a novel by the South African writer Miriam Tlali. It is a fiction about real events: the 1976 Soweto revolt and massacre. In this revolt, young people from Soweto (a Johannesburg suburb) rose up against the decision to make Afrikaans compulsory as a means of teaching in black schools.[1]
Context
Published in 1980 by the South African anti-apartheid publisher, Ravan Press, Amandla was the second English-language novel written by a black woman in apartheid South Africa (the first one, was another novel by Tlali), and was banned after its publication.[2]
It is one of four novels considered "Soweto novels", works of fiction depicting the June 1976 uprising. The others are Mongane Serote's To Every Birth its Blood (1981), A Ride on the Whirlwind (1981) by Sipho Sepamla and The Children of Soweto (1982) by Mbulelo Mzamane.[3]
Plot
"Amandla" is written from the perspective of various young revolutionaries of the time. Based on Tlali's experience as a Soweto resident in 1976, the novel depicts the uprising and its aftermath. Critics have highlighted three points about this novel:
- The way the author highlights Black Consciousness Movement's anti-apartheid activism.[4]
- Tlali's description of gender relations between men and women activists, and within the community in general.[5]
- The technique with which the novel integrates other discourses: dialogues, debates, speeches, pamphlets, interviews (as in Tlali's other novels: Mihloti and Soweto Stories), as well as conversations Tlali had with people who came to her to tell her their stories and life experience in the townships.[6]
References