Chapter 4 - Indigenous Knowledge and the Narrative Art of Recuperation

Summary

Chapter 4 seeks to understand the logic of cultural rehabilitation as it applies to aspects of indigenous belief, knowledge and practice denigrated by colonialism and apartheid. This chapter situates the concept of indigenous knowledge in relation to that of the ‘indigenous resource base’ as formulated by Ato Quayson. Similar to other African writers, authors like Zakes Mda, Thando Mgqolozana and Diale Tlholwe make judicious use of this resource base, incorporating elements of myth, folklore and ritual into their narratives, thereby encouraging recuperation and healing. Recuperative elements in the works of these novelists are, somewhat paradoxically, also linked with a cosmopolitanism sensibility. In the final part of the chapter I consider the varying ways white writers like Brett Bailey, André P. Brink and Marguerite Poland have drawn on African myth, belief and ritual practice for their own purposes.