There is a rich inventory of the oral arts within Swazi culture. In a culture that
relies heavily on annual events saturated with song, dance and praise poetry
lies the opportunity for people to express themselves more freely than within
more conservative dialogue. Swaziland has a lack of freedom of expression in
casual conversation and media. Many people fear for the harm that might come
to them if they speak out of turn. But there is a new generation full of burning
questions towards culture, a youth that has access to most international information
through the internet, cellphones and television and yet struggles to get the
answers they need from Swazi culture.
Many boundaries within Swazi culture are caused through respect for powers
of a spiritual nature and love of King. However there are few opportunities for
the youth of Swaziland to voice their concerns and ask the questions that would
help them affi liate more closely to Swazi tradition. The Lobamba Interpretation
Centre of the Oral Arts and Landscape explores the possible solution of a forum
that enables the youth to interact with their culture, to unearth the ghosts of the
past on a more regular basis through the medium of the arts, a medium they
have become familiar with due to technology.
The oral arts of storytelling, poetry and song are a neutralized means of communication
and an opportunity for dialogue in a respectful and entertaining way
that can still bring forth a message without disrespecting the cultural element
of speech, essentially using culture to answer cultural issues. Politics is always
controversial but the arts allows for the disparity and a layering of opinion.
This thesis is in no way a critique of Swazi culture, it merely aims to source solutions
from Swazi culture to accommodates dialogue and freedom of speech in a
growing Swazi society. It aims to understand the importance of performance, a
language familiar to the people of Swaziland. It unearths examples of traditional
Swazi methods of communication that have been used for centuries, in order to
include a younger generation that is very heavily reliant on international customs
due to their accessibility to the media, a media that embraces global news
but shies away from the bigger issues behind culture.
Swazi culture and landscape form a tight bond .The Swazi are a people of their
land who listen and base many of their cultural decisions on natural vegetation,
weather, river sources and topography. In order to fully embrace Swazi culture
and expression, one must also begin to understand the dialogue between Swazi
culture and landscape.
My building is an interpretation centre of the oral arts in Lobamba, Swaziland,
the heart of Swazi culture. My building suggests the opportunity of a site that allows
for a freedom of expression in the very heart of these tensions, without disrupting
/disrespecting the cultural norms of its context. This will be programmed
with a series of platforms for expression, stages and exhibition spaces that can
allow for connection points between the youth and culture.The building will
house an exhibition space for the oral arts as well as accommodation for the
infl ux and subsequent dispersal of people that take part in cultural ceremonies through pilgrimages 4 times a year. My thesis allows for a discovery of this complex and layered landscape, an unpacking
of time, landscape and space and refl ects back its impact on Swazi culture
and the oral arts namely: storytelling, song and praise poetry. It also documents
the existing built form and topography and begins to make sense of the
area’s patterning. It builds an understanding of the oral arts and its importance
in Swazi context in order to sustain the notion of tradition.
In this book, I will be taking you on a journey through my thought process towards
the interpretation center of the oral arts and landscape.
All quoted poetry within this book is my own work that I have marked with “inverted commas”.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/15478 |
| Date | 10 September 2014 |
| Creators | Wilcox, Afua |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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