Ph.D. Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / This study analyses the manner in which animals are represented in selected
poetry from Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa. It discusses the various modes of
animal representation the poets draw on, and the ideological influences on their
manner of animal representation. It explores the kinds of poetic forms the poets
employ in their representation of animals and examines the manner in which
ecological or environmental issues are reflected in the poetry. Further, the study
determines the extent to which the values expressed in the poems are consistent with,
or different from, current ecological orthodoxies and the ways in which the metaphors
generated in relation to animals influence the way we treat them.
The study shows that in the selected poetry animals occupy a significant
position in the poets’ exploration of social, psychological, political, and cultural
issues. As symbols in, and subjects of, the poetry animals, in particular, and nature in
general, function as tools for the poets’ conceptualisation and construction of a wide
range of cultural, political, and philosophical ideas, including among others, issues of
justice, identity, compassion, relational selfhood, heritage, and belonging to the
cosmos. Hence, the animal figure in the poetry acts as a site for the convergence of a
variety of concepts the poets mobilise to grapple with and understand relevant
political, social, psychological and ecological ideas. The study advances the argument
that studying animal representation in the selected poetry reveals a range of ecological
sensibilities, as well as the limits of these, and opens a window through which to view
and appreciate the poets’ conception, construction and handling of a variety of
significant ideas about human to human relationships and human-animal/nature
relationships. Further, the study argues that the poets’ social vision influences their
animal representation and that their failures at times to fully see or address the
connection between forms of abuse (nature and human) undercuts their liberationist
quests in the poetry.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/10813 |
| Date | 21 November 2011 |
| Creators | Mthatiwa, Syned Dale Makani |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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