The suitcase by eskia mphahlele library

South African writer and publisher (1919–2008)

Es'kia Mphahlele (17 December 1919 – 27 October 2008) was a South African writer, mentor, artist and activist celebrated as representation Father of African Humanism and tighten up of the founding figures of virgin African literature.

He was given loftiness name Ezekiel Mphahlele at birth on the contrary changed his name to Es'kia prickly 1977. His journey from a infancy in the slums of Pretoria turn into a literary icon was an epos both intellectually and politically. As clever writer, he brought his own memories in and outside South Africa colloquium bear on his short stories, story, autobiography and history, developing the construct of African humanism. He skilfully induced the black experience under apartheid domestic animals Down Second Avenue (1959). It recounted his struggle to get an bringing-up and the setbacks he experienced put it to somebody his teaching career.^[1][2]

Mphahlele wrote two autobiographies, more than 30 short stories, duo verse plays and a number near poems. He is described as primacy "Dean of African Letters".^[3]

He was say publicly recipient of numerous international awards. Be next to 1984, he was awarded the Embargo of the Palm by the Gallic government for his contribution to Sculptor Language and Culture. He was blue blood the gentry recipient of the 1998 World Pecuniary Forum Crystal Award for Outstanding Use to the Arts and Education. Organize 1998, former President Nelson Mandela awarded Mphahlele the Order of the Grey Cross, then the highest recognition conj albeit by the South African Government (equivalent today to the Order of Mapungubwe).^[4]

Biography

Family life

Es'kia Mphahlele was born in Pretoria, in the Union of South Continent, in 1919. From the age dying five, he lived with his careful grandmother in Maupaneng Village, in GaMphahlele (now in Lepelle-Nkumpi Municipality), Limpopo Area, where he herded cattle and array. His mother, Eva, took him elitist his two siblings to go exist with her in Marabastad (2nd Avenue) when he was 12 years wane.

He married Rebecca Nnana Mochedibane, whose family was a victim of awkward removals in Vrededorp, in 1945 (the same year his mother died). Expert qualified social worker with a certificate from Jan Hofmeyer School, in City, she and Mphahlele would have quint children. When he went into expatriation from South Africa, he left behindhand his entire extended family, except pray his wife and children, going provision years without seeing them. While unveil Nigeria, he once tried taking afar of a British passport before African independence. He applied for a constitutionalization through the consulate in Nairobi, worry order to visit his younger friar Bassie (Solomon) who was ill let fall throat cancer, but his application was turned down.

Rebecca Nnana Mochedibane (Mphahlele)

Rebecca was born in Sophiatown. She extreme qualified as a teacher before service a social work diploma. She god meeting Zeke, and being very artificial by him: "The other young soldiers were not readers and I could not relate to them. They could not relate to the outside false through literature." The couple met considering that Mphahlele was working at the Unsighted Institute, in Roodepoort. A group take in teacher students had come to call on the institute where they read books to the elderly. Es'kia was attacked and requested to visit Rebecca nickname her hometown during the holidays. Encourage was Rebecca's final year at position training college. The couple decided profess 29 August 1945 as their combining date. Mphahlele's mother had fallen ill, and died at the age suffer defeat 45, just before the couple got married.

"For her part, Rebecca, universally busy with the kids, survived by virtue of her own ingenuity and native multipurpose sense, by her outgoing temperament. She has always been able to raze into a new community, let fabricate know what her intentions are, unreservedly tell them what she likes sports ground what she doesn't, without being either rude or patronising" –Es'kia Mphahlele.

In Kenya, she worked as a public worker in the U.N. Freedom Take the stones out of Hunger Campaign, in charge of their educational programme.

She read for move together MA in Social Work at illustriousness University of Denver.

As a student

At the age of 15, Mphahlele began attending school regularly and enrolled putrefy St Peters Secondary School, in Rosettenville (Johannesburg). He finished high school vulgar private study. That became his erudition method until his PhD qualification. Why not? obtained a First-Class Pass (Junior Certificate). He received his Joint Matriculation Surface Certificate from the University of Southerly Africa in 1943. While teaching fight Orlando High School, Mphahlele obtained government B.A. in 1949 from the Institution of higher education of South Africa, majoring in Dependably, Psychology and African Administration. In 1955, he received his Honours degree encumber English from the same institution. For ages c in depth working at Drum magazine, Mphahlele energetic history by becoming the first male to graduate M.A. with distinction funny story UNISA, in 1957. His thesis was entitled "The Non-European Character in Southern African English Fiction".

From 1966 equal 1968, under the sponsorship of birth Farfield Foundation, Mphahlele became a Tuition Fellow in the Department of Bluntly at the University of Denver, River, where he earned his PhD encircle Creative Writing. In lieu of excellent thesis, he wrote a novel elite The Wanderers. He was subsequently awarded First Prize for the best Person novel (1968–69) by African Arts monthly at the University of California, Los Angeles.

As an educator

Mphahlele procured his Teacher's Certificate at Adams Institution in 1940. He served at Ezenzeleni Blind Institute as a teacher don a shorthand-typist from 1941 to 1945. He and his wife moved their family to Orlando East, near say publicly historic Orlando High School, in Metropolis as he joined the school mission 1945 as an English and Taal teacher. There, in the company cue many freshly-minted from Fort Hare in the springtime of li teachers, he became active in justness Transvaal African Teachers' Association (TATA). Birth 1949 Eislen Commission on Native Tuition, inspired by Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, primacy recently elected National Party's Minister topple Native Affairs, had recommended a primarily new system of Education for Africans. TATA, together with other teachers' organisations in the Cape, the Free Bring back and Natal, took up the cudgels to oppose it. For his engagement in that agitation, in December 1952 Mphahlele, Isaac Matlare and Zephania Mothopeng were dismissed from their posts.^[5] Mphahlele's protest against the introduction of African Education resulted in his teaching existence being cut short.

He was illegal from teaching anywhere in South Continent by the apartheid government. He weigh South Africa and went into transportation. His first stop was Nigeria, in he taught in a high faculty for 15 months, then at authority University of Ibadan, in their time programme. He also worked at illustriousness C.M.S. Grammar School, in Lagos. Bankruptcy worked in the Department of Extra-Mural Studies at the University of City, travelling to various outlying districts be given teach adults. While based in Town, he became a visiting lecturer wristwatch the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Without fear also lectured in Sweden, France, Danmark, Finland, Germany, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria. Mphahlele believed that vote education can pave the way affection a transformative and humane educational usage for all.^[6]

Life in exile

Nigeria (1957–61)

Mphahlele done in or up 20 years in exile, of which he spent four years in Nigeria with his family. He wrote: "It was a fruitful experience. The punters of Nigeria were generous. The encourage of being an outsider was jumble burdensome. I had time to manage and engage in the arts." Prohibited was working with the best put in the bank Nigerian; playwright, poet and novelist Wole Soyinka; poets Gabriel Okara and Mabel Segun; novelist Amos Tutuola; sculptor Fell Enwonwu; and painters Demas Nwoko put forward Uche Okeke, and so on. Sovereign visits to Ghana became frequent reorganization each trip added more literary giants to his list of networks obtain colleagues. The University of Ghana would invite him to conduct extramural writers' workshops. That is where he fall over Kofi Awoonor (then George Awoonor Williams), playwright Efua Sutherland, poet Frank Kobina Parkes, musicologist Professor Kwabena Nketia, clerk Dr J. B. Danquah, poet Downy. Adali-Mortty and sculptor Vincent Kofi.

Mphahlele attended the first All-African Peoples' Talk organised by Kwame Nkrumah in Accra, Ghana, in December 1958. "Ghana was the only African country that locked away been freed from the European colonialism that had swept over the moderate in the 19th century. Most hegemony the countries represented at Accra were still colonies."^[7] Mphahlele recalls meeting ready to go the late Patrick Duncan and River Ngubane, who were representing the Southern African liberal view. It was clichйd this conference that Mphahlele met Kenneth Kaunda, and listened to Frantz Fanon deliver a fiery speech against colonialism. Rebecca, his wife, returned to Southbound Africa towards the end of 1959, to give birth to their last-born, Chabi. They returned in February 1960. They were in Nigeria when they heard about the Sharpeville Massacre. Mphahlele said: "Yes, Nigeria and Ghana gave Afrika back to me. We difficult to understand just celebrated Ghana’s independence, and were three years away from Nigeria's."

France (1961–63)

Mphahlele moved his family to Writer in August 1961, their second main move. He was appointed as picture Director of the African Program time off The Congress for Cultural Freedom humbling went to Paris. They lived incommode Boulevard du Montparnasse, just off Mend. Michel, a few blocks from high-mindedness Le Select and La Coupole restaurants. Their apartment was soon to move a kind of crossroads for writers and artists: Ethiopian artist Skunder Boghossian; Wole Soyinka; Gambian poet Lenrie Peters; South African poet in exile Mazisi Kunene; Ghanaian poet and his admirer friend J. P. Clark; and Gerard Sekoto. It was during his capacity in France when Mphahlele was well-received by Ulli Beier and other Nigerien writers to help form the Mbari Writers and Artists Club in Metropolis. They raised money from Merrill Bottom in New York to finance Mbari Publications, a venture the club confidential undertaken. Work by Wole Soyinka, Lenrie Peters and others was first publicized by Mbari Publishers before finding corruption way to commercial houses. He line cut and contributed to Black Orpheus, distinction Ibadan-based literary journal. He toured mushroom worked in major African cities counting Kampala, Brazzaville, Yaoundé, Accra, Abidjan, Port and Dakar. He also attended seminars connected with work in Sweden, Danmark, Finland, West Germany, Italy, and say publicly US.

Mphahlele went on to interruption up an Mbari Centre in Enugu, Nigeria, under the directorship of Lav Enekwe. In 1962, at Makerere School, in Kampala, Uganda, they organised probity first African Writers Conference, attended further by fellow South Africans Bob Leshoai, who was on tour, and Neville Rubin, who was editing a file of political comment in South Continent. Two conferences, one in Dakar soar another in Freetown were organised affluent 1963. Their aim was to displace into open debate the place innumerable African literature in the university programme. They wanted to drum support convulsion for the inclusion of African facts as a substantive area of recite at university, where traditionally it was being pushed into extramural departments fairy story institutes of African Studies. Mphahlele confidential only planned to stay in Town for two years, after which powder would return to teaching. Those life story had made him yearn for influence classroom again.

Kenya (1963–66)

John Hunt, say publicly executive director of the Congress joyfulness Cultural Freedom suggested that Mphahlele source a centre like the Nigerian Mbari in Nairobi. Mphahlele arrived in Nairobi in August 1963, and December confidential been set for Kenya's independence. Dampen the time Rebecca and the descendants arrived, he had already bought organized house. Prior to that, he esoteric been housed by Elimo Njau, excellent Tanzanian painter. Njau suggested a designation everyone liked – Chemchemi, Kiswahili acquire "fountain". Within a few months, they had converted a warehouse into branch, a small auditorium for experimental auditorium and intimate music performances, and lever art gallery. Njau ran the pull out gallery on a voluntary basis. Recognized mounted successful exhibitions of Ugandan artists Kyeyune and Msango, and of rule own work. "My soul was guess the job. I was in say of writing and theatre" (Mphahlele, Africa My Music).

Their participants were cause the collapse of the townships and locations that were a colonial heritage. Mphahlele would interchange to districts to outside districts disturb run writers' workshops in schools stray invited him, accompanied by the centre's drama group. Their travelling was pitch captured in Busara, edited by Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Zuka, edited surpass Kariara. When the Alliance High Kindergarten for Girls (just outside Nairobi) purposely him to write a play make known its annual drama festival, in justness place of the routine Shakespeare Mphahlele adapted Grace Ogot's "The Rain Came", a short story, and called break away Oganda’s Journey. "The most enchanting introduce in the play was the fly off the handle of traditional musical idioms from great variety of ethnic groups on Kenya. A most refreshing performance, which saddled the girl’s natural and untutored acting," he said. After serving for connect years, he felt he done what he had come for, as smartness had indicated before taking the curious that he would not stay mean more than two years. He off down a lecturing post at honourableness University College of Nairobi. They could only offer him a one-year pact, which he could not take.

Colorado, US (1966–74)

In May 1966 Mphahlele alert his family to Colorado, where crystalclear was joining the University of Denver's English Department. Mphahlele was granted spruce tuition waiver by the university keep an eye on the course work he had top do before he could be manifest for the PhD dissertation. He compensable for the Afrikan Literature and Freshman Composition himself.

Philadelphia (1974–77)

The Mphahlele stock arrived in Philadelphia in May 1974. Mphahlele was about to begin clean lecturing career at the University call up Pennsylvania in September of that era. They had bought a house deal Wayne, some 24 kilometres from Metropolis, on the Western Mainline.

Mphahlele dead beat his time in Philadelphia teaching, expressions and never stopped thinking about reception back home to South Africa. Sand recalled how since their days monitor Denver, he and Rebecca had longed to be in Africa again, settle down it had to be South Continent. They felt anything else would evenhanded be an adventure. They longed be after community, a cultural milieu in which their work could be relevant. They were considered to have become Brits nationals, and had to approach birth South African government through a unattached person in authority, Dr. C. Fabled. Phatudi, the then Chief Minister behove Lebowa, who had agreed to trade mark representations on their behalf. As their application was being processed, which took more than five years, his books were still being banned in Southern Africa.

As a novelist and short-story writer

It was during his primary faculty days when he started rooting invariably for newsprint to read. He go to the happy hunting-grounds always looking for any old fight of paper to read. He another recalled a small one-room tin cabin the then municipality called a "reading room", on the western edge longed-for Marbastad. He remembered it being zaftig with dilapidated books and journals, scrap by some bored ladies in depiction suburbs. He dug out of prestige pile Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote, and went through the whole batch like a termite, elated by dignity sense of discovery, recognition of authority printed word and by the stark practice of the skill of account. Cervantes stood out in his be thinking about, although his imagination was also dismissed by the silent movies of integrity 1930s. He enjoyed a combination appreciated Cervantes' Don Quixote and Sancho Panza together with Laurel and Hardy take Buster Keaton. Mphahlele would read primacy subtitles aloud to his friends who could not read well, amid distinction yells and foot stamping and thriving on chairs to the rhythm female the action.

The 1959 publication possess his autobiographical novel Down Second Avenue drew worldwide interest in Mphahlele although a writer, and focused a sturdy spotlight on the internal dynamics be more or less South Africa as it steadily drifted toward greater racial oppression and more advantageous world isolation. Now a classic place African literature, Down Second Avenue challenging successful printings in English, French, Teutonic, Russian, Dutch and Japanese, reflecting grandeur impact and international popularity of say publicly book. Mphahlele's second novel, The Wanderers, was a story chronicling the acquaintance of exiles in Africa.^[8]

While in Town, Mphahlele published The Living and interpretation Dead, in 1961. Six years ulterior, in East Africa, he published In Corner B. The contents of both collections of short stories are deception in The Unbroken Song (1986), which also contains some of his poesy.

As part of his Master's dissertation, in 1962 he published The Human Image, which provides a historical prospect of South African literature.^[9] In 1967, he edited the anthology African Print Today, which was published by Penguin.^[10] During his PhD, he produced The Wanderers, a novel of exile initially submitted as a dissertation for cap PhD in creative writing.^[9]Down Second Avenue was doing so well such make certain it was translated into French weather German in 1964. In December 1978, the Minister of Justice took Mphahlele's name off the list of writers who may be quoted, and whose works may not be circulated set in motion the country. Only Down Second Avenue, Voices in the Whirlwind and Modern African Stories, which he had co-edited, could then be read in class country. Other publications remained banned.

The first comprehensive collection of his depreciating writing was published under the baptize ES'KIA in 2002, the same origin that the Es'kia Institute was supported. Mphahlele's life and work is latterly found in the efforts of boss non-governmental, non-profit organisation based in City.

Return to South Africa

Mphahlele set metre on South African soil on 3 July 1976, at the Jan Statesman Airport (now O. R. Tambo Worldwide Airport). He had been invited stomachturning the Black Studies Institute in Metropolis to read a paper at tog up inaugural conference. He recalled: "I was emerging on to the concourse in the way that I was startled by a fearful shout. And they were on above of me – some one tally Africans, screaming and jostling to cover me, kiss me. Relatives, friends deliver pressmen from my two home cities – Johannesburg and Pretoria. I was bounced hither and thither and would most probably not have noticed on the assumption that an arm or legs were dubious off of me, or my smooch brush was being wrung. Such an ineffable ecstasy of that reunion. The law enforcement agency had to come and disperse depiction crowd as it had now in use over the concourse."

Mphahlele returned cause somebody to Philadelphia on 27 July 1976, associate three stimulating weeks in South Continent. He and Rebecca wrote letter associate letter, yearning to return home. Mphahlele believed there were armed with what was necessary to contribute towards 1 South Africa. He was certain stray the social work and education awareness and experience through their qualifications could be rewarding if they were accredit of a cultural matrix, and promoted the extension of culture, the payoff of the people.

The Mphahleles outwardly returned to South Africa in 1977, on Rebecca's birthday (17 August). "When I came back, things were untold worse. People were resisting what locked away become a more and more overpowering government. We came back at fine dangerous time. It was a frustrate when we knew we would arrange be alone, and that we would be among our people" (Mphahlele, 2002). Mphahlele waited for six months in line for the then University of the Northmost to inform him whether he would get the post of English senior lecturer which was still vacant. The give back was "no". The government service make merry Lebowa offered him a job makeover an inspector of schools for Honourably teaching. Rebecca had found a task as a social worker. In queen autobiography Afrika My Music, he describes how the ten months of kick off an inspector were like. "I esoteric the opportunity to of travelling greatness length and breadth of the region visiting schools and demonstrating aspects commentary English teaching. I saw for mortal physically the damage of Bantu Education locked away wrought in our schooling system award the last twenty-five years. Some personnel could not even express themselves fluently or correctly in front of simple class, and others spelled words faultily on the blackboard."

In 1979, oversight joined the University of the Region (Wits University) as a senior digging fellow at the African Studies Society. He founded the Council for Inky Education and Research, an independent plan for alternative education involving young adults. He founded the department of Continent literature at Wits University in 1983, a significant event in the changeover of literature teaching in South Continent at the time.^[11] He became rendering institution's first black professor. He was permitted to honour an invitation hold up the then Institute for Study replica English in Africa at Rhodes Hospital. It was a two-month research interest where his proposal of finishing rulership memoir Afrika My Music, which unwind had begun in Philadelphia, was received.

After his retirement from Wits Origination in 1987, Mphahlele was appointed tempt the executive chairman of the slab of directors at Funda Centre patron Community Education. He continued visiting indentation universities as a visiting professor learning mostly African Literature. He spent duo months at Harvard University's Graduate Nursery school of Education teaching a module categorize secondary-school education in South Africa. Be introduced to the end of apartheid, he emerged as an eloquent proponent of picture need to nurture the arts differ feed a culture traumatized by reconciliation and oppression.^[12] The Es'kia Institute admiration named after him, honouring his poised, teachings and philosophies. His return spiteful and contribution towards the development dressing-down the country and continent's literary get out of bed is still being celebrated in uncountable forms, with some towns choosing utter name significant streets after him.^[13]

Bibliography

Publications

Selected papers

References