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ENG2603 S2 ASSIGNMENT 3 2024
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- University Of South Africa (Unisa)
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ENG2603ASSIGNMENT NO: 03 (sem 2)
YEAR : 2024
PREVIEW:
In Welcome to Our Hillbrow, Phaswane Mpe provides a rich narrative that illustrates the tension
African writers face when attempting to write in their native languages. Mpe explores themes of
censorship, identity, and the lingering effects of colonialism, all of which are deeply tied to the issue
of language. The novel vividly captures the frustrations of African writers, like the protagonist
Refentše, who face structural challenges when attempting to write authentically in African
languages. Below, I will elaborate on specific examples from the novel, connecting them with the
theoretical perspectives of Obiajunwa Wali, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Chinua Achebe, while also
addressing the broader implications of language choice in African literature.
, Assignment 03
Due date: 13 September 2024
Compulsory: Yes
Instructions:
• Before you attempt this assignment, you must make sure that you have engaged the
prescribed book A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry.
• It is your responsibility to access the prescribed books, and you will not be able to answer
the questions if you have not familiarised yourself with the texts and poem.
Question 1: Welcome to our Hillbrow by Mpe Phaswane
In Welcome to Our Hilbrow, Refentše is depicted as a creative writer who notes a problem
with the suppression of writing literature in African languages. In one of the passages in the
novel Refentše is addressing Refilwe about the difficulties of writing in a language NOT of
one’s own. Refentše says:
She did not know that writing in an Afri-can language in South Africa could be such a curse. She
had not anticipated that the publishers’ reviewers would brand her novel vulgar. Calling shit and
genitalia by their cor-rect names in Sepedi was apparently regarded as vulgar by these reviewers,
who had for a long time been reviewing works of fiction for educational publishers, and who were
deter-mined to ensure that such works did not of-fend the systems that they served. These systems
were very inconsistent in their attitudes to education. They considered it fine, for instance, to call
genitalia by their cor-rect names in English and Afrikaans biology books—even gave these names
graphic pic-tures as escorts—yet in all other languages, they criminalised such linguistic honesty. .
. . In 1995, despite the so-called new dispensa-tion, nothing had really changed. The leg-acy of
Apartheid censors still shackled those who dreamed of writing freely in an African The leg-acy of
Apartheid censors still shackled those who dreamed of writing freely in an African language.
Publishers, scared of being found to be on the financially dangerous side of the censorship border,
still rejected manuscripts that too realistically called things by their proper names—names that
people of Tirag-along and Hillbrow and everywhere in the world used every day. (Welcome to Our
Hillbrow, 56, 57)
Assignment Task
Read the above passage and consider its significance in the African writers’ debates on which
languages to use when writing African literature. Carefully consult and read Obiajunwa Wali’s essay,
The Dead end of African Literature? (2007) Ngugi wa Thiongo essay, “The Language of African
Literature” (2007), and Chinua Achebe’s essay, “The African writer and African Language” In:
Morning Yet on Creation Day (1975) to understand this debate.
Then, write an essay of not more than three pages showing how Phaswane uses language in
Welcome to our Hillbrow. Your answer should incorporate the views of the above scholars and you
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