On this episode, we talk with Sikose (she/her), a Ph.D. student in the Department of English studying underground literature in South Africa during apartheid. Together, we talk about how her research informs her perspective on writing and why writing matters to her.
Please note that this episode contains discussions of police and state violence.
Historical context:
1948 – the first apartheid law is enacted in South Africa
1952 – Regional pass laws, which required Black South Africans to carry identifying documents to travel through internal checkpoints within the country, are replaced by a national pass law
1953 – The Bantu Education Act is enacted, effectively restricting education access for non-White South Africans
1960 – Sharpeville Massacre occurs when police ambush crowds protesting against the national pass law
1963-64 – The Rivonia Trial takes place, sending many leading anti-apartheid activists to prison for life, including Nelson Mandela
1976 – Soweto Uprising, a protest that begins as a response to planned language policy instituting Afrikaans as the language of instruction for Black South African students, becomes a broader challenge to the authority of the apartheid government
1990 – Negotiations begin to end apartheid in South Africa; Nelson Mandela is released after 27 years of imprisonment
Material and resources discussed:
South Africa Belongs to Us: A History of the ANC – Francis Meli (Zimbabwe Publishing House, 1988; accessible via UW Libraries)
Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto – Tricia Hersey (Little, Brown Spark, 2022; accessible via UW Libraries)
On the Stage of Time – Sikose Mji (Beyond the Vale Publishing, 2024; available soon via UW Libraries)
Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (Heinemann, 1986; accessible via UW Libraries)
- The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-love – Sonya Renee Taylor (Berrett-Koehler Publishers; accessible via UW Libraries)
- Storytelling Fellows – a program for UW students, faculty, and staff organized by the UW Libraries offering beginner-level workshops on podcasting, digital exhibition, and video storytelling.
Audio transcript: Episode 4
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