Rethinking the Interface Between Tradition and Modernity in Post-apartheid South Africa through Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness

Abstract

The interface between African tradition and modernity is one of the concerns of spirited debates in the post-colonial period. Although most African writers deal with it, relatively few have attempted to depict how tradition and modernity may both benefit African societies. Modernity has reached Africa and, thus, the African tradition cannot remain intact. The utmost global portent that distresses human social life is the impact of modernity. Therefore, the paper’s key objective is to delineate the degree of social impairment in the present-day Africa engendered by the interface between tradition and modernity. In Africa, modernity has not only influenced personal characteristics but also social, cultural, religious and the operation of establishments. Most believers of African tradition are very conventional, counterattacking the effects of modernity signalled by the colonial period, including the arrival of Christianity and Western teachings. This noted, the paper has utilised a qualitative research method and a textual analysis to critically scrutinise the impacts of the clash between tradition and modernity through the lens of the literary text, Heart of Redness (2000) by Zakes Mda. The findings from the study divulge the clash between African tradition and modernity has resulted in the erosion of many African traditional systems notwithstanding the dethronement of the colonial administration that empowered modernity at the expense of African traditional systems. The paper concludes that to reesseentialise African traditions, the remnants of colonialism should be successfully uprooted. This noted, this study will make a significant contribution to the rehabilitation of African traditions as it unravels the foundations and gatekeepers of modernity at the expense of African tradition. Keywords: African tradition, Christianity, modernity, post-apartheid cultural progressionReferences Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G. & Tiffin, G.H. (1989). The empire writes back: Theory and practice in post-colonial literatures. RoutledgeBhabha, H.K. (1994). The location of culture. Routledge.Birama, E. J. R. (2005). Bicultural self-efficacy among college students: Initial scale development and mental health correlates. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 56(2), 211-226.Blaxter, L., Hughes, C. & Tight, M. (2006). How to teach research. (3rd ed.). Open University Press.Bless, C., Higson-Smith, C. & Sithole, S.L. (2013). Fundamentals of social research methods: An African perspective. Juta.Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2012). Thematic analysis. APA handbook of research methods in psychology Vol 2. Washington DC.du Toit, A. (2017). Explaining the Persistence of rural poverty in South Africa. Institute for poverty, land and Agrarian studies. University of the Western Cape. Hoogvelt, A. (1997). Globalization and the post-colonial world: The new politica. The John Hopkins University Press.Kaplan, L. (2000). The economic power of culture. Journal of Arts, 22(4), 41-58.Leedy, P.D., & Ormord, J.E. (2014). Practical research: Planning and design. Pearson.Littlejohn, S.W. (2002). Theory of human communication. Thomson Wadsworth.Malan, R., & Mashigoane, M. (2004). The heart of redness study notes. Oxford University Press.McLaren, J. (2005). The heart of redness: A novel review. Indiana University Press.Mda, Z. (2000). The heart of redness. Oxford University Press.Mogoboya, M.J. (2011). African identity in Es’kia Mphahlele‘s autobiography and fictional novels: A literary investigation (Master Thesis). University of Limpopo.Montle, M.E. (2020). Debunking eurocentric ideals of beauty and stereotypes against African natural hair (styles): An Afrocentric perspective. Journal of African Foreign Affairs, 7(1), 111-127.Montle, M.E. (2022). Rethinking the pedigrees of African cultural watershed: A post-colonial in inquest into Chinua Achebe’s arrow of God. ELTALL: English Language Teaching, Applied Linguistics and Literature, 3(2), 1-11.Nikolopoulou, K. (2022, November 27). What is purposive sampling? www.scribbr.comPerret, S., Anseeuw, W., & Mathebula, F. (2005). Poverty and livelihoods in rural South Africa: Investigating diversity and dynamics of livelihoods. Case studies in Limpopo. Unpublished project report Num.05/01, Kellogg’s Foundation, University of Pretoria, 65p.Pretoria.