The Cattle Motif in Sol T. Plaatje’s Publications in English

Abstract

Afrocentricity is the paradigm that underpins this study, which adapts the analytical construct “motif” from Welsh-Asante’s Nzrui aesthetic model. “Motif” highlights “cattle,” an image drawn from Batswana culture. Traditionally, the life of the Batswana is centered on cattle. Right up to the present, cattle feed the creative imagination in proverbs. This study traces the cattle motif in Sol. T. Plaatje’s three most important publications in English: The Mafikeng Diary, Native Life in South Africa, and Mhudi. Cattle raids in The Mafikeng Diary of Sol T. Plaatje dignify Batswana heroism during the siege of Mafikeng. Tenacious shepherding during shellfire reveals the calm composure that rendered Africans skillful in covert operations. Dying cattle in Native Life in South Africa signify the economic ruin of the Batswana. Dispossessed of the right to rent grazing land, the Batswana risked extinction of social and spiritual identities, because cattle were the symbolic means of negotiation relationships among the living and with the ancestors.

Keywords

cattle proverbs Sol T. Plaatje ancestors Batswana culture

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