Loading AI tools
Genre of oral poetry in Bantu language From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Izibongo is a genre of oral literature among various Bantu peoples of Southern Africa, including the Zulu[1] and the Xhosa.[2] While it is often considered to be poetry of praise, Jeff Opland and others consider the term "praise" (for "bonga") to be too limiting, since it can contain criticism also.[3]
Noleen Turner distinguished four different categories: the praise of ordinary people (izibongo zabantu kumbe izihasho), of inanimate things (izibongo zezinto ezingaphili); of kings, and of great people (nezibongo zamakhosi/izibongo zabantu abakhulu abagqamile); and of clans (izithakazelo kanye nezibongo).[1] Opland recognized three topics: people, animals, and objects, and noted that izibongo "is a poetry rooted, in subject and imagery, in the concrete", and that it does not treat landscape or emotion "in the manner of romantic or lyric poetry".[3]
Somadoda Fikeni points out that regarding izibongo as pertaining only to famous people (a Eurocentric paradigm) discredits common people, women, young people—Fineki argues that izibongo is a central element in the life of the people, and that while not everyone can have an "imbongi-public poet", everyone practices izibongo one way or another, since "izibongo form a collective memory, conscience and soul of an African society, and they are spiritually-centered oral narratives which are repositories of Indigenous wisdom". Izibongo, according to Fikeni, express both a oneness with the universe and a collective memory, and an individuality rooted in history.[2] Jeff Opland also stated that earlier studies (into the 1970s) of Bantu poetry tended to focus on "the poetry of chiefs and prominent people", though he recognized a number of insightful studies on poetry by women, for instance, starting in the 1970s.[3]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.