Nothing’s Changed Tatamkhulu Afrika

Nothing’s ChangedTatamkhulu Afrika

2013

Nothing’s ChangedMini Task 1

Write down what you know about ‘Apartheid’.

Learning Objectives

As we study this poem you will learn:• The story of the poem• Apartheid in South Africa• More about the terms,

Metaphor: Tone & Imagery.• You will also complete some mini tasks, a test and

an assignment on the poem.


Small round hard stones click under my heels,seeding grasses thrustbearded seedsinto trouser cuffs, cans,trodden on, crunchin tall, purple-flowering,amiable weeds.

District Six.No board says it is:but my feet know,and my hands,and the skin about my bones,and the soft labouring of my lungs, and the hot, white, inwards turning anger of my eyes.

Brash with glass,name flaring like a flag,it squatsin the grass and weeds,incipient Port Jackson trees:new, up-market, haute cuisine, guard at the gatepost,whites only inn.

No sign says it is:but we know where we belong.

I press my noseto the clear panes, know,before I see them, there will becrushed ice white glass,linen falls,the single rose.

Down the road,working man's cafe sellsbunny chows.Take it with you, eatit at a plastic table's top,wipe your fingers on your jeans, spit a little on the floor:it's in the bone. I back from the glass, boy again,leaving small mean O of small, mean mouth.Hands burnfor a stone, a bomb,to shiver down the glass. Nothing's changed.

Nothing’s ChangedThe Background to the poem

Nothing’s Changed

Apartheid was the South African government policy of racial segregation. Under apartheid black and white people were not allowed to mix. Cities were split into ‘Black’, ‘White’, ‘Indian’ and ‘Coloured’ districts, with the best areas reserved for white people and the worst allocated to black people.

Apartheid affected every aspect of life. Interracial marriage or sexual relations were made illegal. Schools, swimming pools, cinemas, even pedestrian crossings and ambulances were designated as ‘whites only’ or ‘blacks only’. Black people were denied voting rights and were often treated with great brutality by the police and security forces. Many people who opposed the system were tortured or killed.

Apartheid was condemned by the international community and sanctions were imposed against South Africa from the 1970s onwards. Despite this the policy did not come to an end until 1993.

What was apartheid?

Nothing’s ChangedThe Background to the poem

District 6

District 6 The area was named in 1867 as the Sixth Municipal District of Cape Town. By the turn of the century it was already a lively community made up of former slaves, artisans, merchants and other immigrants, as well as many Malay people brought to South Africa by the Dutch East India Company during its administration of the Cape Colony.

It was home to almost a tenth of the city of Cape Town's population.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ANC-gives-back-district-six-poster.jpg

District 6 After World War II, during the earlier part of the apartheid era, District Six was relatively cosmopolitan. Situated within sight of the docks, it was largely made up of coloured residents which included a substantial number of Coloured Muslims, called Cape Malays.

There was also a number of black Xhosa residents. There were also smaller numbers of Afrikaans, whites, and Indians.


District 6 Government officials gave four primary reasons for the removals. In accordance with apartheid philosophy, it stated that interracial interaction bred conflict, necessitating the separation of the races. They deemed District Six a slum, fit only for clearance, not rehabilitation.

They also portrayed the area as crime-ridden and dangerous; they claimed that the district was a vice den, full of immoral activities like gambling, drinking, and prostitution.

Though these were the official reasons, most residents believed that the government sought the land because of its proximity to the city center, Table Mountain, and the harbor.

An ANC election poster, linking the rival party to the history of forced removals.



District 6On 11 February 1966, the government declared District Six a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act, with removals starting in 1968. By 1982, more than 60,000 people had been relocated to the sandy, bleak Cape Flats township complex some 25 kilometers away.

The old houses were bulldozed. The only buildings left standing were places of worship.


District 6 ~ Now International and local pressure made redevelopment difficult for the government, however. The Cape Technikon (now Cape Peninsula University of Technology) was built on a portion of District Six which the government renamed Zonnebloem.


District 6 ~ Now

Since the fall of apartheid in 1994, the African National Congress has recognized the older claims of former residents to the area, and pledged to support rebuilding.

Apart from this and some police housing units, the area was left undeveloped.

District 6 ~ Now

But nothing seems to have happened yet!


Briefly write down what happens in the poem and what you think the poem’s meaning/message is.







The Story Of The PoemThe poet is walking across the wasteland that District Six has now become. He knew this area as a boy and the destruction of District 6 that he sees in front of him makes him angry. He sees a new up-market restaurant that has been built there and approaches it. He sees that there are guards on the gate, that the restaurant is spotlessly clean and he knows that as a black man he will not be welcome there; and that he is only worthy of eating in a cheap working men’s café.

Nothing’s Changed

The injustice of this makes him angry and he is reminded of the injustice he felt when he was a boy which makes him feel like he wants to destroy the restaurant because he feels nothing has changed.


Use two words to describe tone and imagery in the poem’s first stanza.



Use two words to describe imagery and tone in the poem’s first stanza.


Wasteland – stones, seeding grasses, cans, weedsBut friendly - amiable

The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning There is a very percussive opening line in the poem with a series of monosyllabic words. This helps build up the imagery in the opening lines in which the poet establishes the wasteland that is District 6. Because it is written in first person we are also drawn into the world the poet creates in the poem. The Imagery is reinforced with the references to un-mowed grass that has gone to seed and to the purple weeds. Note the personification used to describe the weeds as ‘amiable’ ~ weeds cannot be friendly, but this word help establish a light tone at the beginning of the poem. He finds the weeds friendly because they form part of a landscape that he knew as a boy.


Nothing’s Changed

Note also the alliteration on ‘cuff, cans’ which resonates with ‘crunch’ on the next line. The rhythmic effect of this helps light tone in the opening lines.


What elements/devices are used to change the tone and in the poem’s second stanza?




1. From friendly to angry.2. Repetition - and Punctuation – short sharp sentences The word ‘anger’ which is ‘white’ hot.

1. How has the tone changed in this stanza?2. Write down examples of the elements or devices that are used in this stanza to

change the tone and in the poem’s second stanza?

The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning

There is the beginning of a change in tone here. The use of the two word title ‘District Six’ is a stark statement and expects you to know the area the poet is talking about. The repetition in the next few line accentuates the growing anger the poet feels and heralds a dramatic change in tone from the opening lines of the poem. The use of punctuation also helps here to build up the sense of growing anger. Note the clear body imagery here which leads to the metaphor that describes his anger over the destruction of District 6 and the construction of this restaurant as being ‘white’ hot.


Nothing’s Changed


Brash with glass,name flaring like a flag,it squatsin the grass and weeds,incipient Port Jackson trees:

There is lots happening in the first part of Stanza. See if you can identify an example of:

1. An internal rhyme.2. Alliteration3. Assonance/Chime

It also has imagery as its Key Feature. Write down what you think is the most striking or unusual image.



There is lots happening in the first part of Stanza. See if you can identify an example of:

1. An internal rhyme.2. Alliteration3. Assonance/Chime

It also has imagery as its Key Feature. 4. Write down what you think is the most striking or unusual image.

1. An internal rhyme = Brash with glass,2. Alliteration = flaring like a flag3. Assonance/Chime = weeds – trees4. It squats



Nothing’s Changed

There are several poetic devices used to ad ‘punch’ to the beginning of this stanza; you have the internal rhyme on ‘Brash ~ glass’ and alliteration on ‘flaring like a flag’. This helps change the tone by reducing the anger at the end of the last stanza to bitter cynicism. This takes us to the two word line ‘it squats’ which by being separate, draws attention to itself much as the line ‘District 6’ does. Squat is an interesting word to choose as it has several meanings eg: something that is short and wide, usually in a way that is not attractive: or to live in an empty building or area of .............land without the permission of the owner. In .............other words it doesn't belong there! Note the enjambment here, the line belongs with the rest of its sentence, the separation emphasises its importance. Incipient means ‘just beginning’ and Port Jackson is a reference to the Port Jackson Willow, an Australian plant considered a weed in S Africa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Acacia_saligna(01).jpg

new, up-market, haute cuisine, guard at the gatepost,whites only inn.

No sign says it is:but we know where we belong


1. What impression is created in the first two lines below.2. ‘whites only inn’ is a pun. ‘the use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or

suggest different meanings.’ What are the two meanings of the phrase?3. If there was a sign what would it say?


No sign says it is:but we know where we belong


1. What impression is created in the first two lines below.2. ‘whites only inn’ is a pun. ‘the use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or

suggest different meanings.’ What are the two meanings of the phrase?3. If there was a sign what would it say?

1. How new and ‘posh’ the restaurant is.2. An inn for white people and only white people are allowed in.3. This


There is an emphasis in these lines on how ‘posh’ and new the restaurant is; which takes us on to the reference to the guards. Why are guards needed? To protect the diners from attack or to keep out the unwanted. Note the pun on ‘whites only inn’. Only white people are allowed in the inn, even though this sort of racism should have stopped with the end of the Apartheid era in 1994. The apartheid signs might have gone now that South Africa is a democracy, but the poet knows that as a man of coloured or mixed race he would not be welcome in the restaurant; in other words he knows where he belongs….. Not in there but in the working men’s café down the road!



Nothing’s Changed


What is the key feature of the poem’s fifth stanza?



What is the key feature of the poem’s fifth stanza?


COLOUR IMAGERY…..and mostly white colour imagery.


There is a very vivid and clear use of imagery here, especially colour imagery ~ all that white ~ the crushed ice, the linen, the rose. the restaurant. All of this emphasises the ‘whiteness’ of the restaurant against which ‘black’ people would stand out and helps to reinforce the notion that black people are not welcome. But what if the rose is red not white....blood red, then perhaps it too has a symbolic significance beyond simply being a flower decorating table....it then becomes a metaphor for the blood that has been shed in South Africa’s struggle fro freedom.


Nothing’s Changed


How does the poem change in the sixth stanza?

Down the road,working man's cafe sellsbunny chows.Take it with you, eatit at a plastic table's top,wipe your fingers on your jeans, spit a little on the floor:it's in the bone


How does the poem change in the sixth stanza?

Down the road,working man's cafe sellsbunny chows.Take it with you, eatit at a plastic table's top,wipe your fingers on your jeans, spit a little on the floor:it's in the bone

There is a change in location and in character/class, from the ‘posh’ restaurant to a working men’s café.

The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning This is where the poet thinks those who run the restaurant feel he belongs simply because he is black. No crushed ice, no linen napkins or roses on the table here’ just a plastic table top and jeans to wipe your fingers on. A bunny chow is half a loaf with the middle scooped out and filled with something like stew or beans. This is obviously not the cultured or refined behaviour expected in a posh restaurant, but what can you expect from an uncultured black man ‘it's in the bone.’

Nothing’s Changed

Down the road,working man's cafe sellsbunny chows.Take it with you, eatit at a plastic table's top,wipe your fingers on your jeans, spit a little on the floor:it's in the bone.

This stanza then takes you away from the refined world of the restaurant to the everyday reality of the ordinary black South African. There is in this stanza a change in tone but also a very strong sense of anger generated by the injustice of the segregation the poet feels he has been subjected to all his life.


How has the poem’s tone changed from the first to the last stanza?

I back from the glass, boy again,leaving small mean O of small, mean mouth.Hands burnfor a stone, a bomb,to shiver down the glass. Nothing's changed.


How has the poem’s tone changed from the first to the last stanza?


From friendly, to angry to violent.

The Poem ~ Structure & Meaning The feelings of injustice that seeing the restaurant have provoked in the poet make him feel like a small boy again and are so strong that they make him want to destroy the restaurant and the injustice it symbolises.

Nothing’s Changed


Note the alliteration on ‘mean mouth’ and the repetition of ‘mean’. The use of ‘burn’ echoes the white hot anger he expresses in the first stanza. The final line is the title of the poem and summarizes the poets feelings about South African society and despite the new democracy he feels that as yet, nothing has changed and the country is as unequal as it always was.

Nothing's Changed is entirely autobiographical. I can't quite remember when I wrote this, but I think it must have been about 1990. District Six was a complete waste by then, and I hadn't been passing through it for a long time. But nothing has changed. Not only District Six... I mean, we may have a new constitution, we may have on the face of it a beautiful democracy, but the racism in this country is absolutely redolent. We try to pretend to the world that it does not exist, but it most certainly does, all day long, every day, shocking and saddening and terrible. Look, I don't want to sound like a prophet of doom, because I don't feel like that at all. I am full of hope. But I won't see it in my lifetime. It's going to take a long time. I mean, in America it's taken all this time and it's still not gone... So it will change. But not quickly, not quickly at all.

Tatamkhulu Afrika (1920-2002)

The Poem ~ What the poet says.

Nothing’s Changed

Tatamkhulu Afrika (1920–2002) was born in Egypt to a Turkish mother and an Arab father, but was orphaned as an infant and adopted by white South Africans. His first novel was published when he was only twenty – but his next book did not come out until he was seventy-one. In 1948 South Africa adopted the system of apartheid. The author joined the ANC (the main group opposed to the policy). He was arrested and banned from writing or public speaking for five years. To get round the ban he started using his ANC code name Tatamkhulu Afrika which meant Grandfather Africa or old man of Africa. Afrika eventually published two novels and eight books of poetry. He died at the age of eighty-two after being hit by a car.

About the PoetNothing’s Changed

When the government introduced classification by race, Tatamkhulu Afrika was categorized as white. However, rather than compromise his beliefs and his integrity, he refused to accept this classification and chose instead to be categorized as coloured. The poet lived in District Six, a mixed-race residential district of Cape Town, until the government decided it was to become a whites-only area. The bulk of the population was evicted and the area was bulldozed. Most of it has never been rebuilt, and today the area is largely derelict. It has come to be seen as a symbol of apartheid.

About the PoetNothing’s Changed

Other Cultures Assignment 1Presents & Nothing’s Changed

In what ways do Moniza Alvi and Tatamkhulu Afrika use imagery in these poems to effectively convey a message or point of view.

600-800 Words by Wed 18th Feb.

Nothing’s Changed Tatamkhulu Afrika

Documents

Transcript of Nothing’s Changed Tatamkhulu Afrika