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ScopeThe Arts, Culture and Heritage project encompasses:
The above characterisation is more organisational than generic and is based on the categorisation provided in the 1996 White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage. An essentially multi-media format will be employed in the design of the encyclopaedia. All entries will be posted in the first instance on the web, interrogated by readers and updated periodically. Print editions will also be made available in separate volumes and new editions issued periodically. Photographs and other illustrations will elaborate the text, where appropriate. Audio inserts will also be used, where appropriate, in the style of the Iowa International Writers Programme. The model of the verbal arts, which in order to be methodical, systematic and comprehensive will be undertaken first, will be replicated in our approach to the study and documentation of the performing and visual arts – although overlaps will occur and much cross-referencing. The focus on the verbal arts will be literary and cultural history -- ancient, modern and contemporary. Not since the Human Science Research Council subsidised the publication of Guide to South African English Literature (1984), edited by Michael Chapman, Ernest Pereira, Colin Gardner and Es’kia Mphahlele, has there been work of national scope in the verbal arts. The performing and visual arts have not fared better and scholarship that provides both a panoramic view and in-depth analysis of these art forms remains in short supply, inaccessible to the majority of learners, educators, researchers and general readers. The focus of the project on the verbal arts will not be English but Comparative Literature, in the context of exploring and defining the national contours of our culture. This will focus on written South African literatures and also encompass oral culture or orature, in all the indigenous languages – some of which such as the San languages, isiBhaca, and Selobedu have not been accorded official status but possess a rich and unique store of orature. Writing in other languages such as Hindi and Tamil will also be sourced out. We will adopt the same research method and study approach for the performing and visual arts and heritage section. The visual arts volume will have a similar format to the others but requires the inclusion of illustrations, just as some audio-visual sound effects may have to be employed in documenting the performing arts. Methodology The project will employ principally the “commissioning” method Francis Wilson and Mamphela Ramphele devised for the 2nd Carnegie study published as Uprooting Poverty (1989), complemented by an indaba approach. To produce sophisticated and comprehensive studies, the project will farm out research on major movements, themes, genres, periods to specialists on each subject, on a commissioned basis. The project will also assemble these arts practitioners and scholars in successive years, artistic category by artistic category. These annual gatherings of eminent scholars and arts practitioners will serve as brainstorming barns. The first gathering will be indaba of orature scholars, literary historians and other literary figures; the second will feature the performing arts; the third the visual arts; and the fourth heritage studies. The idea is to produce authoritative reference works in cultural studies from the commissioned research, invited papers and conference deliberations. After each gathering, a volume will be assembled as reference material for learners, educators, researchers and general readers. The process of creating reference works of this comprehensive magnitude has to be as inclusive as possible, hence the “indaba” and “commissioning” approaches to assemble the collective expertise the nation and the international community command. Besides in-depth studies that will focus on period, movement, genre or theme/s, other studies will consist of biographies – single author entries. Each presentation will weave together threads of
In some instances there will be no need to re-invent the wheel, where existing articles adequately cover a given area and arrangements can be made to include the articles in the Encyclopaedia. Research will thus aim to identify books and articles written on various aspects of South African arts, culture and heritage. In other instances where individuals and institutions are conducting work of similar scope the project will enter into some arrangements for collaboration. Single author/artist entries will be provided in the main by a team of researchers trained for the purpose. The training will emphasise elaboration of adopted method and harmonisation and aim to produce ultimately a critical mass of experts in arts, culture and heritage studies reflecting South Africa‘s diverse communities. The project will thus engage researchers (with training in cultural studies or history or in some other cognate field) and translators and will be based on (i) Library, internet and other “archival” sources; and (ii) Interviews with the artists, their peers, other knowledgeable figures and pertinent sources. The researchers and translators will be commissioned on a part-time, subject-specific basis from other organisations (media houses, educational institutions, government etc.) to enhance their research skills. The project should see the emergence, therefore, of a critical and representative mass of experts on arts, culture and heritage studies across the country. Many of the artists also make excellent subjects for a video/television series that could prove just as cutting edge in its impact. Interviews carried out with contemporary artists and other informants will bear such an eventuality in mind. |