“Three generations of white South African men were bound together at that table. Vermuelen was the first generation. He defined Africa, made it safe for Basson to defile. I was the last generation, the last to grow up in segregated neighborhoods. Between us was the silent photograph of Wouter Basson. Like a distant father, Basson was absent at the dining table.” – Henk Rossouw (Hole in the White ‘Hood). Also Mahmood Mamdani on Bantu Education at UCT, Gael Reagon on sisterhood, Binyavanga Wainaina on dis-covering Kenya, Gaston Zossou on African intellectuals and more…
Cover:
Strange Fruit by Lewis Allen
Chimurenganyana: The Garden Letters of Yvonne Vera by Tadiwa Madenga (2023)
In the 1990s, Yvonne Vera wrote garden letters to friends, lovers, and readers of Bulawayo’s Chronicle newspaper. They were literary meditations, writings that questioned if the myth of the garden could be hijacked from its colonial origins and used to restore a sacred relationship with nature for Black people. In this monograph, Tadiwa Madenga travels to Bulawayo to retrace Yvonne Vera’s life and works through her letters, columns, novels, gallery curations, and her former homes. It is a story written for those who love gardens and those who seek to trespass them.
Decomposed, an-arranged and reproduced by Chimurenga
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Size: 125mm x 195mm
Pages: 60pp (plus cover)
Printing: blue and white
Language: English
ISBN: 978-0-6397592-8-9