African Literature and Intellectual Histories: Reflecting on Ntongela Masilela’s Work

Professor Ntongela Masilela (1948–2020) is recognised as one of South Africa’s most eminent scholars, and his highly respected and meticulous contributions to local and global intellectual discourse, most significantly via his historical archive, offer essential insights into disciplines such as literature, film, arts, and political and intellectual history.  

Chapter 1:
Writing in the Latter Years of the Interregnum Period and the in the ‘New South Africa’ Era: An Introduction

Chapter 2:
Issues in the Historiography of South Africa Literature

Chapter 3:
Historical Problematics in Black South African Literature

Chapter 4:
Black South African Literature from the Sophiatown Renaissance to Black Mamba Rising: Transformations
and Variations from the 1950’S to the 1980s

Chapter 5:
Language as a Cultural Issue in Africa Today

Chapter 6:
A Moment of Reflection on the Occasion of the Eleventh Commemoration of the June 1976 Uprising

Chapter 7:
The Political Forms and Cultural Processes of a Particular South African Exile

Chapter 8:
Umoja Centre as a Continuation of the Pan-Africanist Tradition in the Present Context

Chapter 9:
What was the New African Movement? A Conversation with Sandile Ngidi

Chapter 10:
What was the H.I.E. Dhlomo Centre for African Intellectual History? Mbukeni H. Mngubi Interviews Ntongela Masilela

Chapter 11:
The Return of Mazisi Kunene to South Africa: The End of an Intellectual Chapter in our Literary History

Chapter 12:
Africa in American and America in Africa: The Politics of Cultural Reciprocity

Chapter 13:
The Trans-Atlantic Connections of the New African Movement

Chapter 14:
A Cavalcade of Artistic Forms in the Contemporary South Africa

Chapter 15:
A Fated Intellectual Snapshot of a Disappeared Literary Generation

Chapter 16:
The Historical Significance of China for South Africa in the Second Decade of the Twenty-First Century

Chapter 17:
Foreshadowings in the Making of an “African Renaissance”

Busani Ngcaweni is Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg, Research Fellow in World Economics at the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Visiting Professor at the China Institute at Fudan University (Shanghai). He has worked as Director-General of the National School of Government since March 2020 and Deputy Director-General and Senior Policy Analyst in The Presidency since 2005.

He has written and contributed to several books such as: Ngcaweni, B. (2024). Statecraft and National Development: Critical Insights from South Africa and Beyond. Jacana Media. Johannesburg. Forthcoming in October 2024. Ngcaweni, B. (eds.), (2024). Liberation Diaries Volume 2: Reflections on 30 Years of Democracy in South Africa. Jacana Media. Johannesburg. Maja, B. and Ngcaweni, B. (eds.). Youth Development in South Africa: Harnessing the Demographic Dividend: Diverse Perspectives on Creating a Fairer Society. Emerald Publishing Limited. Bingley. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S.J. and Ngcaweni, B. (eds.), (2022). The Contested Idea of South Africa. Routledge. London. Ngcaweni, B. and Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S.J. (eds.), (2018). Nelson R. Mandela: Decolonial Ethics of Liberation and Servant Leadership. Africa World Press. New Jersey. Ngcaweni, W.M. and Ngcaweni, B. (eds.), (2018). We Are No Longer at Ease: The Struggle for #FeesMustFall. Jacana Media. Johannesburg.