An extraordinary cross-cultural journey unfolds when less than a handful of academics come together to interrogate and debate prevailing migration, as was the case when this year’s spring lectures of the University of Limpopo (UL) were given a multi-faceted infusion.
Three lecturers from the Department of Languages at UL – Margrit Schulze, Femi Abodunrin and Chris Akinola – collaborated for an integration of various forms of artistic and academic expression that were given a slot on the annual spring lectures programme hosted by the institution.
Schulze based a multi-media exhibition, titled Hambani Kahle – a pursuit for greener pastures, on the facets of leaving behind the familiar, a migrant’s journey and respective destinations with a display of close to 70 photographs, graphic collages, work by Limpopo wood carvers and accessories from tribal material culture. She introduced the theme with images captured on travels to rural parts of the province as well as inner-city Gauteng. With her presentation Schulze touched on some of the waves of migration that had swept across South Africa over the past five centuries, which left an indelible mark on the South African collective psyche. She emphasised that migration was not just a mechanical process, but also an emotional one. In her address she asserted that people’s life journeys could be seen as migration from the known to the unknown. “May all our destinations prove to be pastures greener than we had ever hoped for.”
The message was echoed through a dramatic skit, titled Whatever I Hang, which is Akinola’s adaptation of Abodunrin’s poem Whatever I Hang dedicated to Guyanese poet Grace Nichols and that of Rodwell Magombe, titled Why Are You Here. Both are listed in A Study of a Mirage Dawn: An Anthology of Migrant Poetry from South Africa. The sketch features the talents of 16 first-year Performing Arts students who participated in their fourth play this year, explained Akinola. The piece introduces the audience to happenings and experiences of migrants – some not so fortunate – and reasons for not wanting to return to countries of origin, like situations of famine or war, when stepping off a plane at the port of entry at OR Tambo Airport, depicted as point of congregation for visitors from across the world in transit or arriving in the country. It portrays cross-cultural encounters migrants had in a foreign land, Akinola pointed out.
With his paper “Why are you here?” : Multiculturalism and Migration – A Study of Splinters of a Mirage Dawn: an anthology of migrant poetry from South Africa”, Abodunrin aimed to contextualise the African experience within the globalised context of globalisation. An established author, he took his audience on literary travels to destinations dotted across the world map.
Story and photos: YOLANDE NEL
>>observer.yolande@gmail.com
Featured photo: Chris Akinola, Margrit Schulze and Femi Abodunrin of the University of Limpopo’s Languages Department.
