Exploring a South African Indian Woman Poet and her Poetry from an Indigenous Perspective: Interviews with Francine Simon and Readings of Selected Poems from Thungachi.

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dc.contributor.authorGovender, Arushani
dc.copyrightTranscription of the Interviews: I initially intended to transcribe all the interviews verbatim to make conjectures about Simon’s spoken language, nuances in the tone of her voice, sentence structure, pauses and intonation (Charmaz 35). I therefore began by transcribing the first in-depth interview in great detail, paying close attention to repetitions, exclamations, hums, accent and shifts in dialect. The immensely time-consuming nature of this approach led me to question whether or not it revealed anything about Simon that was not already spoken about or expressed through in her own writing. I came to the conclusion that transcribing a sample in detail allowed me to derive enough connotations about the nature of Simon’s speech. I then proceeded to transcribe the audio recordings by leaving out phonological detail such as repetitions, pauses, excessive use of “like”, all of which translate to a text filled with grammatical errors. Therefore, I switched to editing the spoken word into more coherent prose (Montgomery 147). In doing so, I applied this method to both Simon’s and my own responses. I did not transcribe parts of the interviews that were entirely social conversations; that were not of utmost relevance to the topic of my dissertation; and parts that were deemed confidential. By focusing on Simon’s background and upbringing, academic status, political stances, her poetic processes, and her hardships and accomplishments as a SAI woman poet, I have compiled approximately one hundred pages of transcriptions. Given that my research does not focus solely on the interviews as a source of knowledge, I have referenced only selected excerpts of the interviews in chapters four and five of the dissertation. The transcription process urged me to decide which parts of the interviews to focus on as valuable and necessary to the research topic at hand; thus the selection of excerpts was informed and deliberate (Davies 115).
dc.date.accessioned2021-02-23T20:26:34Z
dc.date.available2021-02-23T20:26:34Z
dc.date.issued2019-07-30
dc.descriptionMasters thesisen_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation executes a critical reading of Francine Simon’s poetry in relation to contemporary perspectives of indigenous knowledge (IK), and against the political background and socio-cultural context of the poet’s lived experiences. Simon is an emerging South African Indian (SAI) woman poet in the contemporary poetry scene, and has recently published a debut poetry collection titled Thungachi. I unpack instances of IK from selected poems in Thungachi, through use of an indigenous language of critique. Linda Tuhiwai Smith conceptualises indigenous language of critique as a form of theory that indigenous research scholars should engage with, by combining questions of indigeneity with attributes of decolonisation (24). Framed by decolonial theory, this study serves the interests of decolonising research praxis, and thereby the nature of the knowledge produced. I have executed in-depth interviews with the poet to determine how she came to acquire IK and how such knowledge is conveyed and dealt with in her poetry. The interviews are presented as an experiential montage, countering the “objective” nature of academic research that distances the knower from the known. The dissertation is thus composed of theoretical analysis and creative reflections, which together offer a textured exploration of the selected poems and an experience of the poetry. Using the interview data as a supplementary device, I conduct the poetry analysis with the following questions, which pertain to examining the data from an indigenous perspective: What indigenous worldviews are prevalent in Simon’s poetry? To what culture/s may those worldviews be attributed? How is IK affected by diaspora, gender and cultural hybridity? This study finds that it is necessary to critique Simon’s poetry from an indigenous perspective in order to uncover its cultural complexities, ontological insights and social commentary. Additionally, Simon’s poetry demonstrates artistry, experimentation with language and form, and innovates a genre of decolonised feminist poetics that creates room for the heterogeneity of South African Indian women.en_ZA
dc.description.additionalThe following supporting documents are attached to this report for perusal of the Wits Data Stores: 1. Chapter One of the dissertation, titled ‘Introduction’ 2. Embargo request letter 3. Ethical Clearance Certificate 4. Ethical Clearance Application Form 5. Copyright permissions from Francine Simon 6. Participant Consent Form
dc.description.librarianMR2021en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Research Foundation (NRF)en_ZA
dc.facultyHumanitiesen_ZA
dc.funderNational Research Foundation (NRF)en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationGovender, A (2019) Exploring a South African Indian Woman Poet and her Poetry from an Indigenous Perspective: Interviews with Francine Simon and Readings of Selected Poems from Thungachi. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/30618
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherUniversity of the Witwatersranden_ZA
dc.relation.isreferencedbyWorks Cited Botha, Louis. “Incorporating Indigenous Knowledges into our Knowledge Making: Experiences from a South African Context.” Diss. Oslo University, 2011. Print. Charmaz, Kathy. Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. London, Thousand Oaks and New Dehli: SAGE, 2006. Print. Introducing Qualitative Methods. Davies, Charlotte Aull. Reflexive Ethnography: A Guide to Researching Selves and Others. London & New York: Routledge, 1999. Print. Gone, Joseph P. “Considering Indigenous Research Methodologies: Critical Reflections by an Indigenous Knower.” Qualitative Inquiry 00.0 (2018): 1-12. Print. Montgomery, Anne. “Difficult Moments in the Ethnographic Interview: Vulnerability, Silence and Rapport.” The Interview: An Ethnographic Approach. Ed. Jonathan Skinner. London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2012. 143- 159. Print. Simon, Francine. Thungachi. Ed. Nick Mulgrew. Cape Town: uHlanga Press, 2017. Print. Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London and New York: Zed Books, 1999. Print. Spivak, Gayatri. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader. Ed Patrick Williams and Laura and Chrisman. London: Harvester, 1994. 66-111. Print. St. Pierre, Elizabeth, A. “Post Qualitative Inquiry in an Ontology of Immanence.” Qualitative Inquiry 00.0 (2018): 1-14. Print.
dc.schoolSchool of Literature, Language and Mediaen_ZA
dc.subjectResearch Subject Categories::HUMANITIES and RELIGIONen_ZA
dc.titleExploring a South African Indian Woman Poet and her Poetry from an Indigenous Perspective: Interviews with Francine Simon and Readings of Selected Poems from Thungachi.en_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
dcterms.provenanceThe following supporting documents are attached to this report for perusal of the Wits Data Stores: 1. Chapter One of the dissertation, titled ‘Introduction’ 2. Embargo request letter 3. Ethical Clearance Certificate 4. Ethical Clearance Application Form 5. Copyright permissions from Francine Simon 6. Participant Consent Form
ddi.collmodeArchival Material This research reads Simon’s poetry in its local context along with the virtues of its ancestral lineage in order to trace and uncover the extent of IK it contains. Consulting the archives leads to a genealogical approach to poetry reading — an approach that reads history from the context of ancestry (Spivak 80). In KwaZulu-Natal the Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre and its web facilities offer an extensive archive of SAI history, including ship lists, indenture registers and certificates, newspaper clippings, advertisements, posters, reports and notices from the British controlled Immigration Department, photographs and transcriptions of community speeches and interviews that range from the period of indenture to post-apartheid. I have therefore made use of selected available materials in chapter four.
ddi.collmodeParticipant Consent Form: The signed consent form is attached. The consent form stipulates Simon’s liberty to withdraw from the research at any point, her right to confidentiality for any parts of the interview that she does not want publicised, and her right to request transcripts, audio files, observational notes, and photographs to approve what is used in the final dissertation. The form covers requests for her permission to be photographed, audio-recorded, and observed during the interview and in any public poetry performances or events. It stipulates the restriction of access to edited transcriptions and audio files: to Simon herself, the researcher and her supervisors, and the relevant examination committee. During our interviews, Simon verified which parts of the interview she would like to be kept confidential. These sections have been edited out and deleted from the transcripts and audio files, and are not used in the dissertation.
ddi.dataaccsData Sharing: Terms of Use and Restrictions The following is a list of conditions given to the researcher as per agreement with the participant (stated on the participant consent form), and as per agreement between the researcher and the Wits Ethics Committee. The ethics application form and clearance certificate thereof, is attached. • Confidential sections of the interview to be edited out and deleted. Submitted data files are final and do not contain confidential material. • Photographs taken at the discretion of the participant on the days of the interviews. Use of the photographs in the dissertation is permitted, although they were not used. • The interviewee/participant, Francine Simon, reserves the right to request the transcripts, audio files and photographs at any point during or after the research. The final transcripts and photographs were emailed to Simon prior to the final ETD submission, and no objections were raised. • Excerpts of the interview transcripts are used in the dissertation, however, due to length and relevance, the majority of the transcripts were not used. The Wits Ethics Committee permits the researcher to use any part of the original transcribed material for future academic publications, and need not be limited to the excerpts used in the dissertation only. • The following individuals are allowed access to the aforementioned data files, as per the Wits Ethics Committee: Arushani Govender (the researcher), Francine Simon (the participant), Prof. Denise Newfield and Associate Prof. Barbara Boswell (supervisors), and the relevant examination committee. Presently the ethical clearance certificate granted does not cover data access permissions for any other member. • In order for access to be granted to the NRF or any other individual, a new consent form must be drawn up stipulating new terms of use, and is to be signed by the participant and submitted to the Ethics Committee.
ddi.methodData presentation and analysis Given the decolonising principles framing this research, I have experimented with the presentation and analysis of the interview data in two ways. The first is found in chapter four, ‘Interviews with Francine Simon – A Reflexive Montage.’ Methods used to present the interview in this chapter are inspired by post-qualitative inquiry, which sees writing as a form of theory-making, in order to produce highly informed research that transcends empiricism (St. Pierre 1-14). I have made use of writing techniques derived from screenplay writing, creative journalism and autoethnography. I use autoethnography to deepen the layers of reflexivity (Botha 65) by explicitly situating myself within the text, and acknowledging my status as both a researcher, and as a South African Indian woman who identifies with the lived experiences portrayed in Simon’s poetry. The second method of data analysis is found in chapter five, ‘Reading selected Poems from Thungachi – Analysis and Findings.’ This chapter contains an in-depth literary analysis of five poems from an indigenous perspective. It also refers to interview excerpts to reinforce thematic discussions on each of the poems. By doing so, chapter five explores how Simon has come to acquire IK and how she applies it to her poetry.
ddi.methodTranscription of the Interviews: I initially intended to transcribe all the interviews verbatim to make conjectures about Simon’s spoken language, nuances in the tone of her voice, sentence structure, pauses and intonation (Charmaz 35). I therefore began by transcribing the first in-depth interview in great detail, paying close attention to repetitions, exclamations, hums, accent and shifts in dialect. The immensely time-consuming nature of this approach led me to question whether or not it revealed anything about Simon that was not already spoken about or expressed through in her own writing. I came to the conclusion that transcribing a sample in detail allowed me to derive enough connotations about the nature of Simon’s speech. I then proceeded to transcribe the audio recordings by leaving out phonological detail such as repetitions, pauses, excessive use of “like”, all of which translate to a text filled with grammatical errors. Therefore, I switched to editing the spoken word into more coherent prose (Montgomery 147). In doing so, I applied this method to both Simon’s and my own responses. I did not transcribe parts of the interviews that were entirely social conversations; that were not of utmost relevance to the topic of my dissertation; and parts that were deemed confidential. By focusing on Simon’s background and upbringing, academic status, political stances, her poetic processes, and her hardships and accomplishments as a SAI woman poet, I have compiled approximately one hundred pages of transcriptions. Given that my research does not focus solely on the interviews as a source of knowledge, I have referenced only selected excerpts of the interviews in chapters four and five of the dissertation. The transcription process urged me to decide which parts of the interviews to focus on as valuable and necessary to the research topic at hand; thus the selection of excerpts was informed and deliberate (Davies 115).
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