Meaning, I think, “it isn’t always easy” – according to my copy of Teach Yourself Xhosa, with accompanying cassette. I was shopping in the Carrefour store in Plaza Singapura when I noticed a sale of remaindered books; a big pile of them all heaped up and cascading onto the floor. Standing out prominently was the box containing the Teach Yourself Xhosa book and tape and, after the discussions about the Xhosa on the Piper blog and Bandile’s blog, I figured it was karma and I was meant to buy it. Well, for three bucks, why not? I also saw Teach Yourself Zulu, but the book was missing, so I left that one.
So, akusoloko kulula, it isn’t always easy. The Piper guys have ruffled a few feathers, and are getting some people pushing back. It’s inevitable anyway, when you start something new, but they don’t seem to have helped themselves with their initial attitude. To their credit, they have acknowledged their mistake, accepted the responsibility, and carry on determined to continue their research in a spirit of sharing. I hope that’s the case, and I wish them well.
From my point of view, I do think they’re on to something. The fighting style of South African gangsters is going to draw heavily on old tribal styles; it is going to be uniquely African, and if Lloyd and Jason and all can codify it then they’re benefiting everyone who is interested in African culture.
I really hope more information can be brought to light in this area. As I’ve mentioned before: I’ve seen BaSotho stick fighting myself; it’s very similar to the Nguni stick fighting described by Bandile – and it’s very similar to the Brazilian macalele I’ve seen. If more information can be published on African ways of fighting, it will help the Brazilians understand their roots, and vice versa. If anyone has any knowledge: share it, for the good of all (and for interested bystanders such as myself). Don’t get tied down by flamewars and arguments over who is ‘purest African’ or whatever; such disputes just can’t be won. Move on, please.
Incidentally, if anyone wants my credentials: I don’t have any, so you win. Your eight-year old niece could probably beat me up. I’m just an indifferent student of some martial arts and philosophical paths that interest me; I don’t claim any particular degree of skill
So staying briefly on the topic of African martial arts, I need to correct myself. In an earlier post I said, in connection with the development and formal standardisation of African martial arts:
Sub-saharan Africa wasn’t centralised, and was pretty resource-poor, so we can’t expect the same kind of coherence and standardisation.
In another karmic accident, I recently popped into a second-hand bookstore in the Bras Basah Complex and found a copy of The Mind of South Africa. It’s a great overview of South African history; I bought a copy during my undergraduate days, and used it heavily when I was studying the politics of apartheid (which became irrelevant when apartheid ended before I’d sat the exams, but who’s complaining?). On re-reading it, this stood out:
The black tribes varied a good deal in their social and political structures. Some were tightly organized hierarchical kingdoms; others were vaguely linked village communities with hardly any formal political structure at all. The Sotho and Tswana were craftsmen who produced metal and leather goods and congregated in large communities – towns really – of between two thousand and twenty thousand people. The Nguni, though they also smelted iron and made hoes and spears, were engrossed with their cattle, which held a mystical significance for them and to facilitate the herding of which they lived in scattered family units.
I have to say that my knowledge of traditional African society in what is now South Africa was more about vaguely linked village communities and scattered family units (excluding Zulu centralization). These are the kinds of communities where everyone is involved in subsistence living; there’s no time or resources to organize the systematic training of fighting methods.
It’s very interesting, though, that the Sotho had towns with populations in the thousands, towns based on craft production. That’s the kind of environment were there is leisure time. I wonder what kind of schools or societies emerged to practice fighting skills… and this was only a few generations ago, a short enough time for memories to endure.
My point isn’t to highlight my personal ignorance of African history, vast as that is. My point is that there is so much that we don’t know, and yet the knowledge may still be there if people gather it and share it. That’s why I think what the Piper school is doing is so valuable, and so is the work being done by others I’m not familiar with. The more we learn and share, the better off we all are.
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