Strengthening Cultural Connections and Identity
When the story is about a clever monkey outsmarting a crooked crocodile, every child—whether in South Africa or here at Principia Lower School—is guaranteed to be all ears. And that was certainly the case when Dr. Daniel Sekepe Matjila, a professor and scholar of traditional South African poetry, praise-song, and storytelling recently visited Lower School classrooms.
Currently based at Principia College for several weeks as one of this year’s Annenberg Scholars, Matjila made a trip to the School campus to share stories with lower schoolers and spend time with international students at the Upper School. “The students were very engaged, and many remarked that they wish they could have spent more time with him,” said Upper School teacher Michelle Bland (C’98).
Back in the Lower School, while recounting Tswana and other southern African folktales featuring a variety of animals and birds, Matjila also asked his young listeners to share their own stories. “Can they be scary stories?” “Can they be funny?” the students asked, and proceeded to share several tales that they had heard around campfires—or, in at least one case, made up on the spot!
The highly accomplished and soft-spoken Matjila had no hesitation getting down on the carpet and joining in the children’s laughter, even as he encouraged them to probe the deeper meaning, or moral, of various stories.
In his view, reviving and rejuvenating oral traditions are crucial to maintaining cultural continuity and pride—especially in a continent riven by colonialism and apartheid. And on a more global scale, Matjila says, traditional folklore has much “to teach our urbanized world about appreciating, learning from, and caring for nature.” An amateur ornithologist, Matjila especially loves tales that feature birds—the expansiveness and freedom they symbolize that lifts human thought and aspirations higher.
An active author and scholar in both the United States and South Africa, Matjila is Director of the Centre for Pan African Languages and Cultural Development at the University of South Africa; a research fellow at the University of Michigan; a member of the Academy of African Languages; an advisor to the South African Ministry of Education; and a leading scholar of Setswana, one of the major languages of South Africa and the main language of Botswana. A prolific author and writer, Matjila has co-written and published several scholarly articles along with Principia College Associate Professor Dr. Karen Haire, who spent several years teaching and studying in South Africa. And, more recently, he served as the doctoral advisor to Dr. William Miller (C’72), Associate Professor of Sociology at the College, who accompanied him on his visit to the School.
Over the past few weeks, Matjila has visited classes and is meeting with students across a variety of campus programs. Tomorrow, he will be one of the featured speakers at this year’s International Perspectives Conference (IPC), where he’ll deliver “Undoing Stereotypes About African Peoples and Cultures: Indigenizing Education.” You can hear his and other IPC talks on Principia Internet Radio. See the IPC schedule.