Answer to Question #306455 in English for Tokelo

Question

1.   By referring to poets across a range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds with the inclusion of one from your main African language give a description of the nostalgia inspired by love for the land and the urge to protect the ‘own land’.

Answer 1

Views on land

The African philosophy on land ownership is spiritual and cultural. Africans regard themselves as custodians of the land. The land is theirs by virtue of birth, inherited, handed down from generation to generation. This is very evident in the ‘Novel’ by Yvonne Vera: 

 Land is a gift from the ancestors “a gift to the living’, “given to us”.

 Land is a commodity belonging to the ancestors “the land does not belong to the living”.

 Land is an issue of birth right and heritage “our land and our birth”.

 Land is collectively owned “our land given to us”.

 Land is commodity that cannot be bought or given away “we cannot give him any land”.

 Land can only be used temporarily by its custodians “the land does not belong to the living”.

 Land is a fight for survival by which one’s manhood is measured “the land must be cleansed with your blood. There is no future till we have regained our land and our birth”.

 Land must be protected at any cost “protect with your blood”.

 Land is a symbol of motherhood, a commodity that defines both freedom and bondage of people “This is our land given to us by the ancestors, “There is no future till we have regained our land”.

 Land symbolises wealth and power, which makes it valuable “protect it with your blood”.

 Land is sacred, as the final resting place for our ancestors “not be left to rot on the ground unburied”.

 Land cannot be owned by the white man in an African philosophy “while we live, he is only a stranger here”.

 Land is for the future generation “There is no future till we have regained our land of our birth”