Displaced

Russell Kaschula's delightful and provocative stories explore the complexities of living in the intercultural spaces of Southern Africa, reflections born out of his own history and experiences. Depicting a truly South African identity, the stories are told without bigotry, condescension or political correctness, and embrace the theme of our common historical uncertainty and displacement, over a period stretching back to the 1850s. Bringing together pre- and post-apartheid threads, he weaves together sometimes painful, sometimes humorous incidents of change, sorrow, fun, violence, forgiveness, innocence, identity, belonging, new directions and interlinked destinies.

Table of Contents:
Displaced; Two teas please; Pool; Valley of voices; Initiates; Six teaspoons of sweetness; Divine beginnings; N(ative) Y(ard) 47th Street; Shades of orange; The forgiver; shadow.

About the Author :
Russell H Kaschula is Professor of African Language Studies, and holds the NRF SARChI Chair in the Intellectualisation of African Languages, Multilingualism and Education at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. He has a PhD in African Literature. He has received the Young African Leaders Award, the Nulton International Scholarship for Study in the USA, and the Ernst Oppenheimer Scholarship for study at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK as well as the Nadine Gordimer/COSAW prize for short-story writing and the Nasou-Via Afrika literature prize, and he was short-listed for the Maskew-Miller Longman Short Story Award. He has authored a number of short stories, novels, and academic works in English and isiXhosa. Novels include The Tsitsa River and Beyond,and Mama, I Sing to You. Academic works include The Bones of the Ancestors are Shaking: Xhosa Oral Poetry in Context; Communicating across Cultures in South Africa: Toward a Critical Language Awareness, and (as editor) a collection of essays, African Oral Literature: Functions in Contemporary Contexts. In 2008 his novel Emthonjeni, published in English as Take me to the River, was placed on the International Board of Books for Young People’s Honour list (Copenhagen). In 2008/9, his short story, Valley of Voices, was included in the Caine African Writer’s Prize collection, Jambula Tree. In 2011, the short story titled “Six Teaspoons of Sweetness “was published in African Pens 2011, as part of the international PEN-Studzinski Literary Award.