SA’s brave new chapter

IN literature, very little can prepare a young South African with ambitions of studying and working abroad like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. The young Nigerian author’s novel is partly about the hardships African students and other immigrants encounters as they try to adjust to life in the northern hemisphere.

The book also provides critical commentary on the state of contemporary Nigeria and postcolonial Africa.

Adichie is one of a generation of contemporary writers who are not only keeping the continent’s flag in literature flying high but are encouraging Africa’s citizens to imagine new ways of confronting their problems.

Yet very little is known within our borders about such writers. This is partly because we tend not to pay much attention to the cultural and artistic developments on our own continent, or in our own country.

It is within this context that the Basic Education Department’s introduction of a revised list of set works, with an emphasis on South African and African works, is to be welcomed.

Such a move can only broaden the horizons for our youth. But it would be misguided for the department to get rid of some of the English classics on the basis that they are not immediately relevant to our circumstances. To be well-rounded and prepared for a highly competitive world, our young people need to be exposed to a diversity of experiences, cultures and ideas.

However, the department’s progressive step would amount to little if it does not urgently resolve what appears to be its most immediate problem — ensuring that textbooks are delivered on time for the new school year.