Creator
Bhekizizwe Peterson is Professor of African Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He has served on various editorial, statutory and artistic committees, juries and boards across the continent. He has held invited Fellowships at Yale University and Birmingham University U.K. He has published extensively on African Literature, Performance and Cultural Studies as well as Black Intellectual Traditions in South Africa. His books include Fragments in the Sun, Monarchs, Missionaries and African Intellectuals: African Theatre and the Unmaking of Colonial Marginality, Zulu Love Letter: A Screenplay and Sol Plaatje’s Native Life in South Africa: Past and Present co-edited with Janet Remmington and Brian Willan. He is the writer and / or producer of internationally acclaimed films including Fools, Zulu Love Letter and Zwelidumile all directed by Ramadan Suleman and Born into Struggle, The Battle for Johannesburg and Miners Shot Down all directed by Rehad Desai.
Plaatje encouraged independent thought. He felt that a critical disposition coupled with empirical evidence & public accountability was indispensable.
Edited extract of the editors’ introduction in ‘Sol Plaatje’s Native Life in South Africa: Past and Present’ (Wits University Press).
The 40th anniversary of June ’76 is the right time to honour artists who helped shape the new SA, writes Bhekizizwe Peterson.
Artists are not only reporters, but also interpreters and social actors, writes Bhekizizwe Peterson.
