eluded Sipho  Separala,  Alan  Paton,  Peter  Wilhelm,  Stephen  Gray,  Don  Hattera
and Oiggs.  Our  course  has  also  included  a  variety  of  performances  ranging
from Johnny  Clegg  of  Oaluka  on  the  one  hand  to  the  Open  School  poets  on  the
other.

("Weeds  are  more  powerful  than  roses"  one  poet  remarked. 

Our visiting  writers  often  engage  in  open  confrontation  with  one  another
and with  the  students.  Black  writers,  writing  the  literature  of  the  oppres-
sed,  have challenged  white  South  African  writers  f or  writing  e l i t i st 
l i t e r-
ature.  The white  writers  have  fought  back.  Black  writers  have  challenged
white  academics,  questioning  their  right  to  set  themselves  up  as  experts  on
black  writers.  Words  have  been  defined  as  AK47s.  Some  poets  have  said
they  do not  write  poems but  utterances,  p o l i t i c al  speeches  and  statements
of  love  and hatred.  Poetry  has  been  defined  as  worthy  in  terms  of  i ts  use-
fulness. 
poems are  weeds").  Literature  as  a  written  form  of  communication  only,  has
been challenged.  Performance  poetry,  community  poetry  —  for  funerals  and
comiei«oration  days  — oral  poetry,  a ll  need  to  be  included  in  our  understan-
ding  of  what  constitutes  l i t e r a t u r e.  Literature  has  been  defined  for  our
students  as  a  compulsive  cultural  act,  as  a  revolution.  All  of  these  views
are  contested.  At  heart  of  course  is  the  sense  of  struggle.  Many  of  the
students  retreat,  frightened,  into  positions  more  conservative  than  they
began with.  Some of  them  join  us  in  our  struggle  to  emerge  from  our  liberal
humanist  backgrounds.  We hope  that  enough  of  them  w i ll  take  this  struggle
with  them into  the  schools.

"My

REFERENCES

A Critique  of  the  Dominant  Ideas  in  Departments  of
httk.

Vaughan ,  H.  1984:
English  in  English-Speaking  Universities  of  South  Africa
Vol  3 No 2,  1984
Reid,  J.  1982:  Engllih  LiteAatuAe. in  South  Kinican  SvrUoK School*:  A
C>Utique.  ol  Set  Boofei.  Centre  for  African  Studies  in  Association  with
the  Centre  for  Intergroup  Studies,  Cape Town
Abbs,  P.  1982:  Engliik  Within  the. Astti.  Hodder  and  Staughton,  London
Widdowson,  P.  (ed.)  1982:  Re-Reacting  EngtUk.  Richard  Clay,  Suffolk.

STATEMENT  BY  PAUL  MATHEW  ON  REVIEW  OF
As a Jehova's  Witness  I  do  not  join  any  protest  or  resistance  against
existing  order.  My conscientious  objection  was  not  motivated  there-
by,  nor  has  any  of  my writing  ever  expressed  such  protest.  The  refer-
ence  to  me on  pages  58  & 59  of  Vol  3  No  2,  could  be  construed  incor-
rectly  in  this  regard.  F i r s t l y,  the  a r t i c le  is  introduced  by  "May  it
not  unteach  us/to  dream,  to  resist  to  f i g h t ".  Secondly,  Mr  Gottshalk
states  that  Mr  Cronin's  poems  espouse  the  following  values  "Honesty
in  demythologizing  and  exposing  the  reality  of  oppression  and  exploi-
tation.  Rigor  in  describing  tyrants  and  their  tyranny  . . ."  (p.  56).
The  last  line  of  the  review  could  be  construed  that  I  have  the  same
values. 
been a  phenomenon  of  West  Germany  and  South  Africa,  but  also  the  USA,
Great  Britain  and many  other  lands.  The  universality  of  this  1s  due
to  our  utter  Political  neutrality.  Any  impression  given  to  the
contrary  I  would  to  hereby  contradict. 

I  do  not.  Detention  of  Jehovah's  Witnesses  has  not  just

(Dated  6  November  1984).

Outinat  huU  Vol  3  Ho 3  1915

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