Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2022)

Date Log

Submitted
Apr 19, 2023
Published
Apr 19, 2023

Agentive Intertextual Insertions: (Re)presentation of Albinism in Nwelezelanga: The Star Child’s Subtext

Spemba Spemba
Mkwawa University College of Education and Stellenbosch university

Journal of Education, Humanities & Science (JEHS), Vol. 11 No. 1 (2022)

Abstract

The relationship between African traditional healers (sangomas) and persons with
albinism is contradictory. Sangomas are rumoured to fuel the narrative that body parts
of persons with albinism have magical powers, and so can be harnessed and used by
quick wealth-seekers. That narrative has claimed lives and agency of many albinos.
There is, however, an emerging trend for sangomas to revert this narrative through
media. A good example is Unathi Magubeni, a South African practicing sangoma, who
has authored the novel: Nwelezelanga: The Star Child (2016), on the topic. Borrowing
from critical ideas on intertextuality, disability studies and agency, this study analyses
Magubeni’s subtext to ascertain its activism on albinism. The study conducts an
intertextual analysis of the novel to find out how the text (de)humanises persons with
albinism, and whether it resists or affirms various perceptions and stereotypes
regarding albinism. It argues that intertexts in the novel ambivalently (re)signify beliefs,
stereotypes, and perceptions regarding albinism and persons with the condition.

Keywords

disability traditional healing albinism intertextuality agency
Spemba, S. (2023). Agentive Intertextual Insertions: (Re)presentation of Albinism in Nwelezelanga: The Star Child’s Subtext. Journal of Education, Humanities & Science (JEHS), 11(1). Retrieved from https://ojs3.bongotech.info/index.php/jehs/article/view/207
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