The articles collected here represent different approaches to an emerging field in southern African studies, namely an area that goes under the rubric `the history of the book', `book history' or `textual cultures'. Established now for several decades in historical and literary departments in other parts of the world, particularly Europe, the United States, Canada, India, New Zealand and Australia, this field is beginning to make itself felt in research agendas, postgraduate courses and funding applications in South Africa.' Our aim in this introduction is four-fold: we outline the broad area of book history in other parts of the world and its historiographical traditions; we discuss the emerging field of book history in South Africa; we outline some of the strategic and intellectual opportunities that come with the field; and finally we demonstrate how the papers collected here dovetail with these trends.

Book History in Southern Africa: What is it and Why Should it Interest Historians?

Theoretical thesis.%%%%%%%%Bibliography: pages 245-263.%%%%Chapter 1. Introduction  – Chapter 2. Theoretical framework  – Chapter 3. The South African context  – Chapter 4. Methodology  – Chapter 5. Findings and discussion - genitive variation in South African English and Afrikaans  – Chapter 6. English and Afrikaans modality and the role of translation-induced change  – Chapter 7. Conclusions and avenues for further research.%%%%Languages are constantly changing and there are numerous reasons as to why languages change. One of these is contact-induced language change. It refers to the situation where languages synchronically influence one another in shared socio-semiotic environments. Translation is a site of language contact, but it has hardly been considered a factor in contact-induced language change. This study sets out to investigate the role of translation-induced change using an innovative corpus design developed specifically for the purpose of testing the role of translation in multilingual settings. The corpus combines a bidirectional comparable and parallel design with both synchronic and diachronic components. The corpus is furthermore divided into four time frames based on key events in South Africa’s history (1910-1947, 1948-1975, 1976-1993, 1994-2016) and four registers (creative writing, instructional writing, persuasive writing and popular writing). The corpus design, in other words, will help determine how certain linguistic features are treated the same or differently in English and Afrikaans writing, across time periods and registers, both in original writing, in translations and their source texts, and in comparable translated and non-translated texts in each language. The linguistic features selected to study the role of translation in language change are genitive variation and modality. Ultimately, the study aims to determine (a) how translation-induced language change can be differentiated from other factors that are involved in contact-induced change and (b) if there is evidence for translation-induced language change in the development of Afrikaans and South African English in the twentieth century. The results show that while it is possible to distinguish the role of translation from other factors that are involved in language change, there is limited evidence for translation-induced change in Afrikaans and South African English. This is because translators are quite aware of target-language norms, which gives the ability to adapt and normalise their translations in such a way that it closely follows the norms and linguistic tendencies of original texts in the same language.%%%%%%%%1 online resource (263 pages) graphs, tables

Language contact and change through translation in Afrikaans and South African English : a diachronic corpus-based study

/pdf/through-the-eyes-of-the-other-an-analysis-of-the-2g626282jj.pdf

Through the eyes of the other: an analysis of the representations of blackness in South African youth novels by white writers from 1976 to 2006

African print culture has not been widely studied from a historical perspective. Many studies focus on the present, without interrogating the historical developments that led to the present situation. We do find information available on what has been published over time, but little attention has been paid to the material forms of texts, their distribution, marketing, readership, or impact. Much earlier work is also largely descriptive. It is only recently—in the past ten years or so—that theoretical models of book history have begun to influence studies in this field. This essay is the first attempt to organize book historical studies in an African context. While this survey cannot be considered comprehensive, given the scope of the continent and its research, it presents a sampling of the most significant work and highlights trends.

Book History in the African World: The State of the Discipline

The central focus of the article is the roles of translation in the production of children's books in South Africa, and how issues of multilingualism, power differentials between languages and language-in-education policy affect the uses and functions of translation in the production of children's books in South Africa. The article first provides a brief overview of the discursive and practical situation relating to education, multilingualism and mother-tongue education in South Africa. Following this background, the investigation proceeds in three parts. The first is a brief analysis of the broader current South African publishing scenario, with emphasis on language issues and books for children. This is followed by a discussion of the uses of translation in the production of children's books. The results of a survey among publishers are reported alongside an analysis of a sample of data from a recent catalogue of African-language children's books in South Africa. A few broad trends emerge from ...

Language-in-education policy, publishing and the translation of children's books in South Africa

Annual book publishing industry survey report

A research framework to map the transition of the South African book publishing industry

This article provides a framework for publishing research within the field of book history. The first part of the article focuses on the fact that book history is rooted in the material world and that it can therefore be understood in part countable quantities or publishing statistics, which provide a context for individual case studies (such as particular titles, authors, publishers, booksellers and readers). The second part proposes a methodological framework for publishing research. The third part reflects on the availability and usefulness of publishing statistics (with specific reference to production figures) for the study of contemporary book history in South Africa. The last part illustrates the proposed methodology with a case study of the production landscape of Afrikaans fiction during the transitional period 1990-2003.

Book History, Publishing Research and Production Figures: The Case of Afrikaans Fiction Production during the Transitional Period 1990–2003

Annual book industry survey 2011

It is often assumed that African scholarly publishing is poorly resourced and unappealing to authors, both African and otherwise. While the resource constraints are real, is it true that authors are avoiding African publishers in favour of those based in the North? An exploratory study was undertaken to assess the demand for scholarly publishers based in South Africa but serving the continent as a whole. The qualitative survey, though not based on a large and widely generalizable sample, indicates some clear trends and, in so doing, explodes the myth of the African publisher as the site of last resort for academic authors. Rather, the results show broad support for locally based publishers, and many respondents expressed a need for far more publishers, wherever they may be based. Certain guidelines are derived from this survey to indicate trends for scholarly publishers working in this region.

Francis Galloway

Papers

Annual book publishing industry survey report

A research framework to map the transition of the South African book publishing industry

Book History, Publishing Research and Production Figures: The Case of Afrikaans Fiction Production during the Transitional Period 1990–2003

Annual book industry survey 2011

Assessing the Demand for Scholarly Publishing in South Africa