Читать книгу Sol Plaatje's Native Life in South Africa - Jacob Dlamini - Страница 4

This volume reflecting on the past and present of Sol Plaatje's pioneering book, Native Life in South Africa (P S King & Son, London, 1916), has come into being through the efforts and encouragement of so many. The centenary of Native Life in 2016 was an occasion not to be missed.

Sincere thanks are due to the Wits University Press team – Veronica Klipp, Roshan Cader, Andrew Joseph, Corina van der Spoel, and freelance editor Monica Seeber and project manager Hazel Cuthbertson – for their commitment and expertise in ushering this volume through to publication. Many thanks too to Jill Weintroub for her invaluable editing at an earlier stage.

The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation: Division for Social Sciences and Humanities towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at are those of the authors and are not necessarily to be attributed to the National Research Foundation.

The editors are highly appreciative of the authors' contributions to this volume, as well as the suggestions of readers, reviewers, and colleagues.

We are most grateful to the Historical Papers Research Archive of the University of the Witwatersrand, Cory Library of Rhodes University, Africana Library in Kimberley, Alan Paton Centre and Struggle Archives, National Library of South Africa, Cambridge University Library, California Digital Library, Great Ships Collection, Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford, Imperial War Museum, Glasgow University Archives, Pan Macmillan South Africa, Robert Molteno, Tiger Kloof Educational Institution/Martin Gericke, Brian Willan, David Harrison, and Sean O'Toole for use of the items and images as credited. We thank the Bessie Head Heritage Trust and Johnson & Alcock Ltd for their help with the reproduction of Head's Foreword to the Ravan edition of Native Life in South Africa.

Janet Remmington wishes to thank Andrew Joseph for planting the seed of the project, Roshan Cader for helping to nurture it, Thando Njovane and Oscar Sibabalwe Masinyana for valued support and perspicacious inputs, Elleke Boehmer for firm foundations, the African Studies Centre of the University of Oxford for an enriching interdisciplinary arena, David Attwell and the University of York for ongoing interest and an International Seedcorn Award, the late Phaswane Mpe for his Plaatje scholarship and friendship, and her family for their assistance and understanding.

Brian Willan is grateful to the Plaatje family and his wife Jennifer for their help and support over the years he has spent researching and writing about Sol Plaatje's life and work, and to Gabriele Mohale (Wits University Historical Papers) and Bernice Nagel (Africana Library, Kimberley) for their help in this and other projects.

Bhekizizwe Peterson would like to thank Isabel Hofmeyr, Dan Ojwang, Pumla Gqola, Danai Mupotsa and Merle Govind for ensuring that the Department of African Literature at Wits continues to be a supportive and stimulating environment.