Critical Spat
I don’t know if anyone else has been keeping an eye on what’s been going down on Artslink re the spat between a certain Sandile Memela and arts critics, most noticeably Mary Corrigall and Robyn Sassen, but it makes for interesting reading.
It all centres on what cultural scallywag Mike van Graan calls “a debate currently about the absence of “African” arts journalists with some of the debate revolving around who is an African, as the protagonist in the debate appears to equate “African” with “black”, while people of all colours in South Africa consider themselves to be African.”
I’ve been wrestling with how I feel about it all…at times really angry, at times deeply upset, and at times catching glimpses of light. I wanted to blog about it last week, then did some snooping around and held off on it upon discovering that the self-proclaimed “creative intellectual” Memela has a fairly long history of this kind of provocative writing/speech, and I thought maybe it was best just to let them fight it out.
But hey – for the sake of awareness and information, I thought why not group it all together for a one stop crit-bash shop.
I think I have the chronology right – please shout if I’ve missed anything:
- 11 August - Zijikile izinto: change has come Memela writes about the role of the artist in nation-building, particularly since Polokwane in 2007
- 12 August - Where have all the African critics gone? Memela goes on an all out attack against the lily-white industry and its equally lily-white critical authority
- 14 August - An African critic speaks out Mary Corrigall, acknowledging that transformation in arts and theatre journalism is far from adequate, calls Memela out for his “prejudice and ignorance rather than attempt to resolve the problem in a constructive manner”
- 14 August - My View: Open Letter to Sandile Memela Robyn Sassen climbs in, addressing primarily the need for humanities studies to jack up their education focuses and thus sharpen emerging critics’ insight and skill
- 19 August - ArtSpoken: Arts journalism Atiyyah Khan bemoans the lack of skill being taught and the necessity of the arts journalism to “self-teach”: “…perhaps if the government addressed implementing arts education into the journalism curriculums at universities, and stressed the importance of it, there wouldn’t be this massive void. The lack of opportunity to train, or learn adequately, will breed young arts writers who attack rather than criticise.Not unlike what Memela has done here.”
- 21 August - Artspoken: Black Stories, White Eyes In writing about the 20th anniversary of Spike Lee’s film-making career, Memela asks “why blacks allow whites to be the judges, reviewers and critics who give the final word on the black aesthetic and condition or what makes it tick when they know absolutely nothing about it?”, building on his African critics article
- 21 August - Don’t call me Brother Memela responds to Corigall, first taking a pot-shot at SAFM for cancelling their debate on “the absence of African theatre critics”, and then outing the fact that at the root of all of this is a disagreement over Corrigall’s review of James Ncgobo’s adaptation of Fred Khumalo’s “Touch My Blood” at the Market
- 21 August - Another Open Letter to Sandile Memela Sassen back into the fray, trying to reason with Memela and bringing importance and debate back to the art, and not the messenger
- 21 August - Corrigall takes on Memela Corrigall steps up the debate: “However, and contrary, to what Memela has claimed, he refused to attend such a debate, saying, and I quote from an e-mail he sent to SAfm and me on 19 August, 2009 14:48: “I am NOT participating in the show to “debate” with your Ms Corrigall. She is entitled to her views on issues and has a right to freedom of expression, which I respect. It is not my problem if she wants to discuss ‘transformation in the media’ or define who is an ‘African.’ Those issues do not keep me awake at night.” Furthermore, she muses that it seems that Memela’s employer, the Department of Arts and Culture (Memela is head of marketing and public relations at the DAC), doesn’t sanction his comments. So, while he may be writing in his personal capacity, as one can on Artspoken, it still reflects negatively on the DAC - “How can someone in his position be calling for segregation in the theatre?” she asks. It winds up with her calling Memela “…a coward, who distances himself from the DAC when it is convenient to do so and then hides behind his position when he is held accountable for his views.”
I’m still unsure how I feel about it all, really. There’s undeniably a point that is acknowledged by all, that (a) there is a lack of transformation in the journ industry, but also that (b) it needs intervention at an education level.
But it sticks deep in my heart somewhere reading the various mud-slinging and derisive call for a deep segregation. I’m not naive enough to believe that the “Rainbow Nation” will conquer all, but one needs hope to cling to. One needs some kind of reason to continue doing one’s thing. We all need that.
So I hope this kinda cyber spat has some positive outcome – I think it’s good to air opinions, and it’s all part of the ongoing debate about culture. It must happen. There must be lines drawn, and scabbards rattled and all that baloney. But in the end, we’re all fighting for survival on the ground, at the very coalface of cultural product, innovation, cultural clash, and living that experience on a daily basis, and what we’re seeing is at times a nasty spat between the intellectuals somewhere up there in the more rarefied atmosphere, and lead us not into the temptation of asking too loudly or too often: “what the hell is the point of carrying on?”
(And yes…I’m fully aware the image linked to this post is very un-African…it’s a cartoon, fer chrissakes!)
