Dialogic 2 (New Languages for Dialogue about Section 25 of the South African Constitution) 2019 Hand-woven archival ink-jet prints 149 x 95 cm

Land has been a contested issue in southern Africa since the first colonial settlers started to claim it for themselves, thus depriving the local population of this terrain. In order to right this historical injustice, governments in the region have grappled with the idea of land expropriation without compensation.

In Zimbabwe the government went ahead with this strategy in the early 2000s. Coming from Zimbabwe I have first-hand experience of how this played out there with mixed results. Recently this issue has re-ignited debate in South African under President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Section 25 of the South African Constitution states that no one may be deprived of property. It is this clause that would need to change in order that land may be expropriated without compensation.

South Africa has eleven official languages and historically few white people bothered to learn a local tongue. This has not helped communication and understanding among different ethnic groups and has hindered the formation of a more inclusive culture. By interweaving two different languages I am attempting to create dialogue between various groups and possibly new dialects.

Dialogic means relates to or is characterized by dialogue and its use. A dialogic is communication presented in the form of dialogue. Dialogic processes refer to implied meaning in words uttered by a speaker and interpreted by a listener. Dialogic works carry on a continual dialogue that includes interaction with previous information supplied.

A dialogic process stands in contrast to a dialectic process (proposed by G. W. F. Hegel):

• In a dialectic process describing the interaction and resolution between multiple paradigms or ideologies, one putative solution establishes primacy over the others. The goal of a dialectic process is to merge point and counterpoint (thesis and antithesis) into a compromise or other state of agreement via conflict and tension (synthesis). “Synthesis that evolves from the opposition between thesis and antithesis.” Examples of dialectic process can be found in Plato’s Republic.
• In a dialogic process, various approaches coexist and are comparatively existential and relativistic in their interaction. Here, each ideology can hold more salience in particular circumstances. Changes can be made within these ideologies if a strategy does not have the desired effect.

These two distinctions are observed in studies of personal identity, national identity, and group identity.

 

all the languages on top of one another