A Renegade Called Simphiwe

by Pumla Dineo Gqola

In eight essays, Pumla Dineo Gqola shows why Simphiwe Dana is arguably the most significant cultural figure working in contemporary South Africa today. Dana’s musical repertoire, self-styling choices, public debates, and growing written output display her causes. Controversy, tabloid headlines, and fluctuating public responses to Dana all reveal South African sensitivities on Blackness, femininity, language, and the imagination. Part intellectual biography and part commentary on South African contemporary culture, Gqola has captured a must-read portrait of Dana, her music and writing, her cultural activism, the vision in her work, and changing politics against the background of a changing postapartheid popular culture.

180 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2013

Reviews

[Phumlani · Rating 3 out of 5]

I somehow deceived myself into thinking the book was expressly about Simphiwe,i mean either a biography or a collection of interviews or something along those lines. I quickly got over that slight disappointment and read it for what it was, Phumlas take on Simphiwe, her music and her .....i can’t find a better word so ill say ideologies. The book is something of a feminist rant, a feministic view of the world and mainly S.A.
I enjoyed the book, i would read it again, and i would recommend it to anyone..Whether or not youre a Simphiwe Dana fan. It’s a collection of essays that provoke thought and present arguments very brashly.