Abstract:
This paper scrutinizes two wild relatives of dogs, namely jackals and hyenas,
who feature prominently in Afrikaans children’s literature by way of African oral
tradition, specifically Khoi oral literature. The stories of Jakkals (Jackal) and Wolf
(Hyena) illustrate the ways in which Khoi orature found its way into Afrikaans
(children’s) literature in a gradual process culminating in appropriation. The
paper shows how Afrikaans literary scholars charted this process and what
mechanisms they employed to diminish the role played by the original Khoi
storytellers—a denial of the context in which the stories were created that persists
until today. Apart from reference to a separate oral tradition of Jackal and Hyena
stories that developed amongst white Afrikaans speakers, the specific focus of
the paper is on the Afrikaans animal tales published by G. R. von Wielligh since
all later publications by other authors draw on the Von Wielligh stories to an
extent. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research that departs
from outmoded approaches to African oral literature.
