Publishing from the South
A Century of Wits University Press
Published on 1. November 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
364 pages
978-1-77614-924-7 (ISBN)
Description
In 2022 Wits University Press marked its centenary, making it the oldest, most established university press in sub-Saharan Africa. While in part modelled on scholarly publishers from the global North, it has had to contend with the constraints of working under global South conditions: marginalisation within the university, budgetary limitations, small local markets, unequal access to international sales channels, and the privileging of English language publishing over indigenous languages.
This volume explores what the Press has achieved, and what its modes of reinvention might look like. In widening and deepening our understanding of the Press as an example of a global South scholarly publisher, this volume asks how publishing can contribute to a broader understanding of Southern knowledge production. Featuring contributions from scholars, publishers and authors this multi-voiced volume showcases the history of the Press's publishing activities over 100 years: from documenting its evolution through book covers and giving credence to some of the leading black intellectuals and writers of the early 20th century and the success of those works in spite of their authors' racial marginalisation, to the role of women, both in publishing and in the spaces afforded to women's writing on the Press's list.
The collection concludes with essays by contemporary authors who detail not only their experiences of working with Southern publishers, but also the politics and influences governing their decisions to choose the Press over a Northern publisher. Publishing from the South shows the strategies deployed by the Press to professionalise Southern knowledge making, and in the process demonstrating how university presses in the global South support the scholarly missions of their universities for both local and global audiences.
This volume explores what the Press has achieved, and what its modes of reinvention might look like. In widening and deepening our understanding of the Press as an example of a global South scholarly publisher, this volume asks how publishing can contribute to a broader understanding of Southern knowledge production. Featuring contributions from scholars, publishers and authors this multi-voiced volume showcases the history of the Press's publishing activities over 100 years: from documenting its evolution through book covers and giving credence to some of the leading black intellectuals and writers of the early 20th century and the success of those works in spite of their authors' racial marginalisation, to the role of women, both in publishing and in the spaces afforded to women's writing on the Press's list.
The collection concludes with essays by contemporary authors who detail not only their experiences of working with Southern publishers, but also the politics and influences governing their decisions to choose the Press over a Northern publisher. Publishing from the South shows the strategies deployed by the Press to professionalise Southern knowledge making, and in the process demonstrating how university presses in the global South support the scholarly missions of their universities for both local and global audiences.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Johannesburg
South Africa
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
535 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-77614-924-7 (9781776149247)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Sarah Nuttall (Editor)
Sarah Nuttall is Director of the Wits Institute for Social & Economic Research (WiSER) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Isabel Hofmeyr (Editor)
Isabel Hofmeyr is Professor of African Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Sarah Nuttall is Director of the Wits Institute for Social & Economic Research (WiSER) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Isabel Hofmeyr (Editor)
Isabel Hofmeyr is Professor of African Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Content
Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Experiments in Writing the History of a University Press - Sarah Nuttall and Isabel Hofmeyr
Part 1 Covers and Contracts
Chapter 1 Uncovered: One Hundred Years of Book Covers - Kirsten Perkins and Corina van der Spoel
Chapter 2 Relations, Contracts, and Books at Wits University Press: 1922-1962 - Jonathan Klaaren
Part 2 Southern Contradictions and Black Contributors
Chapter 3 B. W. Vilakazi, Ithongo Lokwazi: The Muse of Knowledge - Hlonipha Mokoena
Chapter 4 'The Hidden Matters of the Black People': John Henderson Soga and The South-Eastern Bantu - Natasha Erlank
Chapter 5 Clement M. Doke and the Bantu Treasury: Laying Aesthetic Foundations for Modern African Literature - Innocentia Mhlambi
Chapter 6 Paratextual Framings of the isiXhosa Volumes in the African Treasury Series - Athambile Masola and Sanele kaNtshingana
Chapter 7 African Studies, a Journal on a Fault Line - Isabel Hofmeyr
Chapter 8 Palaeosciences through Wits University Press Publications - Amanda Esterhuysen
Part 3 Women in the House
Chapter 9 Writing While Female: Merit, Market and Gatekeeping in Academic Publishing - Shireen Hassim
Chapter 10 Writing the (Female) Biography of a Publishing House - Elizabeth le Roux
Chapter 11 'That Body of [not only] Men': Margaret Hutchings' History of Wits University Press - Veronica Klipp
Part 4 Reading Wits Press Through Our Books
Chapter 12 Book Paradise: Publishing Regarding Muslims and Surfacing with Wits University Press - Gabeba Baderoon
Chapter 13 On Academic Inclusion, or A Story of Three Books - Srila Roy
Chapter 14 Experiments in Publishing: A Journey with Academic, Commercial, Independent and Academic Publishers - Siphiwo Mahala
Chapter 15 The Psychologist Who had a Lingering Hope of Being a Fiction Writer: Noel Chabani Manganyi - Kopano Ratele
Chapter 16 Translated Authorship and Language Futures - Achille Mbembe
Afterword: Time-Travelling in the Archive - Ivan Vladislavic
Contributors
Index
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Experiments in Writing the History of a University Press - Sarah Nuttall and Isabel Hofmeyr
Part 1 Covers and Contracts
Chapter 1 Uncovered: One Hundred Years of Book Covers - Kirsten Perkins and Corina van der Spoel
Chapter 2 Relations, Contracts, and Books at Wits University Press: 1922-1962 - Jonathan Klaaren
Part 2 Southern Contradictions and Black Contributors
Chapter 3 B. W. Vilakazi, Ithongo Lokwazi: The Muse of Knowledge - Hlonipha Mokoena
Chapter 4 'The Hidden Matters of the Black People': John Henderson Soga and The South-Eastern Bantu - Natasha Erlank
Chapter 5 Clement M. Doke and the Bantu Treasury: Laying Aesthetic Foundations for Modern African Literature - Innocentia Mhlambi
Chapter 6 Paratextual Framings of the isiXhosa Volumes in the African Treasury Series - Athambile Masola and Sanele kaNtshingana
Chapter 7 African Studies, a Journal on a Fault Line - Isabel Hofmeyr
Chapter 8 Palaeosciences through Wits University Press Publications - Amanda Esterhuysen
Part 3 Women in the House
Chapter 9 Writing While Female: Merit, Market and Gatekeeping in Academic Publishing - Shireen Hassim
Chapter 10 Writing the (Female) Biography of a Publishing House - Elizabeth le Roux
Chapter 11 'That Body of [not only] Men': Margaret Hutchings' History of Wits University Press - Veronica Klipp
Part 4 Reading Wits Press Through Our Books
Chapter 12 Book Paradise: Publishing Regarding Muslims and Surfacing with Wits University Press - Gabeba Baderoon
Chapter 13 On Academic Inclusion, or A Story of Three Books - Srila Roy
Chapter 14 Experiments in Publishing: A Journey with Academic, Commercial, Independent and Academic Publishers - Siphiwo Mahala
Chapter 15 The Psychologist Who had a Lingering Hope of Being a Fiction Writer: Noel Chabani Manganyi - Kopano Ratele
Chapter 16 Translated Authorship and Language Futures - Achille Mbembe
Afterword: Time-Travelling in the Archive - Ivan Vladislavic
Contributors
Index