The nation under scrutiny: A post-colonial critique of selected editorial cartoons in Isolezwe

There is a dearth of research on cartoons in the African indigenous languages of South Africa. This article seeks to fill this gap by analysing isiZulu cartoons from a post-colonial point of view. The study adopts systematic visuo-textual analysis as a qualitative research technique because cartoons...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Literator Vol. 46; no. 1; pp. e1 - e11
Main Author: Dlamini, Sizwe Z.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Potchefstroom African Online Scientific Information Systems (Pty) Ltd t/a AOSIS 2025
AOSIS (Pty) Ltd
AOSIS
Subjects:
20th century
African languages
Ancient Greek philosophy
Audiences
Cartoonists
Cartoons
Cognition & reasoning
Colonialism
Corruption
Culture
Data collection
Decolonization
Deductive reasoning
Economic conditions
Editorial cartoons
Emotions
Ethnic identity
Gender-based violence
Genre
Indigenous languages
Indigenous peoples
Languages
Leadership
Living conditions
Mass media
Mass media effects
Mass media images
Media coverage
nation
Native languages
Political aspects
Politics
Popular culture
post-colonial approach
Postcolonialism
Qualitative research
Racism
Research methodology
Rhetoric
rhetoric theory
Scrutiny
Self concept
Semiotics
Signs
Social aspects
Text analysis
Textual analysis
Theory
Unemployment
Visual media
Visual representation
Worldview
Written language
Zulu language
South Africa
ISSN:0258-2279, 2219-8237
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:There is a dearth of research on cartoons in the African indigenous languages of South Africa. This article seeks to fill this gap by analysing isiZulu cartoons from a post-colonial point of view. The study adopts systematic visuo-textual analysis as a qualitative research technique because cartoons are the primary sources of data collection and analysis. These cartoons are composed by Mqapheli Mngadi, and they are published in the isiZulu newspaper Isolezwe. Through the application of the post-colonial theory, Barthes’ semiotic theory, and Aristotelian rhetoric theory, the findings demonstrate pertinent post-colonial issues depicted in the selected cartoons. These issues are economic, social, and political in nature. They range from issues such as gender-based violence, flux identities, difficult economic living conditions, unemployment, racism, corruption, and leadership concerns in government. These issues are depicted creatively through literal and figurative visual representation that are marked by caricature, metaphor, and personification. They are also depicted through satire as a persuasive technique, which has been determined to be effective in appealing to the audience’s logical reasoning, emotions, and character. Contribution: This article contributes to research on the decolonisation of knowledge production and representation in African media and popular culture. The article examines several perspectives on the role of visual media in shaping and expressing indigenous worldviews and experiences. Furthermore, by connecting fields such as visual communication, linguistics, rhetoric, media studies, and postcolonial theory, it opens up new avenues for critical engagement with indigenous language media while emphasising the intellectual and cultural significance of cartoon art in contemporary South African society.
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ISSN:0258-2279
2219-8237
DOI:10.4102/LIT.v46i1.2153