Abstract:
This article provides an anthropological reading of one of Opperman’s early
poems, “Ringdans van die hamerkoppe” (Blom en Baaierd, 1956). The argument
motivates a perspective on Opperman that emphasises his role as a poetethnographer
who in this poem also displays elements of the poem-shaman in
recuperating salient elements of the cultural world of the Zulu, as seen through
the focalisation of the speaker in this text. The article motivates a reading
that challenges initial reception of the text that viewed the text as a depiction
of the tragedy of an old man, and opts for a perspective that recognises the
multi-layered meanings that the text espouses. The article concludes that an
anthropology, and an anthropological interpretation cannot disallow the
rhetorical dimensions of the text.
