An analysis of totemic animal imagery in Setswana praise poems of the Bakwena ba Mogopa clan of the Southern African Batswana

Abstract

This article explores the importance of totemic animal imagery in three extracts from Bakwena ba Mogopa praise poems, published in the original Setswana and subsequently translated into English. The poems, identified through convenience sampling, were chosen because they are representative of different poetic elements and devices integral to African indigenous praise poems. Totemic imagery links humans with the ancestral spirit world. In addition, clan names are embedded in such poems and cement the lifelong relationship between humans and animals. The article contributes to the decolonisation agenda by adding analyses of African literary texts to the African Languages archives. The article may also prove useful in the teaching of praise poetry and animalbased metaphors in, for example, school curricula. The younger generations of African youth find themselves increasingly removed from their cultural traditions and heritage, often as a result of mordernisation, urbanisation and technology. Praise poetry is no longer taught at initiation schools. This is due to tribal politics and the shifting relationship between the people and the land, a phenomenon being driven by changes in agricultural practices, such as the advent of game farming. As a result, the cultural meaning of animal totems is often lost to younger generations.