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The Documentary: Africa's Digital Poets: Africa's Digital Poets - Part Two

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Thabiso Mohare - Poet

05/07/2017 GMT

Africa's Digital Poets - Part Two

Africa's Digital Poets

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Africa's Digital Poets, Africa's Digital Poets - Part Two

The poets and how the digital space is influencing the way they write and perform

Thabiso Mohare talks to poets who have embraced the digital space, and looks at how it has served the most political of them.

The role of the court poet or griot was to point out to the powers-that-be that they were messing up. Some of the most vital work being produced and performed now still reflects that role, as poets carve their own path, tackling issues as they see fit, or as part of protest movements such as Fees Must Fall in South Africa.

Johannesburg-based performance poet Thabiso Mohare talks to poets who write to agitate, and assesses how much the digital age is influencing the way emerging poets write and perform their work. The phenomenon of certain poems going viral (by Warsan Shire and Suli Breaks for example), and the Def Poetry Jam shows available online, drew several of South Africa's most prominent young performance poets to their chosen craft. But with the development of digital across Africa, their focus is shifting. They are not just looking to the West any more. Although US influence is strong in spoken word poetry, digital is allowing emerging poets to look instead to their home-grown talent for inspiration, and to foster Pan-African approaches. As well as enabling African narratives, some digital platforms are also affording more chances for people to use their mother tongue to speak to their own communities, which mainstream print publishers have rarely been interested in, or able to support.

(Photo: Thabiso Mohare. Credit: British Council)

The Documentary: Africa's Digital Poets

Thabiso Mohare looks at how digital platforms are serving poets in Africa.

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