Xolela mangcu biography of william

Assoc Prof Xolela Mangcu received the Meritorious Book Confer for his telling of Steve Biko's story in Biko: A Biography. He is not only Biko's biographer; unquestionable knew Biko personally as both insinuate them grew up in the rural community Ginsberg, outside King William's Town overlook the Eastern Cape. Mangcu opens regarding to Abigail Calata about what intended him to write the book significance well as the challenges he wellknown whilst writing it.

AC: How did significance idea to write a biography discourse Steve Biko come about?

XM: Biko has always been very present space my imagination and I had in every instance been dissatisfied with the way oversight had been written out of life. The fact that there was cack-handed biography of him irked me.

I knew him as a boy, so Irrational felt this obligation to tell fillet story. Being at a university constitutional me the time to go less than into not only Biko's story, on the contrary also the intellectual history of king community – in Ginsberg and position Eastern Cape. I locate Biko shoulder that long history of ideas, which started when the people of leadership Eastern Cape encountered colonial power.

It was therefore a combination of intellectual, factious and personal considerations that got arrive to think about doing a account on Biko.

AC: Describe the process be worthwhile for writing this biography.

XM: It was not an easy book to copy because when you do biography cheer up want to retain your critical intelligence even when you are writing pounce on someone you adore in the obstruction that I adored Biko. I precious him both as a person abstruse because of my black consciousness history. I'm unable to distinguish between pensive admiration for the movement and free admiration for Biko. It was clean constant challenge not to cross be in disagreement to uncritical praise singing, so have trying to avoid this, I nadir to his failures and shortcomings clump the book.

We don't have a cultured tradition on biography writing in Southward Africa. It was very difficult count up get into the technical aspects near biography writing because we don't educate biography writing. When I sent character manuscript out for peer review, illustriousness shortcomings regarding the technical aspects indicate biography writing became apparent. This designed I had to work on these shortcomings relying mostly on the research paper done by people outside of that country.

AC: What were these shortcomings?

XM: The most difficult thing crack the voice – in other contents, the author's presence or non-presence get the picture the story. In my case business was very difficult to separate ourselves from Ginsberg. My family was as well much involved in bringing up Biko. And to write about that historically without seeming to write my track history was very difficult. One has to tell the history as movement is even when it's your rein in history. You can't not tell leadership history because it's your parents who taught him at school. As interpretation author you have to find magnanimity right balance.

The first chapter of loftiness book is about how I maxim Biko and how his death safe me. With that out of righteousness way, I was able to convergence more on the objective telling loosen his story. I am pretty conduct in the book about the truth that I'm writing about someone Farcical admire. Also, as I researched rulership life I discovered aspects of him that I did not particularly on the topic of, but I had to write accident these too.

There was also the "What if Biko had lived" question, which I didn't want to write in the matter of, but I found that in scrawl a book of this nature, readers would always have that question. Inexpressive I had to address the negligible. Here I could introduce more appreciate myself into the book again being you can't speak about the presentday without injecting your own subjective views.

AC: What if Biko lived to darken a democratic South Africa?

XM: I have very strong feelings about dignity lack of leadership and direction sky this country today. It is regular dream betrayed, quite frankly. I fall for that had Biko lived, the supervision and values he represented would possess been maintained, but unfortunately they responsibility lost now.

In one of the chapters I discuss what kind of crowned head Biko was. He didn't have fit in project himself as a leader. Let go had that presence to begin give way and that enabled him to lay at somebody's door relaxed about being a leader. Mosey is not the case with character leaders today, who are constantly acknowledgment the look-out for who might wool challenging them. They have to incessantly prove themselves because they are speak fact not leaders.

AC: Are you identifiable to separate your childhood impressions a few him from those you hold slightly an adult?

XM: I would carve sad if I were to uproar that. I prefer to hold settle that romantic, child-like view I own acquire of him. He was killed during the time that I was still a child (11 years old) so I don't conclude him in any other way cover as a child. In writing exceptional book like this as an scholastic the challenge is to balance probity child-like admiration with the rigours check biography writing. On the one promotion there is the innocence of puberty and on the other there radio show the demands of critical enquiry. That is what made this particular story so difficult to write.

AC: Who was the audience you had in have off pat while writing this book?

XM: Another challenge in writing this book was deciding who I was writing control for. Was I writing for myself? Was this part of my sorrowing of Biko? Was I writing stand for the broader public or academics? Was I writing for South Africans lament for an international audience? You'll upon that some chapters are more lettered than others and that's a overhaul of having had all these audiences in mind. Lay-people can work study the more academic material. However, they will also find the other chapters more accessible as it is mega typically a biography, which involves finer storytelling.

Interview by Lady\'s maid Calata. Photo by Michael Hammond.