Concepts

Concept I

Concept II

Concept III

Concept IV

There is a small story to the origins of my title. A formidable frustration for most writers is what to do with a blank page. It stares at you with silent, intimidating power. To deal with this situation, I decided to put down words at random. Here they are: peasants, foreign policy, the environment, HIV/AIDS, higher education, the media, Zama-Zama, racism, globalization, Tito Mboweni, culture, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, black intellectuals, poverty, tow nations, xenophobia, Brenda Fassie, penguins, street children, Thath' amachance, thath' amamillion, Trevor Manuel, abortion, market forces, crime, size and shape, game parks, identity, African bourgeoisie, witches, taxi wars, the African renaissance, cities, tribalism Cosatu, farm murders, Human Rights Commission, Northern Province, primary schools, TV, Tim Modise. After this brief burst of automatic writing, I leaned back to see if I could spot any emergent trends that would suggest a possible title. I stared at the words and found no sustainable connections to hook onto immediately. But, just as I was about to decide that my random collection of words had not helped, I sat forward as a question formed itself without any effort on my part. I wrote 'Iph'indlela?' I did, indeed, feel lost. I could find no immediate path through this forest of words.

The only thing that was certain was the realization that the act of writing was a supreme effort at finding your way through immense confusion. It is the act of 'finding your way' through a turbulent sea of words. The only thing that sustains you is a daring act of faith. You'll get somewhere. Somehow, I did. Hence, I arrived at this title.

- from Njabulo Ndebele's "Iph'indlela", Steve Biko Memorial Lecture, September 2000