The Silencing of Regina Gelana Twala

Prof Joel Cabrita from Stanford University, San Francisco, USA will be warded an honorary doctorate from the Theological Faculty, Uppsala University, tomorrow. Today she held her lecture with the heading:

Writing religion: research assistance & authorship in African religious history

Joel Cabrita has published important work on African Initiated Churches and her work is connected to the late Uppsala Professor Bengt Sundkler. He is did some groundbreaking work on the AIC’s. In his first book: Bantu prophets in South Africa (London: Lutterworth Press, 1948) he is rather negative to these kind of churches finding them to include too much paganism. Later he wrote Zulu Zion and some Swazi (Lund: Gleerup, 1976). In this book he has changed his opinion about the AIC’s and is more positive.

Joel Kabrita argued in her lecture that Regina Gelana Twala contributed to this change. But her contribution was never recognised. Kabrita has written a book about Twala:

Written out. The Silencing of Regina Gelana Twala (Ohio University Press, 2023)

I really want to read it. So the question is: why was the contribution of Twala not recognised by Sundkler? One answer is that this happened in another time. In the 1950s senior researchers leaned heavily on their research assistants. But this answer is not enough. Sundkler was criticised for this already after his first book. In the second book he therefore named a number of his research assistants. Two of them were Peter Mkhize and Titus Mthembu. Cabrita argued that Twala was as important as they. So, why is Sundkler just silencing her? Especilly since she contributed a lot to the second book. Cabrita could show this with examples where Sundkler has copied from Twalas notes almost word by word.

Cabrita informed us that Regina Twala was not a Lutheran. But I cannot believe that this was a reason. Sundkler was an ecumenist. In her lecture, Cabrita showed that Twala in general struggled to get her work published. When she died in 1968 she left a number of unpublished book manuscripts behind. On the website of Standford university I read this as an explanation to the silencing of Twala. I think it comes from Cabrita’s book:

The literary gatekeepers of the racist and sexist society of twentieth-century southern Africa clamped down by literally writing her out of the region’s history. 

Ohio Press summarises and asks:

Systemic racism and sexism caused one of South Africa’s most important writers to disappear from public consciousness. Is it possible to justly restore her historical presence?

Cabrita answerd this humbly. She admits that she as a white scholar is privileged. She does not intend to come as a white saviour.

Nevertheless the gave us a few things to think about. We need:

- A new way of decolonizing knowledge

- Literary activism

- Greater due diligence in publishing

Cabrita also underscored that Twala found ways to publish her texts, albeit in newspapers and under pseudonyms like Intombazana. Cabrita wants to ensure that Regina Twala gaines recognition. She has even approached Oxford press, that published books by Sundkler. I got the impression that they were not amused.