Ntongela Masilela (1948-2020) is perhaps best known for collecting, archiving, and expounding on the works of South African and other African intellectuals--most notably members of the New African Movement--who historically had been overlooked or forgotten. Busani Ngcaweni presents a selection of Masilela's most important essays, prefacing each with an illuminating introduction that places the work in historical context and highlights its significance. CONTENTS: Foreword-- Chérif Keïta. Professor Ntongela Desmond Joseph Masilela--A Profile. Writing in the Latter Years of the "Interregnum Period" and in the "New South Africa" Era: An Introduction. Issues in the Historiography of South African Literature. Historical Problematics in Black South African Literature. Black South African Literature from the Sophiatown Renaissance to Black Mamba Rising Movement: Transformations and Variations from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Language as a Cultural Issue in Africa Today. A Moment of Reflection on the Occasion of the Eleventh Commemoration of the June 1976 Uprising. The Political Forms and Cultural Processes of a Particular South African Exile. Umoja Centre as a Continuation of the Pan-Africanist Tradition in the Present Context. What Was the New African Movement? A Conversation with Sandile Ngidi. What Was the H.I.E.

Dhlomo Centre for African Intellectual History? Mbukeni H. Mngubi Interviews Ntongela Masilela. The Return of Mazisi Kunene to South Africa: The End of an Intellectual Chapter in Our Literary History. Africa in America and America in Africa: The Politics of Cultural Reciprocity. The Transatlantic Connections of the New African Movement. A Cavalcade of Artistic Forms in Contemporary South Africa. A Fated Intellectual Snapshot of a Disappeared Literary Generation. The Historical Significance of China for South Africa in the Second Decade of the 21st Century.

Foreshadowings in the Making of an "African Renaissance.".