David B. Coplan (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg)
Submitted: Wed, 9 Dec 1998
Professor David B. Coplan
Chair
Department of Social Anthropology
University of the Witwatersrand
P.B. 3
Wits 2050
Johannesburg
South Africa
phone: 27-11-716-2737
fax: 27-11-716-3708
e-mail: 0321david@muse.arts.wits.ac.za
Recent fieldwork and research:
-- Eastern Free State and Lesotho, 1997-1998: cultural and social dynamics
of cross-border interaction and migration in the Caledon River valley
-- Cape Town, 1994: operation and impact of Musical Action for People's
Progress in disadvantaged communities in the Cape Flats
-- Lesotho, 1993-1994: impact of changes in the migrant labour system on
communities in Lesotho and implications for future migrant labour policy
-- South Africa, 1991: interviews for the Late Editions Project, sponsored
by the Dept. of Anthropology, Rice University
-- Lesotho and South Africa, June 1988-June 1989: Basotho ethnography and
oral literature
Selected Publications
-- Books:
1995 Lyrics of the Basotho migrants. Translations of African historical
documents series. Madison: University of Wisconsin.
1994 In the time of cannibals: word music of South Africa's Basotho
migrants. Chicago: University of Chicago; Johannesburg: Witwatersrand
University Press.
1985 In township tonight! South Africa's black city music and theater.
London ; New York: Longman ; Johannesburg: Raven Press, 1985. (French
edition, published in 1990 by Karthala)
-- Occasional papers:
1999 Lice in your blanket: the meaning of the Lesotho-Free State border.
Southern African Migration Project. Cape Town: Institute for Democratic
Alternatives in South Africa. In press.
1992 The meaning of Sesotho. Occasional paper, Journal of research.
Roma: National University of Lesotho. No. 3: 1-55.
-- Articles:
1999 "Popular culture in southern Africa," Southern Africa:
reconciliation and development. Ed. by York Bradshaw et al., Bloomington:
Indiana University Press.
1999 (with Philip Bonner) "'You have left me wandering about': Basotho
women and the culture of mobility," in Wicked women, ed. by S. McCurdy
and D. Hodgson. Exeter, N.H.: Heinemann.
1998 "Mapping misery: the anthropological narration of post-apartheid
South Africa." African studies (Johannesburg). Forthcoming.
1998 "Popular history: cultural memory." South African keywords II. Ed.
by E. Boonziaer and J. Sharp. In press.
1997 "Lesotho" and "South Africa: popular styles and fusion," in Groves
new dictionary of music and musicians. London: New Groves, 1997?
1997 "'Musics' anthropology" Chapter 18. Special issue. (ed. by M.
Herzfeld.) International social science journal. Paris: UNESCO.
1997 "South Africa: popular culture," in The encyclopedia of Sub-Saharan
Africa. Ed. by John Middleton. New York: Scribners.
1997 "Popular music in South Africa," in The Garland encyclopedia of
world music, vol. 1: Africa.
1995 "In a state of emergency: democracy, power, and nationalist
discourse in Lesotho. Transformation (Durban) 26:47-62.
1993 "A terrible commitment: balancing the tribes in South African
national culture," in Perilous states: conversations on race, culture and
nation. Ed. by George Marcus. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp.
305-358.
1993 "History is eaten whole: consuming tropes in Sesotho auriture."
History and theory. Special issue: History Making in Africa. Beiheft 32,
December, pp. 80-104.
1991 "Notes on New and Old World African drumming: just playing like you
mean it is not playing." African music, 7 (1): 105-109.
1990 "Structure, secrets, and Sesotho: migrants performance and Basotho
national culture." South African journal of African languages. (Pretoria)
Special issue in honor of David Rycroft. Ed. by Rosalie Findlayson. 10,
4.
1990 "Ethnomusicology and the meaning of tradition." In Ethnomusicology
and modern music history. Ed. by Stephen Blum et al. Urbana, Illinois:
University of Illinois Press.
1987 "The power of oral poetry: narrative songs of the Basotho migrants."
Research in African literatures, 18(1): 1-35.