Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-267).

Script, subjugation, and subversion : an introduction / Jonathan A. Draper -- Orality, literacy, and colonialism in historical perspective. Fighting with the pen : the appropriation of the press by early Xhosa writers / Jeff Opland. From the Bible as bola to biblical interpretation as marabi : Tlhaping transactions with the Bible / Gerald O. West. The closed text and the heavenly telephone : the role of the bricoleur in oral mediation of sacred text in the case of George Khambule and the Gospel of John / Jonathan A. Draper. Making the book, performing the words of Izihlabelelo zamaNazaretha / Carol Muller. The land and the word : missions, African Christians, and the claiming of land in South Africa / Deborah James and Geoffrey Maphahla Nkadimeng -- Dimensions of orality and resistance in modern South Africa. Frozen assets? : orality and the public space in KZN : izibongo and isicathamiya / Liz Gunner. "Where shall I wonder under the thunder who's that black boys making that black noise step a little closer to the mic" : prophets of da city and urban (South African) identity / Duncan Brown. Translation and the vernacular Bible in the debate between my "traditional" and academic worldviews / Maarman Sam Tshehla. Listening again : finding ways to host the TRC's oral, auto/biographical space / Ashlee Lenta. Oral history in a wounded country / Philippe Denis. Becoming ngaka : coming to terms with oral narrative discourses / Mogomme Alpheus Masoga -- Response. Comnmentary / Terence Ranger.