Plagiarism among South-African Writers: Analyzing Stephan Watson's Accusations against Antjie Krog
Rynhardt van Blerk
Plagiarism amid South-African writers: The analysis Stephan Watson accusations against South- African author Andjie Krog.
In civil society one pays homage to a successful endeavour through acknowledgement. In the world of literature, which forms an integral part of this society, one should surely acknowledge good research or writing if one was to exploit it. In a 2006 article in the journal New Contrast award-winningSouth-African author Stephen Watson accused fellow South-African writer Antjie Krog of erring in the act of acknowledgement in her title the stars say ‘tsau’ as well as other works. Referring to numerous literatures Watson saw similarities beyond coincidence, one of which being a title Return of the Moon: Versions from the /Xam, authored by Watson himself. This essay will assess Watson’s accusations and Krog’s denial of transgression by analysing both articles along with media and scholarly responses in the wake of these allegations.
“In the house of plagiarism there are...many mansions.” (Watson, 2006:50), a metaphor which Watson uses to refer to the vast district of Plagiarism.This metaphor is all the more appropriate when one considers the immense amount of guidelines and instructions published so that its user may evade the fraudulent act of plagiarism. According to Tobie van Dyk and Marisca Coetzee’s Make Sense of Referencing the lifting of intellectual property, that being literature in Krog’s case, makes one guilty of plagiarism (Coetzee & van Dyk: 4). Literature within the South-African Copyright law system is treated differently from other intellectual property such as trademarks, patents and registered designs, as copyright is bestowed once the literature is presented in material form. In other words, if one were to source South-African literature, the failure to acknowledge this would be illegal (Smit& Van Wyk, 2010).
However, according to the copyright act of South-Africa, there are exceptions. One is
Plagiarism amid South-African writers: The analysis Stephan Watson accusations against South- African author Andjie Krog.
In civil society one pays homage to a successful endeavour through acknowledgement. In the world of literature, which forms an integral part of this society, one should surely acknowledge good research or writing if one was to exploit it. In a 2006 article in the journal New Contrast award-winningSouth-African author Stephen Watson accused fellow South-African writer Antjie Krog of erring in the act of acknowledgement in her title the stars say ‘tsau’ as well as other works. Referring to numerous literatures Watson saw similarities beyond coincidence, one of which being a title Return of the Moon: Versions from the /Xam, authored by Watson himself. This essay will assess Watson’s accusations and Krog’s denial of transgression by analysing both articles along with media and scholarly responses in the wake of these allegations.
“In the house of plagiarism there are...many mansions.” (Watson, 2006:50), a metaphor which Watson uses to refer to the vast district of Plagiarism.This metaphor is all the more appropriate when one considers the immense amount of guidelines and instructions published so that its user may evade the fraudulent act of plagiarism. According to Tobie van Dyk and Marisca Coetzee’s Make Sense of Referencing the lifting of intellectual property, that being literature in Krog’s case, makes one guilty of plagiarism (Coetzee & van Dyk: 4). Literature within the South-African Copyright law system is treated differently from other intellectual property such as trademarks, patents and registered designs, as copyright is bestowed once the literature is presented in material form. In other words, if one were to source South-African literature, the failure to acknowledge this would be illegal (Smit& Van Wyk, 2010).
However, according to the copyright act of South-Africa, there are exceptions. One is
Bibliography: * Carrol, R. 2006. South African author accused of plagiarism· Academic says Antjie Krog stole phrases and ideas. [Online.] Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/feb/21/books.southafrica (2006, February 21) * De Lange, J * Grey, E. 2006. Commentary on Stephen Watson 's New Contrast article. [Online.] (2006, February 19) * Krog, A * Van Dyk, T. & Coetzee, M. 2008. Make Sense of Referencing : The Harvard, APA and Vancouve methods and Footnote system, Third edition. Stellenbosch University Language Centre. 2012. * Watson, S. 2006. The Annals of Plagiarism: Antjie Krog and the Bleek and Lloyd collection. New Contrast. 33(2): 48-61. * Wessels, M. 2007. Antjie Krog, Stephen Watson and the Metaphysics of presence. Current Wrtiting. 19(2): 24-48 [ 6 ]. Random House is the publishing company that published Country of My Skull in 1998 and the stars say ‘tsau’ in 2004.(Carrol, 2006)