Mineke Schipper

Mineke Schipper (1938-) is a Dutch an author and scholar known for her work on comparative literature mythologies and intercultural studies, including publications on aspects of South African theatre and performance.

Biography

Born Wilhelmina Janneke Josepha de Leeuw on 6 December 1938 in Polsbroek, Netherlands, she studied studied French and Philosophy at Amsterdam Free University and Literary Theory, followed by Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Utrecht. She started her career teaching French and African Literature at the Université Libre du Congo (between 1964 and 1972), immersing herself in the field of intercultural literary studies. In 1988, she joined the Free University of Amsterdam as the first Professor of Intercultural Literary Studies in the Netherlands.

In 1993, she moved to Leiden University, where she played a dynamic role in building intercultural bridges while researching and lecturing comparative literature in a global context. She retired in 2008.

Contribution to South African theatre, film, media and performance

Her influence on South African theatre research is mainly to be discerned in her insightful contextualization of the theatre and performance in the African context.

Three significant publications in this regard have been:

Schipper, Mineke 1982. Theatre and Society in Africa. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.

Schipper, Mineke 1986. A la recherche d'une arme miraculeuse: Le Théâtre sud-africain depuis les événements de Soweto. Presence Africaine: Revue Culturelle du Monde Noir/Cultural Review of the Negro World (PA), 140:35-46.

Schipper, Mineke 1986. Oral Tradition and African Theatre In: pp.123-135[1]