Title: South Africa: Cultural and Gender Identities under the Influence of Apartheid
1South Africa Cultural and Gender Identities
under the Influence of Apartheid
- Njabulo Ndebele, Nadine Gordimer and Antjie Krog
2South Africa Map
3Various Identities
Police
gangsters
The White Masters
Vukanis father
Vukanis mother, Dr. Zwane and his wife
The farm hands
Vukani His sister
- A Women Waiting for her Husband-to-be.
4Njabulo Ndebele
- Ndebele's writings -- constitutes a return to
more traditional concerns with narrative
complexity and literary quality." - Fools The township life seen through the eyes of
a young and sensitive protagonist. (e.g. The
Prophetess The Violin )
5Ndebele on Children
- "South African literature has generally handled
the images of childhood as social criticism - an infant abandoned by its mother.
- Friends going against each other.
- the entrance of the young in national politics?
education affected (I.e. Soweto uprising) - Reconstruction should begin with the recovery of
childhood and innocence. (source
http//www.uni-ulm.de/rturrell/antho4html/Ndebele
.html )
6"The Music of the Violin"
- How are the two women (Vukanis mother and
Beatrice) different from the two men (Vukanis
father and Dr. Zwane in the opening scene? What
are they each concerned with? - How are Vukani and Toboho treated differently?
How does Vukani respond to having visitors at
home? Why is he so afraid? - How is education presented in this story?
- In the two central scenes of conflicts, how are
the issues of gender and race mixed together?
7Allusions
- Footprints Bush School
- Designed for primary school children under 12
- Teaches about nature in a fun way(source)
8Gender Relations
- The men are condescending to the women and their
Housewives League. (97 98) - Peace, women of Africa their laughter
- Vukanis father African nationalism. (96-97)
9Education
- Vukanis homework (104)
- Mabaso the teacher at a bush school
- Ms. Yende 100 red dress violin
- Maseko dog chained dog, hungry dog wandering
dog p. 101 - Vukanis mother ?turns her son into Mozart Mrs.
Zwane ? her daughter into ballerina
10Vukani in between the gangs and the educated
- wanted to escape 97 wish to talk to Toboho
- His anxiety and latent need for rebellion (book
turned into flame 99 Doksi p. 100)
sourceschool teachers, parents - Another source of his anxiety the school kids
- his violin stolen p. 101 inspectors son
- music man pp. 104 Bhuka and the copper
bangles
11Nadine Gordimer (1923-)
- Born in South Africa in 1923, the daughter of
immigrants her father was a Lithuanian Jew, and
her mother was born in England. - A chronicler of the history of Apartheid.
- Raised in a segregated town, Spring, outside
Johannesburg - The Sharpeville massacre of 1960
- Her comments on P.W. Bothas facing a black
judge. - Nobel Prize winner, 1991.
12"Six Feet of the Country" Allusions
- baas ? leader ? boss
- "Piccanins" -- a somewhat condescending slang
for small black children. - Zoot suits were wide-lapelled, high-waisted
outfits worn by - "hip" urban blacks in
- the forties.
13Allusions (2) Rhodesia
- 1890 to 1893 -- the area of Southern Rhodesia was
conquered settled by the British South Africa
Company. - 1923. -- Southern R under Crown rule
- 1953 to 1964 -- Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland
formed part of the Central - African Federation
- In 1965 its government was unilaterally declared
its independence as Rhodesia. - 1980 -- Rhodesia was renamed Zimbabwe.
14Rhodesia and Southern Africa
Zimbabwe
15"Six Feet of the Country"
- Why does the narrator say that they are not real
farmers? Why do they buy a farm? How are the
couple related to each other? - How do they relate to the farm boys? (e.g. p.
97, their report of the death, the illegal
immigrants and the death) Are they helpful to
Petrus in the matter of the family death. - How are the blacks presented in the story? (e.g.
the way Petrus speaks, donkey carts p. 102, views
of money and family death.) How are the blacks
and the white masters views of money different
from each other? - Why do the wife and Petrus look alike to the
narrator at the end? - What does the title mean?
16Husband and Wife
- tension in the city 97
- tension between the couple
- incapacity on the husbands part (97), feel like
a fool 97 incommunicative 99 - wife seen as plain 99 and messy 101
- Lerice, fits better into the farm life.
- The husbands views have it both ways 96-97.
17The White Masters and the Farm Boys
- Lerice patronizing 97
- The husband Relationship feudal wrong,
obsolete, but comfortable. easy-going
gossipers 102 - Report of Death
- troubled startled a bit Lerice wanted more
communication - Husband handles his responsibility but more is
thrust on him. (a waste to get the body back p.
101) - The funeral
- The baas changed? --in his attitude towards the
authorities, -
18The Black Servants and immigrants
- mutual support not reporting on each other
relatives going to them to seek a better job
contributing money for the funeral - Petrus seems to trust his baas.
- At the end, he cannot even get six feet of the
country to bury his brother.
19Antjie Krog
The Country of my Skull a poetry collection
script writer of Long Nights Journey into the
Day.
- "Lovesong After the Music of K. E. Ntsane"
20Allusions
- K. E. Ntsane, one of the great Sotho poets.
Sotho one of the languages spoken by Africans.