Changing images : representations of the Southern African black women in works by Bessie Head, Ellen Kuzwayo, Mandla Langa and Mongane Serote
Loading...
Authors
Marsden, Dorothy Frances
Issue Date
1994-11
Type
Language
en
Keywords
African womanism , Gender , Representations , Stereotypes , Feminism , Domestic roles , Working roles , Political roles , Bessie Head , Ellen Kuzwayo , Mandla Langa , Mongane Serote , Kuzwayo, Ellen -- Criticism and interpretation , Langa, Mandla, -- 1950- -- Criticism and interpretation. , Women, Black -- South Africa -- Social conditions , Women in literature , South African literature (English) -- Black authors -- History and criticism. , Women, Black -- Employment -- South Africa
Alternative Title
Abstract
This study examines representations of Southern African black women
in the works' of two male and two female writers. A comparative
approach is used to review the ways in which the writers
characterise women who labour under intense restrictions in
domestic situations, the workplace, and in political contexts.
Some representations suggest that women have come to terms with
social strictures and have learned to live fulfilled lives despite
them. Other representations are contextualised in creative situations
in which social roles are re-imagined. In the process,
women are removed from conventional object-related gendered
positions. These representations suggest that women have the
capability to achieve personal transcendence rather than accept the
immanence imposed by stereotyped gender relationships and repressive
political structures. The suggestion is made that writers can
change the image of women by centralising them as active subjects,
challenging their exclusion and creating spaces for women to
represent themselves
Description
Citation
Marsden, Dorothy Frances (1994) Changing images : representations of the Southern African black women in works by Bessie Head, Ellen Kuzwayo, Mandla Langa and Mongane Serote, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18134>