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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Gender Myths and Citizenship in Two Autobiographies by South African Women |
Author: | Lewis, Desiree |
Year: | 1999 |
Periodical: | Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity |
Issue: | 40 |
Pages: | 38-44 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | nationality women autobiography literature Historical/Biographical Ethnic and Race Relations Equality and Liberation |
About persons: | Mamphela Ramphele Ellen Kate Kuzwayo (1914-2006) |
External link: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10130950.1999.9675735 |
Abstract: | Citizenship is usually explained only in terms of legal and formal rights, implying rights to individual freedom, justice, the exercise of political power, etc. But citizenship also confers 'belonging' and embeds the notion of recognizing individuals' social standing. This article explores popularised definitions of women's 'belonging' in the nation as this defines their citizenship. It considers how in South Africa the anti-apartheid struggle's legacy of defining women in relation to the community and nation has reinforced traditions in which women's citizenship is mediated by their subordination to men and their symbolic roles. This is done by analysing two autobiographies, Ellen Kuzwayo's 'Call me woman' (1985) and Mamphela Ramphele's 'A life' (1995). Dealing with major political struggles and events from the 1960s, both autobiographies deal primarily with the apartheid context of black struggles for political participation and civil rights. It is precisely by exploring this period that the texts point to a legacy which continues to shape popular perceptions of women-in-the-nation, of women as citizens. In their representations of motherhood, the family and marriage, the texts reveal pivotal ways in which women's citizenship is mediated. Bibliogr., notes. |