Portraying political violence, rape and masculinities in post-apartheid African language literature
The case of the novel Ngiyolibala Ngifile
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21491082 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sanele Mathews Mthembu (0000-0002-8333-8933, University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 306-314 |
| Publication date | 2024-09-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | South African Journal of African Languages (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0257-2117 • E-ISSN: 2305-1159 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02572117.2024.2353161 |
| OpenAlex | W4404084921 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 21 |
The canon of African language literature has been critiqued in its entirety by local and foreign scholars on the premise that it has failed to respond to sociopolitical and colonial realities. This article argues that African language literature has been and continues to be socially committed in the post-apartheid epoch. This is argued through an analysis of the novel Ngiyolibala Ngifile by Sibiya. The analysis focuses on the portrayal of violence, rape and the construction of masculinities in post-apartheid South Africa. Through the utilisation of a post-colonial framework, the article shows how African language writers like Sibiya use the African milieu to link political violence, rape and masculinities to the colonial matrix, while simultaneously pointing to the causes and continuum of these topics. It further displays the author’s critique of the black bourgeoisie as stakeholders of colonialism, which unleashed violence on black bodies. This study is a significant insertion of masculinity as a critical unit, along with race, language and women, in the analysis of African language literature. This study recommends and proposes an expansion of the theoretical paradigm of reading African languages to accommodate neoteric frameworks of reading. It further suggests a close reading of African language literary texts through the postcolonial lens and with masculinities as a critical unit
Political science · Political violence · Politics · Sociology · African history and culture studies · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · History · Law · South African History and Culture
African Masculinities
Sexual violence against women
Hegemonic and shamed masculinities
Textual Analysis
Rape in South Africa
Men, Movements, and Gender Transformation in South Africa
Zulu Masculinities, Warrior Culture and Stick Fighting
Of boys and men
Towards African-centred theories of masculinity
Of Revelation and Revolution, Volume 1
Race, Class, and Masculinities in a South African Primary School
You Mix Up the Thinking, and Then You Look at the Journey
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |