LIVED AND EMBODIED SUFFERING AND HEALING AMONGST MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS ...

303 Pages·2012·1.34 MB·English

LIVED AND EMBODIED SUFFERING AND HEALING AMONGST MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS
IN CHESTERVILLE TOWNSHIP, KWAZULU-NATAL

By
NTHABISENG MOTSEMME
Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF LITERATURE IN PHILOSOPHY
IN THE SUBJECT
SOCIOLOGY
AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA

SUPERVISOR: PROF ABEBE ZEGEYE
MARCH 2011

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DECLARATION

I, Nthabiseng Motsemme, student number 34958843 declare that the dissertation Lived
and Embodied Suffering and Healing amongst Mothers and Daughters in Chesterville
Township, KwaZulu-Natal is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or
quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references

Signature.................................................Date..........................................

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

‘It takes a village to complete a PhD!’ There are so many people to whom I owe my deep gratitude in the
completion of this dissertation. The first is my mother who truly lives and embodies the womanist moral
wisdom of “helped are those who receive only to give; always in their house will be the circular energy of
generosity and in their hearts a beginning of a new age on earth’ (White 2004:446). It is she who both softened
and focused my vision on documenting the lives of mothers and daughters of Chesterville Township, where I
grew up. The generosity of the young and older women of Chesterville who willingly shared their time and
stories with me, which is what actually gave this research its life-force, remains a valuable gift for which I am
most thankful. I extend my deep appreciation to my supervisor Prof Abebe Zegeye, who patiently walked this
journey of self and intellectual discovery with me, flowing with me as I maneuvered work and family
commitments.
Along the way I was fueled and nourished by conversations, encouragements, comments and suggestions from
friends and colleagues about the existential and material challenges that African women continue to face. I
apologise if I have not named everyone, but some of those individuals that I am privileged to mention include-
Dr Bibi Bakare-Weate, Dr Dawne Curry, Ms Makhosazane Xulu (rest in peace*), Ms Boshadi Semenya, Ms
Nomboniso Gasa, Prof Helen Bradford, Ms Diana Ferrus, Prof Tinyiko Maluleke, Dr Sandra Jackson and Dr
Fassil Demissie. Furthermore, the transcribing of interviews and ad-hoc fieldwork assistance from Busisiwe
Khayiyana and Buhle Nthabiseng Motsemme; and the loving babysitting hands of Rudo Giwa, were simply
invaluable. Finally, I am appreciative of Prof Maurice Vambe’s warm professionalism during the final editing
stages which contributed towards a more disciplined final product. Parts of this dissertation have been presented
to diverse audiences, and I acknowledge their critical feedback which served to further enrich my research.
However, this dissertation would not have been possible without the following financial support to complete
both fieldwork and to finalise it-The Ford Foundation whose funds are administered by the African-American
Institute, Johannesburg, under the leadership of supportive mama Africa; Social Science Research Council,
New York; CODESRIA Small Grants Programme for Thesis Writing, Senegal; and the Association of African
Universities Grants for Thesis and Dissertations, Nairobi.
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Finally, but certainly not least, I sing praises to my husband Ali Saccoh who has been at my side throughout this
arduous road of pursuing my PhD, while working full time and bringing together into this world our beautiful
children Ibrahim Thoriso, Fatoumata Nokuthula and Aminata Linda. His gracious support at many times made
the challenges that I encountered along the way, appear lighter than they actually were.

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DEDICATION

This thesis is dedicated to my grandmothers gogo Nokuthula Motsemme, gogo
Mamane Jali, and my father Basil Hetlamoreng Farrel Motsemme.

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ABSTRACT

This is a transdisciplinary study of how ‘popular cultures of survival’ regenerate and rehumanise township
residents and communities whose social fabric and intergenerational bonds have been violently torn by endemic
suffering. I focus specifically on township mothers’ and daughters’ lifeworlds with the aim of recentering these
marginalised lives so that they can inform us about retheorising marginality and in this way enrich our limited
academic discourses on the subjectivities of poor urban African women. Located in the interdisciplinary field of
popular culture studies, the study draws on and synthesises theoretical insights from a number of disciplines
such as sociology, political-science, anthropology, history, literary studies, womanist and feminist studies and
indigenous studies, while using a variety of methods and sources such as interviews, reports, observation,
newspapers, field notes, photo-albums, academic articles and embodied expressions to create a unique theory on
the lived and embodied suffering and healing experiences of township women. I have called this situated
conceptual framework that is theoretically aligned to African womanism and existential phenomenology, but
principally fashioned out of township mothers and daughters ways of understanding the world and their place in
it--Township mothers’ and daughters’ lived and embodied ‘cultures of survival’. And in order to surface their
popular cultural survival strategies I have adopted an African womanist interpretative phenomenological
methodological framework. This suggested conceptual and methodological framework has allowed me to
creatively explore the dialectical tensions of the everyday township philosophies, aesthetics and moralities of
‘ukuphanta’, to hustle and ‘ukuhlonipha’, to respect, and show how they create the moral-existential ground for
township mothers and daughters not only to continue to survive, but to reclaim lives of dignity and sensuality
amidst repeated negation and historical hardships.

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KEY TERMS USED IN STUDY

• Township Studies
• African Womanism
• Existential Phenomenology
• Everyday Life
• Situated Knowledges
• Lived and Embodied Suffering
• Lived and Embodied Healing
• Township Mothers and Daughters
• African Womanist Interpretative Phenomenology
• Popular Cultures of Survival

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1:
Dominant Conceptual Approaches and Discourses in Social Studies on
Townships and Township Subjectivities

1.0 Introduction: Rethinking Township Scholarship in South Africa…………………………............................1
1.1 Political Economy conceptual framework……………………………………………………………..….……...2
1.1.1 Township-centred Studies………………………………………………………………………………………...2-6
1.1.2 State-centred Studies………………………………………………………………………………………………6-9
1.2. Socio-Political and Socio-Economic conceptual framework................................................................9-10
1.2.1 The Socio-Political Framework on Township Studies……………………………………………………..10-13
1.2.2 The Socio-Economic Framework in Township Studies…………………...............................................13-18
1.3 Urban Development Conceptual approach to Township Studies……………………............................18-21
1.4 The Developmental discourse in Township Studies…………………………………...............................21-23
1.5 Ethnographic Conceptual Framework……………………………………………………………………….23-26
1.6 Street Based Popular Culture Accounts……………………………………...................................................27
1.7 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….……………………………..28

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CHAPTER 2:
Dominant Conceptual Approaches and Discourses in Contemporary African
Popular Culture Studies

2.0 Introduction: Contemporary African Popular Culture Studies.................................................................29
2.1 Popular Culture Definitions.................................................................................................................30-33

2.2 Cultural Studies approaches to Popular Culture.................................................................................33-37
2.3 Anthropological approaches to Popular Culture.................................................................................38-40
2.4 The Politics of Representation within Popular Culture Studies Approaches.......................................40-42
2.5 African Popular Culture Studies discourses of ‘Return to the Source’
and ‘Return to the Present’..................................................................................................................43-44

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2.5.1 The “Return to the source ” Discourse................................................................................................44-
50
2.5.2 Rejection of Racialised, Folk and Ethnic based idea of being African................................................51-52

2.5.2.i Polytheism............................................................................................................................52-53
2.5.2.ii Syncretism...................................................................................................................................53
2.5.2.iii Hybridity ....................................................................................................................................53
2.5.2.iv Mestizage.................................................................................................................................53-54
2.5.2.v Creolisation.............................................................................................................................54-56
2.6 The “Return of the Present” Discourse...............................................................................................56-60
2.6.1 General criticism levelled against cosmopolitans................................................................................60-62
2.7 Gendered perspectives on contemporary popular culture and new sites for
Reclamations of humanity....................................................................................................................62-67
2.8 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................67-68

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CHAPTER 3:
Township Mothers and Daughters Lived and Embodied ‘Popular Cultures of Survival’

3.0 Introduction: Towards a Popular Culture studies framework aligned to African Womanism
and Existential Phenomenology in South Africa..................................................................................69-72
3.1 African Women’s alternative Knowledges...........................................................................................72-74
3.2 Dimensions of African Womanism.......................................................................................................74-80
3.2.1 Lived and Embodied Experience as basis for Situated Knowledge……………………………………...80-84
3.2.2 Returning the Spiritual into Socio-cultural analysis……………………………………………………....84-93
3.2.3 Maternal Legacies among Mothers and Daughters............................................................................93-97
3.4 Merleau Ponty’s Existential Phenomenology: The historically and emotionally
situated body.......................................................................................................................................97-102
3.5 Township Mothers and Daughters Lived and Embodied
‘Cultures of Survival’.......................................................................................................................102-104
3.5.1 “Ukuphanta”-To Hustle..................................................................................................................104-111
3.5.2 “Ukuhlonipha” -To Respect...........................................................................................................111-117
3.6 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................118-119

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