"Better a barefoot than none": Influences of Nationalist ideologies on girlhood in the history classroom

Yolandi Woest

doi:10.17159/2223-0386/2021/n26a5

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study adopted autoethnography as a research methodology to relive and reflect on my experiences as a White Afrikaner girl in a history class during the apartheid era in South Africa. This paper focuses on how the grand narratives of Afrikaner Nationalist ideologies and Whiteness in South Africa influenced girlhood or girl-becoming within the History classroom during apartheid in the late 1980s. This paper purposefully interrogates how ideologies of white supremacy, such as ordentlikheid (ethnicised respectability), found their way into the micro-context of a primary school history classroom through small acts of oppression. Epistemologically, I underpin this this paper by an interpretative paradigm to justify the meaning-making of personal experiences, which form the core of this paper. Methodologically, the study adopted a qualitative approach, and the research design comprised of an autoethnography. Data consisted of a personal narrative developed from a reflective piece of personal free writing into a crafted story by relying on memory work and checked by verisimilitude to remember specific details. I was the sole participant in that I generated the data through my narrative. An analysis of the findings showed 'place' as predominant convergence of identity marker, namely the place of 'outsider-girlhood' within the socio-educational context and intersectionality as Nationalist influence on white girlhood. I conclude the paper with my final reflections as a form of meaning-making. Keywords: Afrikaner; Autoethnography; White girlhood; History education; Role-play, Whiteness.

Highlights

It was allegedly Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, whom we might know better as Coco Chanel, who said, ‘a woman with good shoes is never ugly’
The purpose of the paper is to interrogate the impact and effects of this strategic control as it manifested in the micro-context of a history classroom
I adopted autoethnography as a research methodology based on the premise that it is “an autobiographical genre of writing and research that displays multiple layers of consciousness, connecting the personal to the cultural” (Ellis & Bochner, 2000: 739)

Summary

Introduction

It was allegedly Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, whom we might know better as Coco Chanel, who said, ‘a woman with good shoes is never ugly’. Winnie Madikizela Mandela describes how her first pair of shoes, very painful to wear, inspired her lifelong fascination with shoes and clothing against poverty and white oppression (Du PreezBezdrob, 2003). In certain religions and cultures, the act of removing one’s shoes when approaching a sacred person or place is a mark of reverence and respect for the hospitality of the host. To show the sole of your shoe and throwing shoes to someone in the Arab world are signs of extreme disrespect (Curtis, 2018). Moses was instructed to remove his shoes before approaching the burning bush (Exodus 3:2). The anger of God is shown by the Psalmist writing, “Over Edom, I shall throw My shoe” (Psalm 108:9). Solomon describes the beauty of the feet in the sandals of the prince’s daughter (Song of Solomon 7:1), and Isaiah writes about the boots of warriors in battle (Isaiah 9:5)

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Discussion

Conclusion