Bruin Ous Are the Main Ous: Memory and Masculinity in a South Durban Township

Abstract

This study examines the importance of historical memory in galvanising constructions of masculinity in Wentworth, a formerly ‘coloured’ township in South Durban. Semi-structured focus group discussions and individual interviews with 28 coloured men uncovered a tradition of activist masculinities in the community and also revealed the complex ways in which the apartheid project continues to shape masculinity and family life in Wentworth. We explore the intergenerational nature of masculinity by considering how two generations of men (ages 30–45 and 45–65) use memories of apartheid in their processes of identity formation. We illustrate how memories of gender under apartheid modulate across time, contributing to masculinised performances of race and identity in a post-apartheid climate. We argue that a more nuanced understanding of coloured masculinities is necessary within the literature on race and gender in South Africa, as popular perceptions of coloured men as violent, aggressive and heterosexist loom large in the South African imagination. Such stereotypes obscure the complex history of gender and race in southern Africa and disregard the diverse expressions of masculinities in coloured communities.