Gender Politics in Zakes Mda's Ways of Dying

Abstract

Hallmarks of ‘national liberation’ discourse are unity and common purpose. In his novel, Ways of Dying, Zakes Mda challenges this perception in relation to the South African liberation struggle. He identifies significant contradictions which, after political liberation, continue to characterise a South Africa in which male authority remains dominant. At the same time, Mda's novel introduces ironical twists to its gender politics: women fend for themselves in unexpected ways.