Township economies and feminist hierarchies: a family conversation between two black feminists from KwaLanga

Abstract

abstract What role have black women from poor black townships of South Africa played in African or black feminism? To ask this is to open up Pandora’s box about our denial of the homogeneity of black middle class feminism in South Africa. Black feminism is invoked as though black women are devoid of class/sexuality/gender/educational differences. To ask what role black feminists from the township play requires us to examine the shape that black feminism takes in the black townships of South Africa. This paper takes the form of a transcribed interview with my aunt and black feminist scholar, Wanelisa Xaba. In the interview, I locate myself as a ‘township feminist’ and reflect on what this identity means in post-apartheid South Africa. Much needs to be explored about the disjuncture between middle class black feminism and the lived realities of poor black African women on the ground. Informed by Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, the transcribed interview between Xaba and me reflects on the dynamics of gender/class/education ‘privilege’ in our family. During the interview, we explore the politics of a university education as a legitimiser of feminist ‘credibility’ and how ‘university privilege’ is a form of structural violence perpetrated against black feminists outside of the academy. We further explore how Xaba (a feminist who went to university) experiences privilege within the family while my feminism remains marginalised. Taking a closer look at our childhood, Xaba and I further explore the gendered extra labour we have had to undertake in order to ‘hold down the home’. This speaks to a broader issue: when the state fails to liberate black people from poverty, the girl child is tasked with the extra burden of providing. This we mirror against prevalent traditional Xhosa values that assert that ‘men are providers’. We juxtapose this view with the actual situation in which black women are the actual providers and pillars of township communities. This interview aims to illuminate an intergenerational conversation between family members about privilege, power, socialisation and reclamation of black township feminism.