Issue 5: JANUARY 2013

Contents Black Consciousness: Black Consciousness A Mind of One’s Own 2 and Feminism 7

Introduction: The Role of Black Consciousness Contradictory Locations: Black Black Consciousness in Redefining Contemporary Women and the Discourse of the and Gender 1 Black Masculinity 4 Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa 13 Black Consciousness and Gender

ince the advent of South Africa’s Journal, we reflect on the ways in which democratic dispensation, discourse the ideology of Black Consciousness (BC) Son gender, and particularly the role of historically contributed to the liberation of women in society, has gained prominence. women, and the ways in which this philo- Enshrined in the Constitution are certain sophy continues to shape feminist thinking inalienable rights that guarantee girls and in the 21st century. With that said, we women equality under the law. The African also explore the short-comings of BC and National Congress, the governing party since the Black Consciousness Movement in 1994, has gone so far as to mandate that advancing gender equality. Our hope is women comprise 50% of their leadership; that this issue of the FrankTalk journal will and indeed, South Africa has one of the highest provide another framework through which Nkosinathi Biko rates of female representation in its parlia- to understand these topics—and make real Chief Executive Officer of the Steve ment globally. Yet, paradoxically, South Africa notions of equality. Biko Foundation also has one of the highest incidences of To lead us into this discussion, we are reported rape anywhere in the world. Further, pleased to bring you contributions from four women in our country, as is the trend globally, individuals who have reflected on Black are disproportionally poor and carry the great- Consciousness and Gender in their various est disease burden. capacities as feminist scholars, political “One must Confronted with this contradiction, there analysts and activists. immediately dispel are moments on the national calendar in We look forward to bringing you more which South Africa pauses to consider perspectives on contemporary socio-economic the thought that the role of women in society: to celebrate and political issues in the coming editions Black Consciousness their contributions and to examine their of the journal and invite you to share your is merely a challenges. As South Africa concluded the 16 contributions with us via email: days of activism against the abuse of women [email protected] or the FrankTalk Blog methodology or a and children and celebrated the 66th www.sbffranktalk.blogspot.com. means towards an birthday of Steve Biko last month, we at Continue the dialogue through Facebook the Steve Biko Foundation take a moment to www.facebook.com/TheSteveBikoFoundation end.” Steve Biko consider Black Consciousness and Gender. and Twitter www.twitter.com/BikoFoundation. In this, the fifth edition of the FrankTalk 2 Black Consciousness A Mind of One’s Own By Mohau Pheko

lmost every canonised Western are marginalised and discriminated philosopher is on record as viewing against in society, to acquire a critical Awomen as inferior, incompetent, consciousness. This literacy is a critical or disqualified epistemic or moral agents. consciousness for interrogating racism There are social arrangements that and sexism. It helps examine the subordinate or oppress women which representations of African women and are served and protected by patterns of African life in literature and popular culture. belief and social interactions that make It helps us figure out how these rep- truths about women’s subordination and resentations enhance and undermine its alternatives hard to recognise, or easy the capacity of African women to to cover up. determine their own fate. Black Con- Black Consciousness makes such sciousness is a tool that makes it easier social orders costly if not impossible. This to scrutinise in particular, the way in AMBASSADOR MOHAU PHEKO consciousness keeps certain testimonies which such representations work to impeachable where they nonetheless enslave or liberate African women, Mohau Pheko is currently the South emerge. To this general end it helps to reinforce or challenge racism in whites, African ambassador to Japan. have discredited certain categories of and sustain or subvert white supremacy. This comes after her post as South testifiers in advance. So it has been with Black Consciousness reminds us that African high commissioner to women and Black Consciousness and white lives and African lives are doubtless Canada. As a political economist, the societies it informs. just as segregated today as ever. Now, Mohau Pheko is one of the most Steve Biko in “The Quest for a True however, we watch a lot of images of respected voices in development Humanity,” I Write What I Like says “We African women on TV and in other media. economics. A specialist in the do not want to be reminded that it is The presence of such images creates position of women in economics, we, the indigenous people, who are an illusion of familiarity, a ‘sisterhood’ of Pheko has worked as a consultant poor and exploited in the land of our sorts, a kind of simulated integration. Yet to Southern African governments birth. These are concepts which the few of these images are produced by and companies and for numerous Black Consciousness approach wishes African people, or challenge stereotypes international programmes. In 1998 to eradicate from the black man’s mind of African women. In terms of race, she set up the Motheho Integrity before our society is driven to chaos by class, and gender, white people talk Consultants, a company which irresponsible people from Coca-Cola about “the black family,” “unemployed specialises in providing economic and hamburger cultural background.” black women,” or whomever, as if they research, policy and literature to This easily translates into a clear know what they are talking about- as if parliamentarians, civil servants and message; we women do not want to be African people were speaking instead of women’s organisations. Pheko is reminded that it is we, who are poor and being spoken about. Their conversations also coordinator of Gender and exploited in the land of our birth. For me, create the illusion that they know African Trade Network in Africa. an African woman, Black Consciousness people’s lives. as espoused by Steve Biko is a necessary Black Consciousness for African step to owning, shaping and celebrating women has been essential for women’s the black mind. This leads one to what consciousness raising in terms of I call a mind of one’s own. It asserts challenging ideas that run counter to African women as authoritative speakers, values and beliefs that advance the status “Black Consciousness credible witnesses, thinking subjects of women in our society. It has given is a tool that makes it and reflectively responsible moral agents. impetus for women to refuse to conform easier to scrutinise in Black Consciousness has contributed to someone else’s image of who and what particular, the way in to the women’s movement a literacy that they should be and to a large extent have which representations is essential to the future of the movement the opportunity through the ideas of Black work to enslave or because the lack of reading, writing and Consciousness to reinvent themselves. liberate African critical skills serves to exclude many In reinventing themselves, African women, reinforce or women from consciousness. Not only women through Black Consciousness challenge racism in that, it excludes many from the political have entered the contested terrain of whites, and sustain process and the labour market. I regard power that tends to distribute power in or subvert white literacy as more than being able to read an asymmetrical manner between men supremacy.” and write. I refer to the literacy that and women, white and black. Among enables women, particularly those who those powers is the power to name to letthemknow what’s goingonwith are giving blacks their take on blackness grabbing for all those white folks who whiteness. Itwouldjustbe attention a discourseonracethat interrogates ness isforAfricanwomen toproduce speak atall. multitude ofissuesandplaces,orto with authority, tospeakcredibly ona to speakforoneself,inpublic,or to fact,beanarbiterofinterpretation, and describethings,tofindattest

The challengeforBlackConscious- Peace Activist, Ela Gandhi at a seminar discussing Biko’s Quest for a True Humanity domination. discourse onrace thatperpetuatesracial the participationinconstruction ofa commitment toeradicating racismand gaps betweenprofessed political are responsible for creating fundamental forces ofdenial,fearandcompetition of whitenesscouldreally determinewhat persistent, rigorous andinformedcritique brown, yellow, red, purpleeven.Yet only that isnotwhite;itblack, otherness whiteness. Raceisalwaysanissueof 3 in ourown time.” remain highly relevant Consciousness raised SASO andBlack transformation that and socialcultural intellectual frames, identity, culture,new of “race”,values, crucial questions “It seemstomethat

Picture courtesy of Durban University of Technology 4 The Role of BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS in Redefining Contemporary

Black Masculinity By Busisiwe Deyi

is overwhelmed by a sense of being MS BUSISIWE DEYI overburdened by societal, economic and political responsibility. Busisiwe Deyi is a queer transfeminist/feminist and Apartheid as an oppressive system, human rights activist. She graduated with her LLB sought to create a societal paradigm from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and within which it could justify its existence. went on to graduate with her Masters (LLM) in Human Therefore, in order to justify the oppression Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the Human of black people, it legitimised oppression Rights Centre, University of Pretoria. She is interested through the labelling of certain categories in gender and sexuality politics and how these interact of people as inferior, blacks, and others with culture, religion and human rights. superior, whites, thus founding a basis for justifying a separatist and oppressive system of “development.” Situating those deemed superior as the guardians and benefactors of that system. o understand the role of black forward that black masculinity has been The entire apartheid system was consciousness in redefining defined along the oppressor/oppres- therefore geared towards the reinforce- Tblack masculinity and the role sed binary of apartheid and patriarchy, ment of the ideology of the inferiority it still has to play within the politics of characterised by dichotomies of inferior- inherent within black people. What sexuality and gender, one has to first ity and superiority, sub-ordination and Paulo Freire in his Pedagogy of the understand the psychosexual and power. South African black men have Oppressed calls the “dehumanisation of political structures that have been centred their identity around sub- the oppressed group.” created by the history of oppression oppressor-dom and as a result of this Because the standard of superiority in South Africa and how that has formulation, the challenge that has then became defined as inherently all influenced howS outh African black been brought to this identity by the things white, the standard yardstick used men have conceptualised their mas- empowerment of black womyn through to measure and judge progress, whether culine identities in relation to womyn; feminism and womyn enlightenment has intellectual, social or economic is based how black men have defined them- backed black men into an existential on white supremacist norms and values. selves within an oppressive system; and crisis of disempowered eunuchism. The norms and values of white society what that means for the psychological Pushing him into a corner where he are viewed as the standards which one development of the black man in should strive for in order to attain some contemporary South Africa. Black sort of affirmation of their humanity. It is Consciousness sought to redefine the “One found black within this psycho-social dynamic that black man’s identity. In his FrankTalk womyn bleaching their within the oppressed group then emerges article entitled We Blacks, Steve Biko skin and straightening what Freire called the sub-oppressor, a put forward the argument that in order their hair so as to portion of the oppressed group which for the black man to retain his manhood attain affirmation believes that in order to attain affirmation he needed to infuse the empty shell of their humanity and thus to be humanised they have he had become through an “inward- through an artificial to emulate the oppressor. Thus they looking process.” Essentially, what Biko manipulation of their become oppressors themselves. was calling for was a recreation of physical appearance, The sub-oppressor group and the black masculinity and dignity through a and thereby defining sub-oppressor ideology can be seen recapturing of our distorted history. whiteness as beautiful and has manifested itself in various The argument I put forward in this and better.” forms and in various groups throughout paper is a similar one to his and puts history. Among womyn, one found able anthropological-social development is anacknowledgedandperhapsinevit- assuming theidentityofoppressor group andthere-externalisation,through of theoppression bytheoppressed belief were concerned.” of their own wisdom insofar as faithand were encouragedtodoubtthewealth the embodiments of backwards and llectual blackmailthattreated themas brothers andsistersthrough “aninte- seek toconverttheirunconverted whose conversionmandatedthatthey amagqoboka were intellectualtraitors cultural identity. Hefurther opines that and aforsakingofXhosatraditions act ofconversionasanbetrayal his body. washed thered ochre thathaddecorated blanket andplungedintothewater a galeforce wind,thrown asidehis to have,afteraspiritualencounterwith Ntsikana. Themissionaryagentissaid is thestoryofXhosapreacher, of Xhosaintellectualismandtradition told illustratingthehistoricalkidnapping white-likeness. Perhapsthebeststory through Christianityandwhiteness or and embracingthepromise ofcivilisation backwardness oftraditional xhosaculture had literallybroken through thebarrierof norms,thosethat the “civilised”western and amaqaba,theformerrepresenting historical rivalrybetweenamagqoboka ness asbeautifulandbetter. appearance, andthereby defining white- artificial manipulationoftheirphysical affirmation oftheirhumanity through an straightening theirhairsoastoattain black womynbleachingtheirskinand

Crowds gathered daily, outside the Old Synagogue during the inquest into Throughout history, theinternalisation Luzuko Gongxeka,analysesNtsikana’s In the history of amaXhosa there is the the death of Steve Biko

domination through avalidationof reinforced aculture ofmale patriarchy became anavenuethrough which such as ukweluka(maleinitiation), cultural andtraditionalpractices. being “normalised”andadheringtoour the very construction of our society thus and oppression, seepeditswayinto domination andfemalesubordination more ubiquitous,characterisedbymale Patriarchy, beingthelessobviousbut existing oppressive system,patriarchy. fied andcompoundedonanalready oppressors ofwomyn.Apartheidampli- intellectually andspiritually, becomesub- only financiallybutpolitically, morally, a systemthatdisempowered blacksnot system thatdefinedtheirveryexistence, had, byvirtueofbeingsocialisedwithina extent wasthepossibilitythatblackmen examine ordidnottoitsfullest be possible. equality wouldblackandwhiteintegration social reform from apositionofdignified right andcouldmakecontributionsto black manwasempowered inhisown and dignityofbothparties.Onlywhenthe white thatwasbasedonmutualrespect proposed wasanintegration ofblackand as adangertothecommunity. WhatBiko rightly sawthegroup ofsub-oppressors and theblackaperpetualpupil.”Biko that makesthewhiteaperpetualteacher superior- inferiorwhite-blackstratification what hesawas“theperpetuationofthe by whites.”Bikowasvehementlyagainst of behaviouras“setupbyandmaintained adhering tosocietalnormsandstandards and themeasurement of “progress” by within theoppressed group. Aseeminglytraditionalpractice However anaspectthatBikofailedto It was this assimilation into white society 5

Picture courtesy of Andrzej Sawa, Avusa officer- barely olderthanhisfirstchild- to standnakedbefore anemployment children ofhisemployer, whenhe had by beingreferred toasa“boy”bythe police officer asking him for his pass, was humiliatedoutsidethehome,bya black mencouldempowerhimself. this limitedthespacesthrough whichthe spaces, thekitchenandbedroom, was thoughttobeprivateandintimate subjugation thathappenedinwhat light totheinstancesofoppression and the personalandpublic,thusbringing and sociallandscape. black womynwithin our current political apartheid- andtheevolvingrole ofthe within thesuperior-inferior paradigmof between hismasculinity-asdefined black womynhasimpaledman powerlessness. Theliberationofthe is stilldefinedbysubordination and and historicalparadigmthatwas womyn andsurround herwithinareality collectively tofurtheroppress theblack patriarchy, operatedseparatelyand already maintainedbypatriarchy. systems andsocialnormsofoppression create femaleoppression, itreinforced be labelledawitch.Apartheiddidnot either oneofthese,shewouldmostlikely her husbandandshouldshenothave was herfather, andinadulthood,itwas she wasattachedtoamale.Inbirthit further byonlyrecognising awomynif childrearing andlookingafter thehome. do e.g.breastfeeding, could womyn as such because they were ataskonly subservient, theywere characterised Even iftheactswere not inherently was validatedthrough subservient acts. men’sblack manhood. Womynhood system, patriarchy.” already existingoppressive and compoundedonan “Apartheid amplified their humanity.” manhood and toreclaim conduits toaffirm their became theemotional masculinity andwomyn they couldreclaim their spaces throughwhich “Their homesbecame In otherwords, whentheblackman When thefeministmovementconflated Andbothsystems,apartheidand Our patriarchal customs went even 6

be a black man with an enlightened “The culmination of all this has produced a black black womyn or man by his side. Black man who is largely emotionally and socially stagnant, Consciousness needs to be positioned a man who understands his masculinity only in as a mirror, as it was in its inception, terms of domination, subordination, superior-inferior to the brutal realities of the current societal power structures. A man who sees lesbian- condition of the soul of the black man. masculine- identifying womyn as a challenge to This can be done through the initiation his manhood because she represents the ‘unowned’ of conscious-raising spaces, where men womyn, the womyn outside the superior-inferior, can meet, secluded, away from womyn and begin to talk about what is lacking power-subordination paradigm.” in their masculine experiences. who would check his genitalia, when There was no attempt at a debate on Conclusion the frustrations built up in him because and no exploration of what masculinity Black men need to begin to redefine of his everyday hostile and abrasive meant outside the superior-inferior, themselves outside the dominant forms contact with the apartheid system, he powerful-subordinate societal paradigm. of masculinity which depend on the could release his frustrations in his private Thus there was no language through oppressive mechanisation of power, a space by being a “man” at home. This which the black man could voice out his power which derives its authority/ is to say that although many black men frustrations and his existential fears as dominance from dependency and weak- were treated as perpetual children in his masculinity and the space to express ness of womyn. their contact with the mechanisms of that masculinity was redefined for him, as The current forms of masculinity apartheid, they could and had a space to his reality was torn apart and the womyn position black men as sub-oppressors vent out their anger and be men at home. was placed squarely in the middle of it, of black womyn. These masculinities Their homes became spaces through so he resorted to the only language he are dangerous because their existence which they could reclaim their masculinity knew, violence. is based upon the continued weakness and womyn became the emotional The culmination of all this has produced of black womyn. Thus a black womyn conduits to affirm their manhood and to a black man who is largely emotionally whose identity does not fit within the reclaim their humanity. In other words, and socially stagnant, a man who under- dependent-feminine paradigm is seen their externalisation of their frustrations, stands his masculinity only in terms of as a threat and banished to the land through violence, became a process of domination, subordination, superior- of unwomynly creatures. This is how self-humanisation, a pseudo-affirming inferior societal power structures. A man society sanctions “disobedient” womyn, process. By dehumanising their wives, who sees a lesbian- masculine- identifying by shaming and ridiculing them into girlfriends, mothers, sisters, they human- womyn as a challenge to his manhood submission, by men and womyn alike ised themselves. Even Biko acknow- because she represents the “un-owned” tagging her with all kinds of labels i.e ledged the dual personalities -and womyn, the womyn outside the superior- witch, umtakati, unongayindoda etc. the spaces associated with each inferior, power-subordination paradigm. Womyn susceptible to these labels are personality- the black man had to have A man who views gay men as a threat widows, womyn in old age- usually in order to manoeuvre and manipulate to the male privilege supported by unmarried or widowed. If a womyn his way through the system of apartheid. patriarchy because he willingly assumes a crosses over into the sacred realm of The permeation of womyn enlighten- submissive position by allowing himself to maleness and seeks to encroach upon ment meant that the spaces through be penetrated and enjoys the penetration. male authority or power i.e lesbian which men could assert their masculinity A man who sees gang rape as a form of womyn or transgender men, then she drastically decreased. As the language of male bonding and a means of solidifying is killed. womyn enlightenment became everyday his masculinity. A man in crisis. This is because the current black language that invaded “private” spaces The role of Black Consciousness masculinity is defined within a dicho- through various mediums, the space to should be and must be to re-construct to-mous power paradigm based on be a man shrank. But with the shrinking the black man, it must make him aware authority and dependency. It is pre- of “masculine” space no alternative that by defining masculinity in terms cisely because black masculine pow- was built, no alternative definition of of prevailing power paradigms is to er is based upon authoritarian power masculinity was offered, no alternative assimilate, replicate and perpetuate that it is so weak. It is because with- masculine spaces were created. This is oppression within the black community. out womyn’s dependence it cannot largely because there was no proactive Black Consciousness needs to position continue to exist and thus is eas- attempt to re-conceptualise the black itself squarely in the centre of this ily placed into crisis when it clashes man’s identity, there was no “inward- introspective process in order to allow with womyn who are “un-owned” or au- looking process,” no black-masculine black men to begin having the necessary tonomous. consciousness. conversations about what it means to

“The role of Black Consciousness should be and must be Souces: 1 Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 3 Conversation had on 13 July 2012, Luzuku Gongxeka. to re-construct the 2 V. Booi, Chapter 2 Ntsikana African Intellectuals 4 S. Biko ‘Black souls, White skins’ I Write What I Like. black man.” in 19th and early 20th Century, South Africa. 5 S. Biko ‘We Blacks’ I Write What I Like, pg 30. 7 BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS

and Feminism By Rozena Maart

n this article, I lay out the extent to remains) central to the process of which Black Consciousness has colonisation and thus central to the Iinfluenced me—first through the process of decolonisation. The writings writings of Bantu Stephen Biko, then of Biko remained central to my thinking Frantz Fanon—then offer some insights in the days that led to my completion into how it has informed my work of matric, into my university days at the as a feminist scholar working within University of Western Cape (UWC), and Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Literature certainly fuelled my determination to be and Gender Studies. in Mitchell’s Plain in July of 1983 when When the Black Consciousness the United Democratic Front (UDF) was Movement (BCM) emerged in December launched in the Cape Province. of 1968 (then as SASO) it heralded a new beginning in the lives of young Steve Biko’s Words Spoke to Me men and women in South Africa. I was At UWC lecturers like Yvonne Muthien 14 years old in 1976 but the years and Marie Macdonald, both influenced professor rozena maart prior, at least from 1973 at age eleven by Black Consciousness became and a half when my family along with a mentors and ensured that discussion Rozena Maart is an Associate quarter of million residents were forcibly took place within our classes where Professor and Head of Gender removed from District Six, the old slave gender was on the agenda, and where Studies at the University of quarter, brought the need within me like rape and sexual assault were discussed KwaZulu Natal. She was born many teenagers of my background to as political issues, despite the fact that in District Six, Cape Town, examine our lives and that of the events our male comrades within the Students went to Steenberg High School around us. My grandparents were Representative Council (SRC) thought it and thereafter took her under- devastated by the forced removal so was irrelevant, insisting that we had to graduate degree at the University were the rest of the older generation of wait for the time to come when it would of Western Cape. She took her the District Six community. Many within be on the political agenda—in other Master’s degree at the University our community were heart broken and words, after the men had come! of York, UK, in 1988 and her the mental collapse of their bodies was In 1986, I was part of a group of doctoral degree at the Centre for visible to me as a young teenager. When black women, who founded the first Contemporary Cultural Studies, pamphlets with Steve Biko’s writings black feminist organisation, Women University of Birmingham, UK, in on it were distributed across the Cape Against Repression (WAR), in Cape Political Philosophy and Psycho- Flats, and at Steenberg High School Town. Many people had asked me analysis. She works within the where I was a student, it was the first intersections of Political Philo- time that I became aware of the term sophy, Black Consciousness, consciousness and painfully learnt how Derrida and deconstruction, I had acquired my own, however limited “The leadership within Psychoanalysis, Critical Race or inadequate. More importantly, in the anti-apartheid Theory and Feminist Theory. At reading one particular pamphlet wherein movement put age 24 in 1987 she was nominated the definition of Black Consciousness forward an analysis as “woman of the year,” for her was defined then explained as a of apartheid, with work in the area of violence process, which through various forms of racism as its key against women and for starting, self-interrogation and self-examination tenet, as central to an with four women, the first required us to look at how, through understanding of why Black feminist organisation in examples from our lived experience, we we were oppressed as South Africa, Women Against participated in destructive pigmentation women – apparently Repression in the previous year. politics, my eyes were opened to the because as black men systematic conditioning of the mind. and women we were For it is the mind, as Biko reiterated oppressed as a nation.” in those pamphlets, that was (and 8 then, and still today, why repression summation: only through national of the apartheid state in order to offer and not oppression. Repression speaks liberation, as in the former position, and them a life as colonials within to systemic, systematic and insti- the dismantling of capitalism as in the South Africa. tutionalised forms of oppression and latter, would women’s oppression and To many white women “race” was, persecution of an individual and a women’s exploitation be eradicated. and remains still today, either an add group, where violence, coercion and Of course, when confronted with the on, reluctantly, when made aware of measures designed to humiliate are realities of rape and sexual assault, it, or part of a historical past, which employed by a regime in order to entrench which many of them contributed to, it black women somehow have to self-hatred and self-destruction; it also was either women’s fault or an act that forget if joined in the struggle to end speaks to the psychological aspects of was testimony to how men suffered women’s oppression and exploitation oppression, which include internalised and therefore lashed out at women, as feminists. What made Biko’s words racism, sexism and homophobia, which all in all, that male violence was an so instrumental to my youth and the we wanted to draw attention to, both in unfortunate aftermath of apartheid analysis that I developed over the terms of male domination and apartheid. and capitalism. Whilst both of these years as a consequence of it was that As it happens, the organisation in its positions lacked logic and intelligence of I learnt very early about the materiality small life transitioned from WAR, a black large proportions we were expected to of “race,” a matter Marx was ignorant of woman’s organisation to an organisation accept this without question; even the in his formal writings but readily utilised which also included white women and basic assertion that black women also when he wanted to humiliate Ferdinand renamed Organisation of People Against worked, whether in factories, offices Lasalle as is evidenced in his letters Sexism (OPAS). Our allies who joined or in the home and should therefore to Engels, and which his analysis of shared our understanding of a critique according to their logic also be prone historical materialism failed to account of male domination, and sexism as a to inflicting rape and sexual assault was for. Biko was very clear: as agents of consequence of it (that it is intertwined treated as antagonistic and retroactive a system of white domination, white with colonialism, racism and capitalism) to the struggle. men and white women were first and and were drawn to our protest politics Many of us as black women who foremost beneficiaries of the system. which they soon participated in because openly called ourselves feminists were Biko’s understanding of agency, of how of their outrage at violence against also tired of white women who wanted to the mind is carried within the body, and women both within the larger society relate to us on the grounds of our shared the body—the flesh of consciousness and within the very anti-apartheid and oppression as women under patriarchy not just the philosophical concept to anti-capitalist organisation out of which yet those very same white women which individuals attach themselves our activism emerged. A small number did not have an analysis of “race” and simply by saying so—is what is crucial of men lent their support to OPAS colonialism, and certainly did not situate in understanding the role we play through various activities, some of which themselves within the very system of in either perpetuating, maintaining and included spray painting our version apartheid, and its baby child racism, they reproducing the very system we claim of how The Freedom Charter could claimed to be against and from which to be against or, as Tunisian writer and be interpreted from a black feminist they benefitted. Above and beyond scholar Albert Memmi asserts in The point of view since it was quoted to us these historical facts enacted by them Colonizer and the Colonized, actively so regularly as a deterrent when our within contemporary apartheid, they did refusing it. It is from Biko’s conceptual- concerns about rape and sexual assault not see themselves as oppressing black isation of Black Consciousness, and were voiced as central to our anti- men either and therefore readily spoke the writings used for workshop pur- apartheid and anti-capitalist politics. of patriarchy—the belief system and poses in the development of SASO, During the 1980s as the activism world-view, justified through inaccurate most of which now form the contents of OPAS now became a problem for interpretations of religious texts, culture, of I Write What I Like, that I began to male teachers who sexually abused among others, in order to justifiably exert examine the works of North African and their students, who could no longer dominance over women often explained Caribbean scholar-cum-revolutionaries guarantee that their arrival at school as the rule of the father. Their interest was who shared his analysis and vision. It would not be met with the protests in highlighting the belief system of male is through these combined works, and of OPAS women, various men in domination, not the male domination with a focus on Memmi’s chapter, “The the UDF and trade union leadership black women spoke of—certainly not Colonizer that Refuses,” that I write on called us aside to ensure that we were their own role in oppressing black men The Politics of Refusal, in my work on adequately educated. The leadership through the various channels made White Consciousness, wherein I argue within the anti-apartheid movement available to them via the mechanisms the participation of white scholars, put forward an analysis of apartheid, steeped in the European tradition of with racism as its key tenet, as central thinking, in the perpetuation of White to an understanding of why we were Mythology (as per the writings of oppressed as women—apparently “As a black feminist, Algerian Philosopher Jacques Derrida’s) because as black men and women I have often said that as White Consciousness. we were oppressed as a nation. I learnt to strengthen The Politics of Refusal forms part The leadership within anti-capitalist my feminism of a larger segment of my work on organisations, including those within through the writing “When Black Consciousness Meets trade unions, asserted that it was of Biko and White Consciousness,” and documents our exploitation as workers, mere Black Consciousness some of the work with white feminists appendages of capitalism that defined revolutionaries.” and white men who both claim an anti- our identities as black women. In racist position and who claim to want 9

we extract thoughts and ideas, from What is significant here is the training which we claim to study. For, as we Fanon received through his psychiatric “No gender analysis know, despite what we claim about our training, and his insistence in Black can exist without consciousness, it is not the mind that Skin White Masks, three pages into the broader context acts but the body–agency, the flesh, the the text, “that only a psychoanalytical of understanding human being, who acts because of his interpretation of the black problem can the historical and consciousness. Consciousness does lay bare the anomalies of the affect contemporary not act through psychic measures but that are responsible for the structure construction of White through a commitment that we have to of the complex.” domination, and its put ourselves on the line—and for white What Fanon shares with Biko, both ideological basis, white folks, that they have to relinquish their trained in the medical field, is the supremacy.” white privilege, however fond they have focus on the psychoanalytic and the become of it. psychological—the former foregrounds As a black feminist, I have often said consciousness as speech, as the to learn from Black Consciousness and that I learnt to strengthen my feminism utterance through which consciousness black feminism. I am here talking about through the writing of Biko and Black of self and consciousness of the other students, various people I teach and Consciousness revolutionaries. This has is determined all of which prioritises the continue to interact with in workshop come as a surprise to white feminists interrogation of speech. What we learn settings, scholars and revolutionaries I on a number of occasions who readily from these two Black Consciousness have worked with in scholarly contexts draw my attention to the all male SASO revolutionaries is that language is central at annual conferences in the past twenty and to the referencing of the generic to Black Consciousness. Fanon’s first years, and those I currently interact with. “man” which black man have used in chapter in Black Skin White Masks I did not start out my academic career their writings yet seem to come up with opens with a chapter on language; when working with white folks; white students solid scholarly arguments for why black Biko was on trial for treason, it was signed up for my classes faster than people are either absent from the text very much his Black Consciousness black students because they wanted or when present, forged within the text language that was on trial as it was to equip themselves with what they as death, about to be killed, enslaved, his analysis, and the way that he believed, at first, was black feminist anti- en route to death and genocide. And used speech to enact his analysis, to racist language and discourse, in order here I am not even referring to the challenge White Liberals who sought to get access to the cream-de-le-cream obvious slap-you-in-the-face- racism to tell him that Black Consciousness of the job market in Canada, where of Hegel and de Beauvoir, for example, was divisive because their vision of so anti-oppression and anti-racism feature who can only talk about black woman as called non-racialism, where they got to prominently in job descriptions. They la noire. There is la femme (woman) and determine the plan for liberation, was learnt, rather painfully, that they had to then there is la noire (the Black). Black the best way forward for Black people, locate themselves within the very racism women, accordingly, are not afforded which Biko challenged. they claimed to be against, and within the term woman in de Beauvoir’s world: Black Consciousness, much like the very colonialism and neocolonialism we simply exist as the feminised black. psychoanalysis, is first and foremost the tucked away reservations where Throughout my teenage years and an inward looking process—that Indigenous people were forced onto in early adulthood I have reflected on moment when the subject has to look order to make way for their privileged what I believe is the central focus at her self, her ego, and ask questions white lives, had to be visualised, and of Biko’s analysis—the mind. I later about her place in the world. Black that they had to give an account of it. learnt that Biko, who trained to be a Consciousness is a process—a long More importantly—that my pedagogical medical doctor, had studied the works inward looking process, a reflection position matched my politics. of psychiatrist and revolutionary Frantz of mental attitude. It is not simply an When students come to my classes Fanon, Aime Cesaire, and the writings acquired consciousness—it is not and to my workshops at conferences, of Stokely Carmichael (later known as something someone hands you, it is they learn about agency, first and Kwame Ture) of the Oakland, California pain, and you have to work for it. foremost. I place a lot of emphasis based Black Power Movement. Biko Black Consciousness has been shaped on agency in all of what I do. It is our was influenced by Linguistic and by du Bois, C.L.R. James, Aime Cesaire, flesh, and it is through our flesh, as Literature professor, Robert Sobukwe, Leopold Senghor, Leon Damas, Kwame bodies, that we act, and we have to act and thus shared quite a lot in common Nkrumah, Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, in order to reproduce or maintain the with Martinican born Fanon. What Steve Biko, Walter Rodney, Stokely society we live in; if we don’t want to makes the analogy between Frantz Carmichael, Amilcar Cabral, James maintain it, and we find it goes against Fanon, the psychiatrist, and Steve Biko, Ngugi and also by the Martinican Paulette what we believe in then we have to the trainee medical doctor, so special is Nardal and her sisters, Francis Baard and learn to challenge it first of all with self- that both their mentors, who specialised Lillian Ngoyi here in our country, Fannie examination and self interrogation; we in language and literature were founder Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Audre Lorde, have to learn to place the self at the members of important organisations Barbara Smith, Angela Davis, Bell Hooks centre of the transformative process. that served as the foundation for Black and many black women who have How can we have thoughts and ideas Consciousness in the Caribbean, identified the shortcomings of these male about a world, when we do not place North Africa, and South Africa—that considerations of Black Consciousness ourselves within it, and how do we do is the Negritude Movement as in the yet seem to agree on many levels about that? By asking ourselves what it is that case of Cesaire, and the Pan Africanist the destructive impact that colonialism, we do in this very world from which Congress as in the case of Sobukwe. imperialism and racism have on our racial capitalism.BlackConsciousness imperialism, colonialism,racismand response tothehistoryand reality of have framedtheirpoliticalactionin activists, strategists and thinkers who ideology from orators,scholar-cum- for blackmenwiththeirparticipation. that pavesnewandrevolutionary paths for blackwomen.ABlackConsciousness which itholdsacertainkindofcontempt nationalism andthecontradictionswith recognises thecomplexities ofblack addition, aBlackConsciousnessthat of patriarchy, capitalismandracism.In as derivativeofanintertwinedsystem colonialist violence,andgenderinequality violence againstwomenandnotonly black women’s sexualitiesontheagenda; Consciousness whichneedstoplace Black ConsciousnessofTotality–a Black of Blackness,transformingitintoa parameters withatransformednotion have shaped the Black Consciousness lives asblackwomen.Thesewomen

Winifred Kgware, 1st President of the Black People’s Convention, outside the Old Synagogue, singing freedom songs Black Consciousnessdrawsits our countryare aglobaldisgraceand statistics on rape and sexual assault in democratic elections,thereported within whichwealllive. the largerpresence ofwhite supremacy anti-racist politicsyetseemtoignore by scholarswhoclaimfeministand because itcontinuestobeoverlooked it strongly inmywork,Ido soprecisely the fullunderstandingthatwhilstIassert basis, white supremacy. I say this with of Whitedomination,anditsideological historical andcontemporaryconstruction the broader contextofunderstanding the white domination. accountable tothemanyrelations of the blackidentityandholdindividuals against actswhichseektosubjugate as arevolutionary commitment to rebel requirements ofassimilationbutexists commitment that moves beyond the a tool,politicalmovementand is ananalysis,apoliticalidentification, Today, eighteenyearsafterthefirst No gender analysis can exist without 10 a planofaction? protestations shouldbeaccompanied by our country. Isitnothightimethattheir for rape and sexual assault in concern So oftenIhearblackmentalkabouttheir cannot bethelastblackmantodoso. still a member of the Nation of Islam. He of blackwomen.Thiswaswhenhe speak outagainstthesexualexploitation among thefewblackmenwithinBCMto nothing shortofgenocide.MalcolmXwas genocide.” and nothingshortof are aglobaldisgrace assault inourcountry on rapeandsexual the reportedstatistics democratic elections, years afterthefirst “Today, eighteen

Picture courtesy of Avusa 11 CONTRADICTORY LOCATIONS: Black Women and the Discourse of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa By Pumla Dineo Gqola

“The superficial symbols of the in the late 1960s when black students denial of blackness are evident at universities in South Africa felt the in the (formerly) widespread need to represent their opinions and to use of skin-lightening and hair- generate solidarity among the country’s straightening agents by Black Black population. The National Union of women” - Sibisi 1991 South African Students (NUSAS), which had until then been the only organisation his paper examines the ambiguities for university students in South Africa and subtleties in how discourses and had placed itself in opposition to Tof liberation as articulated in the the apartheid establishment, was felt to early Black Consciousness Movement be insufficiently progressive, as well as (BCM) of South Africa define the role and oblivious to the political needs of black positions of the category “black women.” students who experienced a sense of professor PUMLA DINEO GQOLA alienation and domination by white Background to the Black students even within its ranks (Arnold Pumla Dineo Gqola is associate Consciousness Movement 1979; Budlender 1991; Wilson 1991). professor of literary, media and The Black Consciousness Move- For example, at the NUSAS Congress gender studies at the School of ment (BCM) emerged in the 1960s held at Rhodes University in 1967, Literature and Language Studies, as a response largely to the political “Steve Biko challenged NUSAS University of the Witwatersrand, vacuum created by the relentless to take an active stance against the Johannesburg. She obtained apartheid state repression and banning segregated residential facilities which a B.A. Hons in 1994 from the that characterised the post- Sharpeville Rhodes University had imposed on the University of Cape Town; an M.A. era (Buthelezi 1991; Rive 1982; congress. The university discriminated (Postcolonial Literature) from Wilkinson 1992). After the massacre against black delegates: “Indians” and Warwick in 1999; M.A from the at Sharpeville, the National Party “Coloureds” had to stay in town while University of Cape Town in 2000 government proceeded to ban the two Africans were required to stay some and a DPhil (Postcolonial studies) largest political parties in the country at distance away in a church location; in 2004 from Muenchen University. the time, the African National Congress whites, on the other hand, could stay Gqola has her interests rooted (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress in the university residences (Wilson in feminism; African, Caribbean (PAC), along with all the other formations 1991, 22).” and Black British literature; and organisations that it saw as a threat SASO was founded when black slavery and memory; gender and to the policy of apartheid (Biko 1987; students realised the need for an media; postcolonial sexualities Buthelezi 1991; Mzamane 1991). organisation in which they had a say, as well as postcolonial humour. This included individuals who had in one that would be representative of their Her publications include, among others, What is slavery to me? various ways been actively opposed to opinions and aspirations and that would Postcolonial/Slave memory in apartheid; be it in or through politics, take cognisance of how they wanted to post-apartheid South Africa (Wits social activity, writing, or other means, operate whilst simultaneously generating Press, 2010) and ‘Blackwomen’s thus effectively suppressing the ability of solidarity between the various black Bodies as Battleground in Black South African society to voice collective campuses (Buthelezi 1991). The move Consciousness Literature: opposition to apartheid; a new form of was towards a self-formulated way of Wayward Sex and (Interracial) opposition to the government policies life which necessitated, it was held in Rape as Tropes in Staffrider 1978- had to emerge. Black Consciousness, an organisational 1982’, in Imagining, Writing, (Re) Black Consciousness is an ideology and conceptual separation from white reading the Black Body, UNISA that found eloquence in the South society. Black people needed to be Press (2009). African Students’ Organisation (SASO) able to feel validated and affirmed in the and as a consequence only became absence of white people to be able to fully formulated within and by this really realise their full potential. As Biko student body. Sipho Buthelezi (1991) wrote in the editorial to Black Viewpoint argues that SASO itself came into being 1972, what needed to change was that, 12

“so many things are said so often to us, everything black (and by extension about us and for us, but very seldom by black) as degenerate and base, Black “Black people needed us (1972, 1).” Consciousness emphasised positive What is now commonly recognised images of blackness. In the English to be able to feel as Black Consciousness ideology only language particularly, “black” is used validated and affirmed crystallised out of “the perception of the almost exclusively to refer to the sinister in the absence of white role of black students in their liberation” and undesirable. Black Consciousness people to be able to Buthelezi 1991, 118). For a long time, recognised that there was a connection really realize their full Black Consciousness neither pretended between this colour bias in language potential.” to be the substitute / alternative nor and the race prejudice in South African an extension of the exiled liberation society. movements. In an article titled The Black Consciousness organisations evaluation of aspects of black culture, for black thing...is honest...is human, Black such as the Black Community Pro- example, black art, music, orature, etc. Consciousness activist and poet, Mafika grammes (BCP) developed and As part of the move away from a white Pascal Gwala writes: ran projects in black communities. dominant culture, Black Consciousness The black who becomes aware of These began, because, according advocated an embracing of the African his blackness and its implications in to one of the founder activists of the past, embracing African socialism as a racist society will often strive, to a BCM, Mamphela Ramphele, young captured in the writings of Julius Nyerere, large measure of success or failure, activists recognised that their status as Kenneth Kaunda, Leopold Senghor, and for self-definition. This self-definition students accorded them privileges not early Kwame Nkrumah (Nolutshungu will take the form of a negation. That is available to the “toiling black masses.” 1983). In African socialist society every- neglecting all that has been imposed on Students were thus urged to plough body was a worker and it was taken for him, super-imposed by white cultural back their acquired skills into the granted that each member, apart from values, white economic domination and community for the development of children and the frail, would contribute white stratification of society. And when the poor (1991a, 156). towards the production of wealth a man begins to negate he is refusing These community programmes (Nyerere 1991). to see himself as a commodity. This is ranged from assisting informal settle- Black Consciousness activists and when the consciousness of contestation ment communities to build more writers were suspicious of how aspects emerges. This contestation will bear durable housing, health work carried from traditional African culture and an essentially black character. Black out at several hospitals (and later languages were used. This was mainly in its doubts about white superiority, BCP established clinics), to rural because of the manner in which the its criticism of white values and its development projects. Apartheid State had used both to challenge of white right. This is when Black Consciousness questioned the foster “ethnic” divisions. The preferred Black Consciousness takes form. Black school version of history taught to black route was that which saw values “sifted Consciousness calls for a redefinition students. This contributed in part to a re- through, so that what was thought of concepts. Cultural, economic, social and theological concepts as seen by the black and seeing them through his own black self (1972, 13). The power and success of apartheid can be attributed to, firstly, its emphasis on division and differences, and secondly, to its ability to constantly reinforce a negative self image in those it sought to subjugate. If apartheid worked well because it divided black people, Black Consciousness realised that the most effective tool against racism as a force was black solidarity. As a starting point then, Black Consciousness redefined “black” as a racial marker to include all South Africans on the receiving end of historical discrimination grounded in race. Black self-redefinition was perceived as crucial to toppling the power structure which, under apartheid, was identified as primarily based on race (Gwala 1972). A crucial step in this direction was seen to be mental emancipation, or as labelled by Black Consciousness, psychological liberation. This liberation entailed a rejection of the values that sustained white society to the detriment of black Thenjiwe Mtintso, former member of the Black Consciousness Movement and uMkhonto Wesizwe commander Wesizwe former member of the Black Consciousness Movement and uMkhonto Thenjiwe Mtintso, society. Where white society labelled courtesy of H E Thenjiwe Mtintso Picture 13

Senghor, Albert Memmi, George Cleaver, Stokely Carmichael, and Paulo Freire (Ramphele 1991b, Moodley 1991). Bearing this in mind, and addressing herself to some of the historical evaluation of the movement, Yates cautions, “But while it is true that there was an “ideological framework” available for Black Consciousness activists in the model of the US Black Power Movements, it is true that the very same framework was available in Negritude and other struggles throughout Africa. To argue that Black Consciousness took its impetus from that model denies the power of the circumstances in South Africa that gave rise to Black Consciousness, and it also denies black Ntsiki Biko, wife of late Steve Biko and Foundation Board Ntsiki Biko, Arun Naicker of Umtapo Centre Member with

Picture courtesy of Durban U niversity Technology Picture South Africans consciousness and awareness of the severely oppressive valuable to the demands of the present focus on men. The language did not circumstances created and maintained could be selected and used (M. Langa have space for women partly because by apartheid (1997, 24).” quoted in Sole 1993, 25).” it was a language borrowed from a Black Consciousness discourse Black Consciousness was highly culture, English culture, which never betrays awkwardness around points of critical of the role that Christianity accepted women really as full citizens variation within the black community. This had played in the subjugation and (Ramphele 1998, 92). attitude in turn bears directly on the refusal pacification of black people and there- Firstly, Black Consciousness ideology of Black Consciousness to acknowledge fore sought to find an alternative to the rests on the unsatisfactory premise that that black society is not monolithic, mainstream white version of Christianity race is the primary oppressive force for that experiences of oppression(s) differ which had been used to justify first all those racially subjugated in South within the same community. Black colonisation and then apartheid. Biko Africa. This supposition is puzzling Consciousness proponents avoided (1987) argued that the Church was in that it pronounces a hierarchy of adopting a critical stance in relation to successful in defeating black liberation. oppression. It is also ironic that exploring others outside the movement fighting Black Theology, similar to Liberation the “primary” oppression invariably leads in the struggle against apartheid. This Theology in South America, adapted to the repudiation of all other forms of therefore led to a situation where, in the Christian message to the black oppression. This is particularly so in spite of its power as an ideology, the situation. It shaped the religion to one an ideology which expressly seeks to tendency to shy away from differences of relevance and suitability to the black eliminate injustice. As Kimberley Yates between black people proved to be one masses in South Africa (Sargent 1990). has pointed out, of the biggest areas of weaknesses for It sought to infuse Christianity with “It is of significance that at the time Black Consciousness. The quest for flexibility and relevance to the lives of of the BCM, the activist has available a black solidarity took precedence over those marginalised by society. Christian ready-made masculinist discourse that the need to criticise other black people messages and Christ’s life specifically had been used by many black nationalist and organisations opposed to apartheid. were used as liberating factors. struggles in other parts of the world, A press release by the SASO National Biko had this to say about Black particularly Negritude and the US Black Executive Committee (SASO Newsletter Theology; “The bible must not be seen Power Movement. In addition to reading 1972) argues this point emphatically; to preach that all authority is divinely South African writers of the time, the “With the political climate as it is today instituted. It must rather preach that it is activists were also reading the writings SASO expects the various political a sin to allow yourself to be oppressed...” of activists from other black nationalist groups that operate outside the system This is the message implicit in “Black movements around the world (1997:16).” to speak with a united voice against the Theology.” Black Theology seeks to do These writers included Franz Fanon, present regime but not to waste time away with the spiritual poverty of the Aime Cesaire, the Black Panthers, discrediting their fellow black brothers black people. It seeks to demonstrate Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Leopold and sisters.” the absurdity of the assumptions by It appears from this statement that whites that “ancestor worship” was criticism was identified as a potentially necessarily a superstition and that divisive tactic, and difference was not Christianity is a scientific religion. “I think that it is explored as an area of possible strength. important to realise In its attempt to prioritise solidarity, Black Problems with Black Consciousness that the BCM came in Consciousness denied the existence I think that it is important to realise a cultural environment of alternative views or experiences. that the BCM came in a cultural where women, whether Perhaps this was due in part to the environment where women, whether they were black or fact that, as Trinh T. Minhha insists, they were black or white, did not matter. white, didn’t matter.” “difference is not difference to some ears, It was not a peculiarity of the BCM to but awkwardness or incompleteness 14

(1989, 264).” This means, therefore, that not the only difficulty with the ideology 2. The need to present a unified despite its endeavour to unite all black of Black Consciousness. There are front and redirect the status of mother- South Africans, it prioritised and gave fundamental problems with the way in hood toward the fulfilment of the black voice to a specific black experience which certain aspects of the positive people’s social, cultural, economic and of oppression, Black Consciousness “self” image are positioned. The image political aspirations. presupposed also, that because all of the African past, for instance, is that In her interview with Lindy Wilson, black people experience racism, that of an idyllic golden age uncorrupted Thenjiwe Mtintso, another of the founder experience is not only uniform but also by white culture. In a desperate effort members of BCM, expresses related that coinciding meanings stemmed from to portray a past unaffected by white concerns thus: “they do want you to be it. It further assumed and continuously values, it was presented as being without political, to be active, to be everything, asserted race as the chief and perhaps contradictions, Black Consciousness, in but they still need a complement of the sole oppressive force in South Africa emphasising an idyllic past uncorrupted women who are subservient (Wilson for all black people. This continued to by white presence and influence, offered 1991, 60).” Cheryl Walker, writing in 1982, be the case even when class was no explanations or recognition for the writes of the predominantly conservative later acknowledged as an (additional) lack of complete peaceful coexistence entry of black women in nationalist oppressive factor which existed in many between Africans in the pre-colonial movements in South Africa, including black people’s lives. Due to its emphasis era. It shied away from explaining social Black Consciousness, and concludes on racial solidarity as the only means schisms in pre-colonial cultures and that this is due, in part, to the discourses towards the liberation of black people, appeared to argue that there were no of nurturing and motherhood through it promised complete freedom at the hierarchies in Southern Africa prior to which their roles are defined. There was end from all oppressive forces despite the arrival of Europeans. Further, Black reward for women who were motherly, its reluctance to acknowledge their exis- Consciousness claimed to direct itself nurturant, and domestic so that “it could tence. The experiences of gender, class, towards complete liberation. However, be argued that black women benefited age, geographical location, and sexual patriarchal tendencies were unexamined as people, because they also became orientation were not perceived as conse- as an obstacle to the liberation of more liberated as individuals (Ramphele, quential enough to warrant inclusion all black people. Where questioning 1991b, 216).” As such, within Black into the discourse of the doctrine. existed, it came from some of the Consciousness, “the ideology and culture In hindsight, Mamphela Ramphele few women within the upper rungs of in which women’s de facto empowerment writes, “It could be argued that it was our SASO and other Black Consciousness occurs remains emphatically phallocratic privileged position in society that gave organisations (Ramphele 1998). Self- (Lewis 1994, 162).” us the space to play this role (1991b, identified feminist studies and critiques Several black women in the BCM, 215);” what is voiced is the specific of this era are in agreement over not however, emerge throughout the oppression of relatively educated black only the paucity of black women in the literature addressing itself to the early students (predominantly men) which organisations of the BCM, but also of the Black Consciousness era in South forms only part of the overall oppression conservative terms of their participation Africa as making their presence felt suffered by all other sectors of the in this movement (Driver 1988a, Gqola and opinions heard in early Black black community. In not exploring the 1999, Lewis 1991, Lewis 1994, Walker Consciousness. The names of Thembi position from which the proponents of 1982). This is confirmed by activists in Nkabinde, Manana Kgware, Deborah Black Consciousness spoke, numerous early Black Consciousness (Ramphele Matshoba, Nomsisi Kraai, Thenjiwe conjectures were made, and the ideal of 1991b, Yates 1997). Mtintso, Mamphela Ramphele, and liberating the majority of Black people in Ramphele writes that, “women were... Vuyelwa Mashalaba are associated the country by winning them to the Black involved in the Black Consciousness with women in Black Consciousness Consciousness way of life was essentially Movement because they were black. who resisted the supportive and rendered unachievable, SASO members, Gender as a political issue was not raised nurturing mold through which female because of their university education, at all (1991b, 215).” Kogila Moodley participation in Black Consciousness were not fully representative of the broad points to the similarities between the was framed. spectrum of South African black people. BCM and white society in the sexual Their unusual stance presented a Their education in a country where the division of labour. In both, women fit challenge to a BCM which was character- majority of people were under-exposed into “domestic roles, child care, moral ised by sexism in its discourse and to book education impacted on the education, and socialisation into black operation. On the one hand, they were accessibility and intellectual content of cultural heritage, health, nutrition and expected to fulfil the traditional roles which the ideology. This in turn thwarted Black making clothing (Moodley 1991, 147).” many allowed themselves to be placed Consciousness’s effectiveness when Furthermore “this view of women per- in. On the other, they were required to be used with people who did not have the meated even women’s self-defined roles militant and able to assume roles which same conceptual skills or outlooks. as is evident in the Preamble to the This should have received more Constitution of Allied Black Women’s attention. Merely asserting that Federation (Moodley 1991, 147).” Black black students should “consolidate Review 1975/76 (143), quotes the afore- In its attempt to themselves with the black masses, mentioned Preamble to read: prioritise solidarity, for they are black before they are 1. Black women are basically respon- Black Consciousness students” was not sufficient to close sible for the survival and maintenance of denied the existence of the gap of (mis) understanding (SASO their families and largely the socialisation alternative views or Newsletter 1972). of the youth for the transmission of the experiences. The issue of communication was black cultural heritage. 15 were similar to those of the men in the reminded that one was an exception to The effect was that the ideology of Black movement. The latter roles meant that the male assumption that beauty and Consciousness paid no attention to social their status was “masculinised” (Lewis brains do not combine. One fell prey contradictions (Ramphele 1991a, 177-8). 1994, 162) and that they were viewed to the flattery implicit in such remarks as “honorary men,” supposedly different and began to see oneself as different The Languages of Black from other women because of the ability from other women. A major part of the Consciousness to think and participate in political debate process of being socialised into activist Due to the inadequate manner in and activity (Ramphele 1991b, 219; ranks was becoming ‘one of the boys’ which black students were taught the Ramphele 1998). (Ramphele 1991b, 218).” English language whilst still at school, Thus, rather than immediately chal- In addition to the challenges of gender communication in English medium lenging the status quo, they were to the BCM, several South African situations was fraught with challenges. marked as “exceptional” women. critics have pointed to the presence of Biko (in Arnold 1979) explains, These women were not unaware of a middle class bias in an organisation “you understand the paragraph but this contradiction: being “masculinised” founded predominantly by black men you are not quite adept at reproducing or accorded “honorary male status” who were university students. While an argument that was in a particular even as they explicitly challenged the access to tertiary education and middle book, precisely because of your failure to sexism in the movement. As Ramphele class status often accompany each understand certain words in the book.” (1998) recollects, these black women other, and education is often seen as a Additionally, there is a difficulty in moving could grow “assertive, to the point of “way out” of one’s class position, it is not beyond a certain point of comprehension. arrogance” placing themselves in direct an inevitable fact that access to tertiary The sensible choice appears to be disagreement with the taboos and education equals middle class status. communication in an African language. limitations placed on women’s behaviour. Indeed several working class tertiary However, in a country with ten African In the substantial body of work she has students have written to challenge this languages, the issue of choice becomes produced on Black Consciousness, “fact.” In addition, as A. Sivanandan a contentious one, since for practicality, she pays considerable attention to “the (1981) has repeatedly argued, the as Biko explains, “we cannot speak all constraints on the participation of women connections between race and class ten at one meeting (Arnold 1979, 28).” in public and political processes” in Black in apartheid South Africa made South Furthermore, the apartheid government Consciousness organisations (1991b, Africa “an exceptional capitalist social had used African languages to divide 214). Outlining the establishment of the formation in which race is class and black people into Bantustans according Black Women’s Federation in 1975, class race- and the race struggle is the to “tribal” divisions along language lines. in Durban, she notes the absence of class struggle;” thus to overemphasise The use of indigenous languages under concern within the umbrella body with class differences in apartheid society the bantu education system “tended “special problems women experienced is to ignore that ideology and not the to reinforce apartheid and inculcate as a result of sexism both in the private relations of production determined racial attitudes of inferiority and dependence and public sphere. consciousness (Sivanandan 1981, 333). (Mzamane 1991, 179).” It is against this Women were important as wives, That having been said, however, Black background that the choice of English as mothers, girlfriends and sisters, in Consciousness discourse negated the the official Black Consciousness medium fighting a common struggle against diversity in experiences and aspirations should be studied. As expressed by a common enemy. Scant regard was of black women in all classes and Mchunu and Mnguni the use of English given to their position as individuals in working class people of both genders. “was a process of liberation itself to tell their own right (1991b, 216).” However, it At the same time, it also claimed the the oppressor in his language that blacks is important to note that the few women right to speak for them, about them are no more afraid (1986, 99).” It was who were in leadership positions, “had and to know their experiences. The also the language in which the writings to face the problem of resistance to their intention seems to have been to, of other black thinkers at the time were active participation by their “significant include as far as possible all blacks in available to Black Consciousness others” at home, as well as the danger a movement that would encompass all activists. This is therefore largely the of taking on a repressive political their concerns, political and otherwise, language of the theories on race, class system and government” and needed leaving outside only those who were and nationalism. to be “courageous, articulate people” irretrievably locked into collaboration It is important to note, however, that since activism required unwavering “self- roles with the “system” (Nolutshulungu English was not inhabited unques- confidence, eloquence and dedication 1983, 153). tioningly by these activists, a fact to endless meetings and discussions particularly evident in the downright (Ramphele 1991b, 216-7).” This was a refusal to adhere to rules about formal challenge even for Ramphele, who by her and informal language. The choice of own admission required neither public “The experiences of gender, English had its advantages in that it did approval nor applause in order to make class, age, geographical not allow for the connotations regarding her opinions known. In this sometimes location, and sexual difference and division which apartheid hostile environment, she notes, “I soon legislation had made synonymous learnt to be aggressive towards men orientation were not with African languages. It also meant who undermined women, both at the perceived as consequential that the language or version of English social and at the political levels. Socially enough to warrant used could be made to subvert the one had to cope with being regarded inclusion into the colour biases and prejudices of the as available to men, because one was discourse of the doctrine.” standard version of the language as single. One was also constantly told and demonstrated by the assertion, “Black 16 Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, 1st president of the BCP, addressing congress at the BPC’s first national first national addressing congress at the BPC’s 1st president of the BCP, Mamphela Ramphele, Dr. Winifred Kgware Extreme left, 1972. congress in December, Picture courtesy of Mayibuye Archives Picture is Beautiful (Sole 1993).” Not so with the it is important to register that the use of speaker” while the woman’s absence gender baggage. In English, the rallying the masculine pronoun and “man” from the referent is symbolic of her place cry of Black Consciousness became, betrays something significant about in Black Consciousness thought- which “Black man, you are on your own.” Had Black Consciousness thought. is that of the “powerless and voiceless” the same sentiment been expressed in Wendy Martyna (1980) faults the who plays largely ancillary roles in Black one of the indigenous languages of the usage of the “generic male” on three Consciousness leadership. The women country, the message would have been accounts. Foremost in these is the who form part of the exception were less exclusionary and would have meant “non-parallelism” between male and often seen as “honorary men.” “Black person, you are on your own.” female terms. Martyna holds that Valerie Smith maintains that, “while the Luce Irigaray argues that “the generic there is an instinctive contradiction celebration of black man-hood came male” means that all women safeguard between meaning and grammar when from the need to reclaim racial pride,” the foundation of the symbolic order, the “generic male” is used. The rules of there is a tendency to marginalise the without ever gaining access to it (Irigaray English grammar prohibit the substitution politics of black women. This masculinist 1992, 96). The usage of “man” and “he” of “woman” (or “she”) for “man” (or discourse in fact inscribes the masculine in Black Consciousness literature echoes “he”) when the latter is used to mean experience of oppression and liberation. the function of the two in standard “people” as opposed to adult males. Black is consequently seen as male, and English. This is supposedly the “generic This is so in spite of the claim that the the struggle presented as one between state,” during which the male is symbolic use of the “generic male” is an arbitrary black men and white men. In the same of both male and female. Nevertheless, choice and used to avert verbosity. way that Black Consciousness activists Secondly, there is the ambiguity which reject white liberal attempts to speak stems from the inability to differentiate for them, it is important to note that between when women are included black men, preoccupied with their own Black Consciousness and when they are not. Lastly, she concerns, cannot “reproduce the exact discourse negated the illustrates and problematises those voice of the black woman (Smith 1989, diversity in experiences situations where the “generic male” 63).” Similarly, Dorothy Driver (1993) and aspirations of clearly excludes women (Martyna argues that despite Black Conscious- black women in all 1980, 69-70). Consequently, if “he” ness representation of blackness as a classes and working class and “man” can both mean male only as positive quality, it has been a black male people of both genders. well as all humanity, then women are consciousness; so that the onus is on At the same time, it constantly placed in a situation where black women to form a black women’s also claimed the right to there is neither certainty about what consciousness. speak for them, about they are entitled to nor whether they In the introduction to The Feminist them and to know their are excluded. Critique of Language, Deborah Cameron experiences. In Black Consciousness discourse the argues that language can be seen as man is in the position of “empowered both a reflection of sexist culture which 17 positions the speaker and a carrier of women, were in the minority (Nchwe ideas that become so familiar due to In Black Consciousness quoted in Boitumelo 1979). “their constant re-enactment” that in discourse the man is The establishment of a “Women the end we miss their relevance and in the position of Writers Speak” column in November/ significance (1992, 14). This is the case, ‘empowered speaker’ December 1979 meant that, for the she argues with the use of “he” and first time in the two years in which the “man” to symbolise humanity, which in while the woman’s publication had been in circulation, actual fact produces the male as norm absence from the referent an explicitly female voice was made (active, present)- woman as exception is symbolic of her place audible. This is not to downplay the (passive, silent, other). in Black Consciousness importance of Miriam Tlali’s column The undeviating use of “generic male” thought- which is that Soweto Speaking, a regular feature in terms in Black Consciousness means of the ‘powerless and the magazine, or the submissions by that as part of the alienation process voiceless’ who plays women to the pages of the magazine women are placed outside its language largely ancillary roles thus far. While these are evidence of and discourse. By refusing to allow in Black Consciousness important and ground-breaking work, “them” on the political agenda, Black leadership. The women they did not explicitly explore the role or Consciousness rejects the politicisation who form part of the position of the woman writer specifically. of black women’s experiences since exception were often seen However, the Women Writers Speak this would entail extending attention to as ‘honorary men’.” column provided the first declaration the specific experiences of exploitation of women writers’ commitment. In it, that black women face(d). Exclusion several women voiced their opinions on from the language and space accorded inspired art. Furthermore, most of the their role as black women writers. to black men directly points to black artists and cultural groups who published For the writer Manoko Nchwe, an women’s secondary status within the in the magazine until 1982 explicitly African woman writer has some priority movement. It is the ambiguous status aligned themselves with the BCM within in building herself to develop in her of black women which allows them to the pages of the magazine and beyond community, irrespective of the form be silenced. Their dual positioning as (Gqola 1999, Oliphant 1991, Oliphant of her art. Such a woman has a duty women and as black confined them and Vladislavic 1988). The sexism which to trace the remains of her distorted to an anxiety between “feelings of self- permeated the BCM was obvious in the culture, put them together and nourish identity and uniqueness” and therefore literature it produced. them to be part of her. similar to all the other black people in Don Mattera argues: Literature as The role of the woman writer is here the BCM on the one hand, and feeling armament for liberation will remain with seen as a custodian of a lost (or rapidly “different” from the same group on the us for as long as oppression and exploi- disappearing) culture. Hers is to seek the other (Jaworski 1992, 37). tation exist. Conversely, the literature of affirmation of her community. In addition Literature was seen as key to the the privileged/ruling class is contrived to this, she needs to give “a direction” successful dissemination of Black Con- to perpetuate the status quo through to the listener/reader of her words. It is sciousness ideals. As Miriam Tlali (in the indoctrination of its own class or Nchwe’s opinion that a woman in her Seroke, 1981) maintains, “What I believe systematic (and sophisticated) repress- capacity as “a mother in her society, is that we can never be writers unless we ion of the masses. In the literature of as the first teacher to her children and reflect the true position of what is taking the privileged there is always room also an ordinary member of society is in place and to carry the reader along with for romance, room for Wilbur Smith, a very good position to communicate us.” Literature was identified as key to Lessing, Michener and Barbara Cartland; with the people she writes for (Nchwe the achievement of the psychological room for those sensuously provocative 1979, 60).” It appears from her assertion liberation necessary to transform society bedside novels and tales of feminist that the responsibility of a woman writer in Black Consciousness terms. The trials (1988, 2-3). extends beyond her writing projects; that literary magazine, Staffrider, was to play The valuables of white society are up in a sense she is to mother her society, a central role in this. Named after the for rebuttal by Black Consciousness partly through teaching. This multi- commuters who ride illegally on the writers but this becomes a double-edged faceted position is that which equips her trains (“ride staff”) between Johannesburg sword when one considers the fact that with the ability to communicate with her city centre and the townships, it was “feminist trials” are relegated to the same readership as successfully as she does. named after “black experience” and was status as romance novels. If this was What of the male writer then, since he is to serve as part of the didactic arm of intended as a criticism on the feminism supposedly as effective, a factor which Black Consciousness. The scholar and of white South Africa specifically up to Nchwe herself alludes to when she Staffrider writer Mbulelo Mzamane (1991, that point, which effectively ignored the speaks of Mtutuzeli Matshoba’s words? 182) has argued that the magazine was issues of race and class in women’s Why does he not need to act in the same “the most representative literary magazine lives (Lewis 1993; Maqagi 1990; capacity to be as successful in his writing? of the Soweto era, the high-water mark Matlou 1986), this attitude would have Despite these inconsistencies it appears of the Black Consciousness period.” This some value. However, the contempt that Nchwe is, however, aware of the has been echoed by Richard Rive, who demonstrated here is a commentary various factors which work to discourage refers to Black Consciousness writers on all anti-sexist theorisation. This is women writing and publishing. She feels as the “Staffrider school” (1982, 12), and so because voices like that of Manoko that contact between women writers may Njabulo Ndebele (in Wilkinson 1992) who Nchwe, who advocates a certain kind of serve to encourage more to write, and to maintains that the magazine provided a “women’s liberation” movement adapted write more frequently. She speaks highly creative forum for Black Consciousness to the needs of black South African of Miriam Tlali’s multi-pronged writing 18 projects. It is as much Tlali’s own writing do it because of all these impediments and her recording of others’ voices for (Seroke 1981, 43).” which she is commended here. In her The ideology of the Boitumelo Mofokeng was to later writing, Miriam Tlali expresses not only movement was lament the paucity of women artists in herself, but allows others (who do not fashioned and proceeded the celebration of the history of Staffrider. have the same access to writing as she) to operate without The numbers of women who contributed to come to voice. paying meaningful to the literary magazine were very low It is important for women writers to write attention to the during its Black Consciousness phase. about those things which are important gendered nature of Additionally, women featured stereo- to them. These will inevitably include black experience. typically in the short prose and poetry their own lives. Nchwe is outspoken published in the magazine. Two tropes about what she identifies as the need for operate in the representations of women women writers to be enlightened through in Staffrider: supportive mothers in the “self-discovery.” This is a concept she setting and that this would serve to vein of what Desiree Lewis (1991) has uses to mean “making other women encourage prospective writers. Women’s labelled phallic mothers; and sexually aware of their value to the society, and status as mothers is also highlighted by transgressive women who are inscribed how much they have to offer in all areas Sigwili to the point where it is seen as consequently with the trope of rape by (Nchwe 1979, 60).” essential for manhood to exist. While Staffrider narrators and writers (Gqola It is important for a woman to write men draw strength from their physical 1997). Since the magazine was said to of the black women’s experience and strength, Sigwili announces that, “our present ideal sets of behaviour for its this will enable for instance a “woman in strength as women is our motherhood: targeted black readers, the roles black Soweto to understand what a woman men are always women’s children. And women readers are guided towards are in Gugulethu says ( Nchwe 1979, 60).” their manhood doesn’t show if women clear: support or abstention from trans- Part of this is to “clarify the position aren’t there.” Sigwili appears here to gressive behaviour. Furthermore, black of a woman in her society- and the be arguing that women are important female readers are invited “to help restore only person who can do this is woman in part to ensure that men show their black masculinity which is seen as herself (Nchwe 1979, 60-1).” Indeed, “manhood.” Conversely, women’s threatened by white power. Since black Nchwe asserts that it is part of the strength derives from the female ability masculinity is equivalent to black pride, woman writer’s purpose to ensure that to reproduce and be a mother. In both awareness of this masculinity as harmful “the myth of female inferiority should be instances of strength outlined by Sigwili, is absent in these stories (Gqola 2001).” completely discouraged.” women do not appear to need to be In the same article, acknowledging the strong for themselves. Nor is it important Conclusion need for African women to draw on the for men to allow women to show their It is clear that the ideal role of black “ideology of women’s liberation,” Nchwe “womanhood,” whatever that means. women within Black Consciousness proceeds to question the manner in Although, by Sigwili’s argument, if men organisations and rhetoric is marked which this ideology “combines with our need women for strength and definition, largely by silence and absence. The distorted culture.” She announces that then women are self-sufficient. sexist nature of the BCM is unveiled in the she does not know how this is to come Amelia House, writing from exile, inter- discourses through which the possibilities about. Nonetheless, this introduces the rogates the relevance of a women’s page. for black liberation are articulated as well possibility that feminist theory/ideology She recognises that there are aspects as in the literature it gives rise to. Women would need to be made relevant to of women’s lives which only women are excluded from naming and defining the situation at hand. After all, Nchwe can write about and that a women’s key sites of oppression. In this manner, announces, “I do not expect a woman in page may pave some way towards Black Consciousness discourse restricts South Africa to have the same demands establishing a female presence in the black women’s entry into the political as an American woman, as here the publication. On the other hand, however, agenda and thus leaves their experiences movement is still young (1979, 60).” she illustrates the manner in which this unpoliticised. The celebration of the In the same article Boitumelo declares tendency can be counterproductive and supportive, nurturing role from women that women’s liberation is beyond the limiting, especially since much of the involved in the movement is reflected in relationship between man and woman. discussion of women writers’ roles has the unproblematised representations of It is beyond being freed from man’s centred around mothering. She ends stoic, supportive mother characters in oppression, but it is the first phase of our her contribution with the assertion that, Staffrider literature. As Lewis has struggle to reaffirm our role in the struggle “For the present it is necessary to ob- illustrated. for total liberation. Accompanying these serve that women do write and that there Biko’s gendered language is not women’s voices and declarations are is diversity in their writing.” simply incidentally sexist; at the centre poems by and about black women in Miriam Tlali argues that she needed of Black Consciousness thinking was Staffrider. to be all that she could be to enable an emphasis on the emasculation of In the February 1980 issue Nokugcina her to write. Having “reconciled” herself black men and their need to cover a Sigwili (later known as Gcina Mhlophe), to all of these things, she maintains positive masculine identity. It is this that echoes some of the sentiments express- that for her “it was quite a task to write explains the marginalisation of women ed by Boitumelo and Manoko Nchwe. (Seroke 1981, 43).” She has also tried to in its rhetoric, and in the ways in which Sigwili too feels the need for women to organise for prospective women writers women were appealed to mainly as write about a woman’s experience of to come together. She has realised that psychological and material supports in life. She feels, like Nchwe, that female “you find that they have all the willingness male-oriented struggles (1994, 168-9). creativity can take place in a communal to try and write but they are not able to Where women like Mamphela Ramphele 19

Vino Cooper (left), Saths Cooper and Gwen Mokoape (right), members of the BCM outside court at the members of the BCM outside court at Saths Cooper and Gwen Mokoape (right), Vino Cooper (left), inquest into Steve Biko’s death inquest into Steve Biko’s Picture courtesy of Museum Africa Picture were vocal in their rejection of prescrip- ing, validating, normalising the acts of premise of Black Consciousness. Fur- tions on female behaviour, the desired excluding, marginalising and ignoring thermore, the participation of women effect was not immediately apparent. women. Thus the lack of intentionality within the space named BCM in South Their behaviour challenged existing is precisely the point; for it shows how Africa served to both confirm and notions of appropriate black female pervasive the thought patterns of domi- challenge the black man-centred dis- participation in BCM. As the scholarship nation are. And, the horror of domina- courses of the movement. Because on Black Consciousness indicates, these tion remains invisible because domina- transgressive women were in the minority, women, who made their dissatisfaction tion parades itself as truth, as nature. their efforts led to a relegation to special known were in the minority. Instead of a Its lifeline is complicity and support of status rather than a questioning of the realistic engagement with the implications those it dominates (Yates 1997, 144-5). underlying assumptions of the BCM. of their interventions, these women were If those women who adhered to Finally, because black women occupied masculinised and accorded honorary the naturalised patriarchal roles within roles which were either supportive of, or male status. This marked them as ex- BCM cannot be historically inscribed as challenging of the masculinist articulations ceptional, and thus ironically permitted helpless and hapless victims, their silence of Black Consciousness, they worked meaningful discussions of gender in BCM. can be seen as a choice within the limited against each other. The honorary men, by The remainder of the female mem- spaces and beliefs available to them, their numbers, “proved” their exceptional bership, however small in numbers, and people who choose blindness must status in the face of apparent support continued to occupy submissive and be held accountable for their choice. from other black women. The space nurturing roles within the movement. Therefore, those subjected to systems for the politicisation of black women’s While this does not immediately point to of domination must become and remain experiences fell outside of the language an absence of critical awareness of the cognisant, must be vigilant, and most of Black Consciousness. Consequently, oppressive nature of BCM gender poli- importantly, must refuse silence, despite the choices which presented themselves tics in these women, it does highlight the madness, indeed precisely because to the small numbers of women who the contradictions which characterised of it (Yates 1997, 148). were active in Black Consciousness the identity “black woman” in BCM. The position of black women in the were limited. They were sandwiched Ramphele (1998) has argued that there early BCM was characterised by ambi- between the binaries of complicity or are various practices which serve to guity and contradiction. The ideology honorary male status. Either way the keep women silent and that these were of the movement was fashioned and discourse of early Black Consciousness operational in Black Consciousness. proceeded to operate without paying remained unchanged as articulated in However, it also bears noting that, with meaningful attention to the gendered what remained the rallying cry of BCM, no intention of being sexist or exclu- nature of black experience. This remained “Black man, you are on your own.” sive, men and women unquestioningly the practice even as there were women use masculinist language, and every in the movement whose very presence This article was first published by time they do that, they are condon- should have challenged the masculine Indiana University Press in 2001. 20 Acknowledgements The Steve Biko Foundation The Foundation also thanks the thanks all those who have made Open Society Foundation for contributions to this issue of the South Africa for their generous FrankTalk Journal. financial support of the FrankTalk initiative and for making this publication possible.