Representations of post-apartheid black womanhood in the novels of Angela Makholwa and Kopano Matlwa

Dass, Sadie

Representations of post-apartheid black womanhood in the novels of Angela Makholwa and Kopano Matlwa

Thesis / Dissertation

2025

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of English Language and Literature

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

This thesis examines representations of post-apartheid Black womanhood in the selected novels of South African authors, Kopano Matlwa (2006 & 2016) and Angela Makholwa (2017/2018) by placing them within the context of the changes in South Africa from the time of apartheid to the present. This study shows how these women interpret, through writing, the experiences of women and how women are positioned both in the home, and out, as agents of change in a changing society. The key question driving this research is: In what way do the works of Matlwa and Makholwa illustrate the issues of class and race in relation to women in post-apartheid South Africa? The study aims to fill the gaps in the literature concerning the representation of women's experiences in contemporary South Africa. Previous work has not yet fully addressed the degree to which women writers manage to convey the ideas and realities of gender and social construction in a society recovering from apartheid. In response to the research question this thesis employs a textual analysis in order to study the selected literature. This thesis assesses how the respective authors and their bodies of work, Matlwa's Coconut (2006) and Period Pain (2016) and Makholwa's The Blessed Girl (2017/2018), construct the identities of their characters. To this end, in this way the study discusses the problems faced by these women in society. The evidence suggests that Matlwa and Makholwa, to a certain extent, represent women's lives and perspectives from the angles of struggle against patriarchy and systemic oppression, as well as demonstrating the agency of women and their resilience and strength of character as can be seen from the text.