Collection H

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The contestation and renegotiation of gendered space in Afrikaans women's poetry
(Afrikaanse Letterkundevereniging, 2001) Viljoen, Louise
This article argues that literature is one of the fields in which the social construction of space takes place; it is therefore also the terrain on which the contestation and renegotiation of gendered space can take place. The focus falls on the work of four Afrikaans women poets who either published their first volume of poetry or made a comeback after a prolonged silence in 1970: Sheila Cussons, Wilma Stockenström, Antjie Krog and Ina Rousseau. Although women are still under-represented in Afrikaans poetry in comparison to men, the quality and influence of the poetry written by these four women have given them a very important place in the Afrikaans literary system. This article concentrates on the way in which the meaning of traditionally gendered spaces is contested and renegotiated in the poetry by these women. Concentrating on the tendency to gender public spaces as male and private spaces as female, the article discusses several strategies used by these poets to undermine the way in which gender stereotypes are perpetuated through spatial arrangements – strategies like valorising the domestic as subject matter.