Gender and violence in representations of female characters in selected contemporary short fiction by Zambian women writers

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dc.contributor.advisorMurray, Sally-Ann, 1961-en_ZA
dc.contributor.authorChisoko, Shilikaen_ZA
dc.contributor.otherStellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English.en_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2024-03-01T20:06:21Z
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-26T20:49:12Z
dc.date.available2024-03-01T20:06:21Z
dc.date.available2024-04-26T20:49:12Z
dc.date.issued2024-03
dc.descriptionThesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2024.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractENGLISH ABSTRACT: The selected short stories in this thesis offer imaginative treatments of the daily lives of women in Zambia, lives characterised by gender discrimination and difficulties associated with living in a patriarchal society. The thesis argues that the representations of female characters in the examples of contemporary short fiction by Zambian women constitute important forms of knowledge through which to understand the complexity of Zambian women’s engagement with patriarchy. Here, I draw on Ranka Primorac’s comments on short fiction by earlier female Zambian writers. Primorac identifies a tendency, in the stories she analyses, to provide accounts of the difficulties associated with living in a postcolonial society by depicting female characters experiencing the challenges of everyday life. My own study furthers Primorac’s claims by suggesting that the representation of female characters in much current short fiction by Zambian women begins to offer a feminist-inflected critique of Zambian society via dissenting portrayals of the violence experienced by female characters. The word violence is used in this thesis to describe the gendered and sexual discrimination experienced by the female characters, and I draw on the ideas of Pumla Dineo Gqola, Johan Galtung and Slavoj Žižek (among others) to argue that the varied kinds of discrimination experienced by the female characters in the stories emanates from patriarchal regimes of power and violence, which in my argument means that such discrimination is itself a form of violence. In my analysis of the depictions if violence in various examples of short fiction, I position the stories as illocutionary forces which, according to Maria Pia Lara’s theorisation of the illocutionary capabilities of feminist narratives in the public sphere, have an unsettling revelatory capacity that embodies a transformative socio-textual potential in the development of emergent Zambian feminist epistemes. (In exploring the possibilities of emergent feminisms in short fiction from Zambia, my study also points to the fact that in the last two decades there has been an increase in the production of short fiction by Zambian women, and indicates that this increase is partly due to literary awards such as the Kalemba Short Story Prize, which is awarded to short fiction by Zambians. The majority of shortlisted stories are female-authored, and all the winners are women.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die kortverhale wat gekies is vir hierdie tesis bied elk ‘n verbeeldingryke blik op die alledaagse bestaan van vroue in Zambië, wat gekenmerk word deur geslagsdiskriminasie sowel as ander uitdagings wat deel maak van die lewe in ‘n patriargale samelewing. Die tesis voer aan dat die uitbeelding van vrouekarakters in hierdie kortverhale deur Zambiese vroueskrywers ‘n belangrike soort kennis vergestalt waardeur ons die kompleksiteit van Zambiese vroue se betrokkenheid by die patriargie beter kan verstaan. Hier betrek ek die opmerkings van Ranka Primorac oor kortfiskie deur vroeëre Zambiese vroueskrywers. Primorac identifiseer ‘n neiging, in die stories wat sy analiseer, om uitdagende lewenservarings in ‘n postkoloniale samelewing weer te gee deur vrouekarakters se alledaagse struwelinge uit te beeld. My studie bou op Primorac se bevindinge deur ‘n spesifiek feministies-georiënteerde kritiek van die Zambiese samelewing te identifiseer in afkwykende uitbeeldings van geweld teenoor vrouekarakters in baie kontemporêre Zambiese kortfiksie deur vroueskrywers. In hierdie tesis verwys ‘geweld’ na die geslagsgedrewe en seksuele diskriminasie wat vrouekarakters ervaar. Ek betrek die insigte van (onder andere) Pumla Dineo Gqola, Johan Galtung en Slavoj Žižek om aan te voer dat die verskeie soorte diskriminasie wat vrouekarakters ervaar ontspring in patriargale regimes van mag en geweld, en dat diskriminasie sigself daarom 'n soort geweld is. In my analise van die uitbeelding van geweld in verskeie kortverhale posisioneer ek die verhale as illokusionêre kragte wat, volgens Maria Pia Lara se teoretisering rondom die illokusionêre handeling van feministiese narratiewe in die publieke sfeer, ‘n onthutsende openbaringsvermoë het waarbinne die transformatiewe sosio-tekstuele potensiaal van ontluikende Zambiese feministiese episteme saamgevat word. (In my verkenning van die moontlikhede rondom ontluikende feminisme in Zambiese kortfiksie wys ek daarop dat daar oor die laaste twee dekades heen ‘n toename in kortfiksie deur Zambiese vroueskrywers was; en ek dui ook daarop dat hierdie toename deels te danke is aan literêre toekennings soos die Kalemba Short Story Prize [Kalemba Kortverhaalprys], wat toegeken word aan kortfiksie deur Zambiërs. Meeste verhale wat al die kortlys gehaal het, en al die wenverhale, is deur vroueskrywers.af_ZA
dc.description.versionMastersen_ZA
dc.format.extentvii, 115 pagesen_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttps://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/130526
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.rights.holderStellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshWomen -- Zambia -- Social conditionsen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshWomen -- Violence against -- Zambiaen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshShort stories, Zambian (English)en_ZA
dc.subject.lcshSex discrimination against women -- Zambiaen_ZA
dc.subject.nameUCTD
dc.titleGender and violence in representations of female characters in selected contemporary short fiction by Zambian women writersen_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
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