Unisa Press
Sister outsiders’
The representation of identity and difference in selected writings by South African Indian women
| Author: | Devarakshanam Govinden |
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| ISBN: | 9781868882960 |
| Number of pages: | 361 |
| This book is not available in electronic format |
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About the book
Sister outsiders draws attention to a neglected corpus of writing in South African literary criticism. The focus is on the exclusion of Indian women’s writings in South Africa, which must be seen as a dimension of the larger exclusion of women’s writings, white and black, from South African literature in general. The book provides an historical account of the events that contributed to the marginalisation of black literature – specifically Indian women’s literature – amongst other things, the institutionalisation of English Studies which affected the reading and reception of texts written by Indian women, and the construction of an indigenous English literary tradition that did not include black writers as much as it did white writers of English descent, writing about South African experiences.
Table of content
Acknowledgments
One: Exclusionary practices in South African literary criticism: The writings of Indian women in South Africa – 1
Two: The politics of identity and of difference – 31
Three: Claiming identity and selfhood – 54
Four: The indenture experience – Indian women in colonial Natal – 65
Five: A survey of Indian women’s writings – 87
Six: Reclaiming Ansuyah Singh’s Behold the Earth Mourns – 143
Seven: `A world of Differences’: Zuleikha M Mayat’s A Treasure Trove of Memories – 173
Eight: Narratives of disablement and ablement: Jayapraga Reddy’s The Unbending Reed and On the Fringe of Dreamtime and Other Stories – 197
Nine:` Simultaneity of discourse’ in Agnes Sam’s Jesus is Indian and Other Stories – 217
Ten: Voice and silence in the writings of Farida Karodia – 246
Eleven: Struggle autobiography: Coolie Doctor by Dr Goonam – 270
Twelve: Auto/biography as identity in the writings of Phyllis Naidoo – 295
Thirteen: Transgressing boundaries; The writings of Fatima Meer – 314
Conclusion – 343
Bibliography – 358
Index – 361