UWCScholar :: Browsing by Author "Lewis, Desiree"

Browsing by Author "Lewis, Desiree"

Now showing 1 - 14 of 14

Complicating �tradition� and �modernity�: Young South African Women?s Perceptions of Lobola
(University of the Western Cape, 2021) Nduna, Nyaradzo; Lewis, Desiree
An indigenous cultural practice among the many ethnic groups of South Africa, lobola has changed immensely, especially in highly urbanised towns. It has also been the subject of several interpretations in academia, the media, and popular opinion. These have included ethnographic scholarship that focuses on its cultural significance and its centrality to reciprocal relationships between groups. Other academic and activist views criticize how lobola, as a form of bride wealth, instrumentalises women in patriarchal society. In addition, other interpretive strand acknowledges lobola's patriarchal impacts while also recognizing the agencies and choices of women who embrace it. The work demonstrates that women are neither consistent agents nor constant victims of lobola, but that they experience it in different ways. As a result, the study explores how young women�s situated knowledge helps us understand lobola�s complex and ambiguous meanings that might assist in comprehending the current connotations of lobola, which are presently complicated and confusing. The current study is concerned with mapping out and analysing the complexities of standpoint knowledge-making that is typically side-lined in the numerous scholarly and activist studies of lobola by selecting a diverse range of young women respondents as well as commentators in the public sphere.
A conversation with Anne Phillips on multiculturalism
(Unisa Press, 2015) Phillips, Anne; Byrne, Deirdre; Gouws, Amanda; Lewis, Desiree; du Toit, Louise; Viljoen, Stella
During March 2015, Professor Anne Phillips of the London School of Economics was a visiting fellow at Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS). On 13 March a group of nine gender scholars from different disciplines held a one-day workshop to explore the notion of multiculturalism with her. At the end of the workshop it was suggested that Gender Questions should conduct an electronic interview with Professor Phillips and that the scholars who attended the workshop would write responses to the interview. What follows are the interview with Professor Phillips and responses from four of the gender scholars who attended: Professor Amanda Gouws (Political Science, Stellenbosch University) Professor Desiree Lewis (Women's and Gender Studies, University of the Western Cape), Professor Louise du Toit (Philosophy, Stellenbosch University), and Dr Stella Viljoen (Fine Arts, Stellenbosch University). The other scholars who attended were Professor Shireen Hassim (Political Studies, University of the Witwatersrand), Professor Kopano Ratele (Unisa/Medical Research Council), Professor Cherryl Walker (Sociology, Stellenbosch University) and Dr Christi van der Westhuizen (HUMA, University of Cape Town).
Decentering nationalism: Representing and contesting Chimurenga in Zimbabwean popular culture
(University of the Western Cape, 2015) Mawere, Tinashe; Lewis, Desiree; Raftopoulos, Brian
This study seeks to uncover the non-coercive, intricate and insidious ways which have generated both the 'willing' acceptance of and resistance to the rule of Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe. I consider how popular culture is a site that produces complex and persuasive meanings and enactments of citizenship and belonging in contemporary Zimbabwe and focus on 'agency,' 'subversion' and their interconnectedness or blurring. The study argues that understanding nationalism's impact in Zimbabwe necessitates an analysis of the complex ways in which dominant articulations of nationalism are both imbibed and contested, with its contestation often demonstrating the tremendous power of covert forms of resistance. The focus on the politics of popular culture in Zimbabwe called for eclectic and critical engagements with different social constructionist traditions, including postcolonial feminism, aspects of the work of Louis Althusser and Michel Foucault. My eclectic borrowing is aimed at enlisting theory to analyse ways in which co-optation, subversion and compromise often coexist in the meanings generated by various popular and public culture forms. These include revered national figures and symbols, sacrosanct dead bodies and retrievals, slogans and campaign material, sport, public speeches, the mass media and music. The study therefore explores political sites and responses that existing disciplinary studies, especially politics and history, tend to side-line. A central thesis of the study is that Zimbabwe, in dominant articulations of the nation, is often constituted in a discourse of anti-colonial war, and its present and future are imagined as a defence of what has already been gained from previous wars in the form of "chimurenga." I argue that formal sites of political contestation often reinforce forms of patriarchal, heterosexist, ethnic, neo-imperial and class authoritarianism often associated only with the ZANU PF as the overtly autocratic ruling party. In turning to diverse forms of popular culture and their reception, I identify and analyze sites and texts that, rather than constituting mere entertainment or reflecting organized and party political struggles, testify to the complexity and intensity of current forms of domination and resistance in the country. Contrary to the view that Zimbabwe has been witnessing a steady paralysis of popular protest, the study argues that slogans, satire, jokes, metaphor, music and general performance arts by the ordinary people are spaces on which "even the highly spectacular deployment of gender and sexuality to naturalize a nationalism informed by the 'efficacy' of a phallocentric power 'cult' is full of contestations and ruptures."
Exploring new media technologies among young South African women
(African Gender Institute, University of Cape Town, 2013) Lewis, Desiree; Tigist, Shewarega Hussen; van Vuuren, Monique
This article reflects on how the use of digitised communication and social media among young black South African women can be situated and assessed within the current context. The authors focus especially on nuanced explorations of �civic participation,� �empowerment� and �identity politics� in acknowledging the liberatory potential of young women�s use of information and communication technology (ICTs) and seeking to assess its effects in realistic ways. We therefore speculate about how the uses of ICTs can both open up new possibilities for activism and agency and reveal the difficult formation of what Nancy Fraser has called �subaltern counterpublics� (1992: 109�142) among socially marginalised young women.
Exploring the dualisms of 'belonging': Young women's performances of citizenship in Cape Town
(University of the Western Cape, 2016) Van Vuuren, Monique; Lewis, Desiree
My research involves a nuanced exploration of 'citizenship', through examining the liberatory potential of young women's use of social media and performance of embodied subjectivities in the post-Apartheid imaginary. By tracing expressions of self, specifically women�s highly imaginative efforts to represent what selfhood means to them and how it shapes their realities, I question conventional understandings of civic participation. The forms of communication and self-expression that many young women in Cape Town pursue are often considered apolitical, frivolous or trivial. By comprehensively exploring self-expression as a participant, I show that it is often richly but complicatedly politicized. My analysis is based on four women�s narratives and meaning-making processes, although my methodological approach involves detailed attention to my own location and interactions with participants. Guided by feminist explorations of the relevance of standpoint theorizing, I seek to understand the various visual and textual ways in which a small group of young women in Cape Town is currently making sense of their social identities, understandings of freedom and potential as social actors. I also draw on methodological work that questions the tendency, even among many feminist researchers, to reduce the knowledge of their participants to manageable data. In so doing, my aim is to try to make sense of the content and forms of young women's knowledge making on their own terms.
Food shaming and race, and hungry translations
(Taylor & Francis, 2023) Lewis, Desiree
Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America by Psyche A. Williams-Forson (2022) and Hungry Translations: Relearning the World Through Radical Vulnerability by Richa Nagar (2019) deal with food and hunger in relation to the very different geo-political regions of North America and India. At the same time, they enter into dialogue with each other in exploring how socially situated bodies � othered in gendered, raced and neoliberal systems and discourses � navigate and resist oppressive food politics. As both authors also show, critical approaches to food politics should entail much more than attention to who gets to eat well, or why certain groups are able to waste food obscenely while most of the world�s population starves, cannot make informed and healthy food choices, or inhabits food deserts, those foodscapes of near-starvation created by the corporate food industry�s hunger for profits. As the authors show, exploring the politics of food, eating and hunger should focus also on the languages and attitudes surrounding how these are connected to radical struggles for human freedom. By focusing on the represented and imagined connections between human desires and experiences on one hand and food and hunger on the other, Williams-Forson and Nagar also encourage us to interrogate and re-imagine our relationships to both humans as well as nature and other living beings. These books� perspectives from different continents invite us to consider the trans-continental context of multiple subaltern struggles through the lens of food.
Gender, feminism and food studies
(Taylor & Francis, 2015) Lewis, Desiree
Policy research and scholarship on food has rapidly increased in recent decades. The attention to 'gender' within this work appears to signal important practical and academic efforts to mainstream gendered understandings of food consumption, distribution and production into expansive conceptualisations of human security. This article argues that the gender-related work on food has wide-ranging and often troubling political and theoretical foundations and implications. Often growing out of knowledge regimes for managing social crises and advancing neo-liberal solutions, much gender and food security work provides limited interventions into mainstream gender-blind work on the nexus of power struggles, food resources and globalisation. A careful analysis of knowledge production about gender and food is therefore crucial to understanding how and why feminist food studies often transcends and challenges dominant forms of scholarship and research on food security. This article's critical assessment of what food security studies in South Africa has entailed at the regional level and in global terms also focuses on the methodological and theoretical feminist interventions that can stimulate rigorous conceptual, research and practical attention to what has come to be understood as food sovereignty.
Gendered dynamics in South African astrophysics: A case study of the South African Astronomical Observatory
(University of the Western Cape, 2016) Bongwana, Thembelihle; Lewis, Desiree; Holbrook, Jarita
This study explores the nuances around gendered dynamics, attitudes, ideologies, values and knowledge that exist within astronomy and astrophysics institutions paying specific attention to the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) as study site. This study investigated implicit and explicit ways in which SAAO spaces and practices are gendered and hierarchized, and the extent to which 'astronomy as a specific discipline within science' remains highly masculinized. By focusing on studies on power, feminist critiques of science and institutional culture in other South African sectors, especially higher education, the study deconstructs a field that has been relatively neglected in South African feminist studies of gendered institutional culture. This thesis makes use of feminist qualitative methodological approaches and fuses mixed methods to collect data. The use of participant observation enabled a broader understanding of the context and to gain an understanding of how gendered, classed and raced subjects construct and navigate social meanings in the hierarchized and symbolically marked space of the SAAO.
Migration and body politics: a study of migrant women workers in Bellville, Cape Town
(University of the Western Cape, 2015) Chireka, Kudzai; Lewis, Desiree
Migration has become very prominent in South Africa, and unlike most countries on the continent, it is an extremely prominent destinations for migrants. The country attracts migrants because there is a common perception that there are better economic opportunities, jobs and living conditions within South Africa. Countries like Zimbabwe, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Senegal, Mozambique and Nigeria are statistically high ranking in migrants entering South Africa on a daily basis (Stats SA, 2011). Most forced migration research seeks to explain the behaviour, impact, and challenges faced by the displaced with the intention of influencing agencies and governments to develop more effective responses to address the challenges. As a case study focusing on women, gender and migration at the micro-level, this study deals with the gendered and classed experiences and struggles of women migrants working as hairdressers in street salons in Bellville, Cape Town. The study explores how women who are socially marked as �other� in terms of gender, class, space, identity and nationality navigate an environment in which social worth and belonging is constantly defined by physical appearance and the environment in which the body is physically located. Through a feminist qualitative research method, the study focuses mainly on women�s experiences through interviews and participant observation. The research is therefore deeply grounded and rooted in feminist theoretical perspective and feminist methodological approaches in order to understand women�s lives and gender roles, their body politics and working lives. One of the major findings of this study is that the lack of a gendered analysis of migration has perpetuated stereotypes about who �migrants� are, what access they can have in a foreign country, in what ways they are considered �other�, and, most importantly, how they respond to their experiences of �othering� and political marginalization. It is argued that migration has been constantly changing: many contemporary migrant women are driven by adventure, desire and spirit, and not by famine, war, spouses and poverty. This study therefore develops recommendations for future researchers and policy makers in considering gender and the dynamic changes surrounding migration.
"Passing women": gender and hybridity in the fiction of three female South African authors
(University of the Western Cape, 2012) Marais, Marcia Helena; Lewis, Desiree
A key aim of this study is to shed light on the representation of coloured women with reference to racial passing, using fictive characters depicted in Sarah Gertrude Millin�s (1924) God's Stepchildren, Zo� Wicomb's (2006) Playing in the Light, and Pat Stamat�los's (2005) Kroes, as presented by these three racially distinct female South African authors. Since I propose that literature provides a link between a subjective history and the under-represented narratives from the margins, I use literature to reimagine these. I analyse the ways in which the authors present 'hybrid' identities within their characters in different ways, and provide an explanation and contextual basis for the exploration of the theme of 'passing for and as white' within South Africa's complex history. I provide a sociological explanation of the act of racial passing in South Africa with reference to the United States by incorporating Nella Larsen's (1929) Passing. Since the analyses will concentrate on coloured females within the texts, gendered identity and female sexuality and stereotypes will be the focus. I look at the act and agent of passing, the role of raced and gendered performance in giving meaning to social identities, and the way in which the female body is constructed in racial terms in order to confer identity. Tracing the historical origins of coloured identity and coloured female identity, I interrogate this colonial, post-colonial, apartheid and post-apartheid history by employing a feminist lens. A combination of postcolonial feminist discourse analysis, sociological inquiry and feminist narrative analysis are therefore the methods I use to achieve my research aims. Chapter 1: The concepts of 'coloured', 'coloured identity', and 'passing' are introduced. I provide a historical overview of the origins of 'colouredness' in the South African context to examine the historical, ideological and social implications of the subject matter under discussion. Chapter 2: Set over a period between the years 1821 to 1921 God's Stepchildren deals with a family spanning four generations, bound by 'tainted' blood. I focus on the character Elmira who represents the third generation of the initial 'miscegenation'. I look at the effect the racist social milieu has on the author�s representation of coloured women and how this translates into apparently insurmountable beliefs that stereotypes equal nature. Chapter 3: Playing in the Light confronts racial passing through an unwitting passer and her intentionally passing parents. I analyse how Wicomb presents the protagonist's struggle to relocate her identity in contemporary South African society. I compare the attitudes toward race presented by the characters, especially across the two generations of passing women in the novel in order to demonstrate a progression in attitudes toward passing. Chapter 4: Kroes, published in 2005, is partially biographical. The novel is set in urban Cape Town and Johannesburg of the late 1950s to 1970. The protagonist, and central passing figure, narrates the story in the first person using Cape vernacular Afrikaans. I look at the way in which women are influenced by internalised inferiority, and how arbitrary skin pigmentation is deemed to decide their fate. Chapter 5: I draw together the common themes found in the three works of fiction, and draw inferences from my findings about the representation of coloured women.
Politics, freedoms and spirituality in Alaa Al Aswany's Yacouian Building
(University of Cape Town, 2013) Lewis, Desiree
Although set in the 1990s and published in 2002, Alaa Al Aswany�s novel The Yacoubian Building conveys the corruption and brutality that led to explosive revolutions in Egypt from 2011. Moreover, his depiction of Cairo-dwellers with diverse class, cultural and gendered experiences functions as a microcosm of the dense forms and histories of contemporary Egyptian socio-political processes. This article argues that the novel�s power derives not only from its prophetic insight into Egyptian neo-colonial politics, but also from its expansive exploration of personal and collective freedoms. Connecting ideas about freedom to his scrutiny of how Islamic discourses have been represented and appropriated, Al Aswany shows that aspects of Islam have played a vital part in liberating personal and political struggles. The article therefore demonstrates that Al Aswany challenges Western-centric, orientalist and narrowly rights-based conceptions of social justice by exploring the interconnectedness of sexual, spiritual and political freedoms.
Radical possibilities at the crossroads of African feminism and digital activism
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Hussen, Tigist Shewarega; Lewis, Desiree
Studies abound that deal with digital activism and social movements worldwide. Many African scholars continue to dwell on how the effects of technological advancement and access to social media are ingrained in class and other structural inequalities. Certain scholars (Mutsvairo, 2016; Bosch, 2017; Wasserman, 2018; Okech, 2020) are also invested in unpacking the possibilities that social media platforms are offering to social movements, and the shift occurring in many African countries� social and political structures. A central political current here is the tension in the relationship between masculinist nationalist movements and feminist digital activisms in Africa.
"War in the home'' marriage and mediation among the Gurage in Ethiopia
(University of the Western Cape, 2011) Hussen, Tigist Shewarega; Lewis, Desiree
Ethiopian ethnic groups exhibit highly autochthonous cultural norms and values that are embedded in their traditional beliefs, systems, and religions. This study shows how, at the grassroots level, the Gurage ethnic group in Ethiopia, uses culturally legitimate forms of conflict resolution practices to mobilize and reinforce gender hierarchies, and how the discourses of culture, custom, tradition, social stability and cohesion are connected to gendered power relations. The study provides an analysis of how discourses of culture in African contexts influence, and become a compelling framework for both men and women to define themselves in institutions of marriage, and in related practices of conflict resolution and mediation.Drawing on a rich body of Southern African theory and analysis and by deploying it in relation to marriage in the Ethiopian context, the research shows that customary practices of conflict resolution have been one of the central Ethiopian definitions of authentic culture. Ethiopia, unlike the rest of Africa, reveals many complexities in exploring popular mechanisms and institutions that are very convincingly ''pre-colonial''. At present, these are manifested through cynicism towards western culture, reluctance to readily embrace it, and an accentuated sense of national pride shaped through the struggle against hovering ethnocentricism, imperialism and neo-imperialism. The research explores the dynamics of power that influence married couples' decisions about where and how they should resolve their martial disputes, and in selecting between the formal justice system and customary mediating mechanism. First-hand information was gathered from women and customary leaders, via participatory methodologies, and the data served as input to explain why and how discourses of culture are being mobilized so powerfully to reinforce gender hierarchies in Ethiopia. The research findings evidently show how ''culture'' is ''made real'' and authentic for Ethiopians, particularly for members of the Gurage ethnic group, through the dealings of popular cultural practices: the resolution of marital conflicts. I argue that marital conflict resolution in Gurage is an elaborate practice that validates patriarchal agenda, overseen by male elders, to regulate problems within individual marriages. The research problematised the recognition of ''customary practice'' in the Constitution as alternative systems by presenting the limited rights Gurage women have as opposed to the ''freedom of choice'' that is granted in the Constitution. The case reveals the difficulty of having two laws that have different understanding of human rights.
Women's negotiation of alternative sexualities in the Western Cape: A Cape Town case study
(University of the Western Cape, 2012) Mitchell, Sharrone CJ; Lewis, Desiree
This mini thesis is an exploratory study of the lived experiences of bisexual and lesbian women in the Western Cape with regard to how they claim agency and negotiate their individual sexualities. Using mixed methodologies this study aims to look at the ways in which bisexual and lesbian women negotiate their sexuality in a landscape dominated by heterosexual discourses. Also considered are the contradictory ways in which these women assert their roles as lesbians and bisexual individuals and how these roles serve to simultaneously reinforce and challenge the dominant order of heterosexuality. The conflicting views of the respondents are documented which further demonstrates the complexities surrounding sexuality. This research identifies and explores both international and local research already conducted on alternative sexualities and address the lack of black researchers' conduct of these studies on the African continent. The study also records an acknowledgement of the researcher's reflection that she too holds contradictory views on some of these issues.

Browsing by Author "Lewis, Desiree"

Results Per Page

Sort Options