Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: E.K.M. Dido publiseer in 1996 haar eerste roman, Die storie van Monica Peters, en word so een van die eerste bruin vrouens wat ‟n bydra tot die Afrikaanse letterkunde lewer. In Dido se romans word daar altyd ‟n vrou as hooffiguur gestel, en dit is van belang om na die konstruksie van die identiteite van die vroulike hooffigure ondersoek in te stel. Die romans lig invloede op, en aspekte van, identiteit uit en demonstreer hoe kwessies soos identiteitsmerkers ‟n rol in die konstruksie van identiteit speel. Die konstruksie van die vroulike figure se identiteite wys op die veranderende aard van identiteit, en die stemme van die gemarginaliseerdes van die verlede word in twee van hierdie romans deur hierdie figure gehoor. Dido self skryf vanuit die posisie van die voorheen gemarginaliseerde. Deur die konstruksie van die hooffigure vind die gemarginaliseerdes van die verlede ‟n geleentheid om hul eie verhale te vertel, en so verbreek Dido die stiltes wat in die verlede geskep is. Die postkoloniale aard van Dido se romans speel ‟n ondermynende rol binne ‟n letterkunde wat steeds verteenwoordigend is van die magstrukture van die verlede. Die konsep van hibriditeit word uitgelig as een wat positief eerder as negatief is. So word daar byvoorbeeld ‟n nuwe perspektief op wit mense gegee, soos gesien deur die oë van die historiese ‟Ander‟. Die posisie van swart skrywers in die huidige Afrikaanse letterkunde is een wat ondersoek moet word en uiteindelik moet hierdie posisionering van swart skrywers herevalueer word. Daar is ‟n vraag na ‟n literêre geskiedenis wat verteenwoordigend is van al die stemme wat in die Afrikaanse geskiedenis teenwoordig is. Uiteindelik is dit nodig om te bepaal waar presies Dido in hierdie literêre sisteem geposisioneer is, en of haar stem as swart vroueskrywer werklik gehoor word. / ENGLISH SUMMARY: E.K.M. Dido published her first novel, Die storie van Monica Peters (The story of Monica Peters) in 1996 and so doing became one of the first brown women to make a contribution to Afrikaans literature. The central character in Dido‟s novel is always a woman and this study will focus on the methods of construction of the identities of the female characters. The novels highlight the influences of external factors such as markers of identity on the construction of identity. The changeable nature of identity is demonstrated through the construction of the identities of these female characters. The voices of the marginalised figures from the past are heard through these characters in two of Dido‟s novels. Dido writes from the position of a previously marginalised woman. She breaks the silences of the past by the construction of the female characters‟ identities in such a way that they are able to tell their stories. The postcolonial nature of her work acts to undermine a literature which still reflects the power relations of the past. Dido‟s novels look at the concept of hybridity and see it as a positive, rather than negative, state of being. The white characters in the novels undergo a process of “Othering” which gives a new perspective on race relations from colonial times. There is a need to investigate and rethink the position of black writers within the Afrikaans literary system. Critics have expressed a desire for a literary history which is representative of all voices in Afrikaans. Dido‟s position in the literary system has to be investigated and it needs to be determined whether her voice as a black Afrikaans woman writer is being heard.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 1990. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this investigation was to provide a theoretical overview of the predominant feminist literary movements and their theoretical theses. I concentrated specifically on providing an historical overview of the major theories and by doing so accumulating them into one theoretical model. Concommitantly theories coined by post-structuralist thinkers such as Derrida and deconstruction are also employed in furnishing the reading model with a deconstructivi i-.>"": base. It proved appropriate to analyse postmodernist poetry ~<ch as that of Joan Hambidge by means of this strategy. In the second chapter I focused specifically on the poetry of Antj ie Krog until her latest volume of poetry, Lady Anne. From the latter texts dealing especially with the husband and wife relationship within the traditional marriage were selected and analysed. I focused on the three main female figures in the text, viz. Lady Anne Barnard, Mrs. Van Reenen, and Antjie Krog herself. I indicated what the implications of the marital relationship were on the lives of the characters. Often there is also a prevalent sexual rivalry within the realms of the patriarchal marriage. In the case of Lady Anne Barnard the relationship reveals the tension inherent to their situation at large. Andrew Barnard is regarded as a weak man who is subj ected to his powerful wife. This is evident from their marital relationship too. The man as instigator and head of the household within the patriarchy wishes to establish himself as bearer of that power and by doing so comes in conflict with his wife. In the third chapter I analysed the Lesbianfeminist poems of Joan Hambidge and especially those in her third volume of poetry. The codes of a Lesbian relationship are subversive in that it questions the morality of society at large. Lesbian love affairs are regarded as "strange" and immoral by the rUling patriarchal hegemony. This is the result of its undermining attitude towards sexism in society at large. In my conclusion I indicated that a feminist reading model is feasible for the reading of literary texts in that it aims to deconstruct the predominant sexist binary oppositions in our society. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie ondersoek was om in die inleidende teoretiese gedeelte In oorsig te gee van die belangrikste feministiese teoretici se bevindings. Daar is veral gekonsentreer op In historiese oorsig van die feministiese teoriee en hieruit is probeer om een teoretiese model daar te stel, waarvolgens literere tekste in die besonder gelees kon word. In aansluiting by die post-strukturalistiese teoriee van Jacques Derrida is aan die feministiese leesmodel In dekonstruktivistiese basis gegee. Dit het veral geblyk van pas te wees, by die lees van die postmodernistiese poesie soos in die geval van Joan Hambidge. In die tweede hoofstuk is veral gefokus op die poes1e van Antjie Krog en is die eiesoortige kenmerke van haar poesie eers uitgelig. Daarna is veral gekonsentreer op haar mees onlangse digbundel Lady Anne. Uit die bundel is veral tekste geselekteer wat pertinent fokus op uitbeelding van die man-vrou-verhouding binne die huwelik. Daar word veral gekonsentreer op die drie bel~ngrikste vrouefigure in die bundel, naamlik Lady Anne Barnard, Mev. Van Reenen en die digteres Antjie Krog self. Daar is veral aangetoon wat hulle verhoudings met hulle mans was en die huweliksrelasie is met behulp van In feministiese leesmodel beskou en gedekonstrueer. Dikwels is daar sprake van In seksuele magstryd in die huwelik aan die gang. In die geval van Lady Anne Barnard weerspieel die huweliksverhouding tussen man en vrou die spanning wat inherent aanwesig is, veral omdat Barnard so In swakkeling is en hy onderdanig aan sy vrou staan. Hierdie magsbalans wat versteur word, kern ook voor in die verse oor Antjie Krog en haar man. Die man as verteenwoordiger van die patriargale waardesisteem, sien dit as sy plig om oor die vrou te heers. In die derde hoofstuk word veral gekonsentreer op Joan Hambidge se Lesbiesfeministiese verse en wel uit haar derde digbundel, Die anatomie van melancholie. Die kodes van die Lesbiese verhouding tussen twee vroue is ondermynend van aard en dit gee aanleiding tot kontroversiele bevraagtekening van die heersende ideologie binne die same1ewing. Die heersende seksistiese ins1ag van die patriargie het tot gevolg dat Lesbiese liefde as IIvreemd" bestempel word en gevolglik strydig is met die wese van die ideologiese apparatuur in so 'n staat. Ten slotte word aangetoon, dat In feministiese leesmodel weI sinvol is vir die lees van tekste en dat dit veral daarop gemik is am die seksistiese binere opposisies binne ' n seksistiese denksistee~ te ondermyn.