Thesis (MA (English Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Drawing on theories of gender and subjectivity, this thesis explores the way in which
constructions of modernity as well as tradition are mapped onto geographical localities and thus
expressed through gender acts. The female protagonists in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman
Warrior, Sindiwe Magona’s To My Children’s Children and Forced to Grow, as well as Eva
Hoffman’s Lost in Translation undergo either transnational translocation or imagined
translocation where they straddle multiple cultural contexts concurrently. The role of globalism
and modernity amplifies the female’s ambiguous position and therefore challenges her gender
identity as she takes on additional gender characteristics. This challenge, a result of translocation,
causes both the individual and collective nature of the subject to be emphasised and placed in
multiple cultures concurrently. The female’s subjectivity is under much tension as the cultures
she immerses herself in interlace but also clash. As a result of this, her sense of self is constantly
in flux as she attempts to achieve stability and coherence. This sense of a gendered, stable and
located self will, I argue, both dissipate and transmutate upon undergoing physical or imagined
translocation.
In addition, this thesis examines the manner in which globalism allows for the dissolving of
boundaries and explores the extent to which the ambiguous position these female protagonists
occupy enables them to reformulate and refashion their gender identity as well as write
themselves away from the marginalised positions they inhabit. I will further explore how female
subjects are compelled to take on additional feminine or masculine attributes upon translocation,
seeming to become androgynous in the reformulation of their gender identity for a certain period
of time. I will argue that protagonists supplement their gender in order to obtain a sense of
belonging in a specific cultural context which requires this alteration of gender, and argue that
this is also a means by which they liberate themselves from the marginal positions they occupy
in their ethnic culture where sexism and prejudice are prevalent. However, I will demonstrate
that modernity does not only provide them with liberation and autonomy, but that simultaneously
it is also restrictive on the subject’s gender identity. Finally, this thesis explores whether the
female protagonists are able to use their ambiguous positioning strategically in order to generate coherence of the self yet, concurrently, maintain fluidity between multiple cultural boundaries of the self. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verhandeling gebruik geslags- en subjektiwiteitsteorieë om ondersoek in te stel na die
maniere waarop konstruksies van moderniteit en tradisie uiting vind in geslagshandeling.
Dieselfde teorieë word gebruik om ondersoek in te stel na die invloed van geografiese plasing op
geslagshandeling. Die vroulike protagoniste in Maxine Hong Kingston se The Woman Warrior,
Sindiwe Magona se To My Children’s Children en Forced to Grow, sowel as Eva Hoffman se
Lost in Translation, ervaar elkeen óf transnasionale translokasie, óf verbeelde translokasie,
waardeur hulle vele kulturele kontekste tegelykertyd in die dwarste beset. Die rol van
globalisering en moderniteit versterk sonder twyfel die vroulike protagonis se dubbelsinnige
posisie, en haar geslagsidentiteit word in twyfel getrek soos sy addisionele geslagseienskappe
aanneem. Hierdie vertwyfeling – die gevolg van translokasie – veroorsaak dat beide die
kollektiewe sowel as die individuele aard van die subjek benadruk word, en gelyktydig in
meervoudige kulture geplaas word. Die protagonis se subjektiwiteit verkeer onder baie spanning
omdat die kulture waarin sy haarself verdiep onderling vervleg is, maar tog ook bots. Derhalwe
is haar beskouing van haarself voortdurend vloeibaar en veranderend terwyl sy probeer om
samehorigheid en stabiliteit te bewerkstellig. Ek is van mening dat hierdie sin van 'n
“geslaghebbende”, stabiele, gelokaliseerde self verdwyn en/of transmuteer wanneer dit fisiese of
verbeelde translokasie ondergaan.
Gevolglik ondersoek hierdie verhandeling dus ook die manier waarop globalisme die ontbinding
van grense tot gevolg het, sowel as die mate waartoe die dubbelsinnigheid van die vroulike
protagoniste se posisie hulle toelaat om hul geslagsidentiteit te herformuleer en te herontwerp, en
hulself weg, of uit, die gemarginaliseerde posisies wat hulle beset te skryf. Ek wil ook kyk na die
maniere waarop die vroulike subjek genoop is om, as gevolg van translokasie, addisionele
vroulike of manlike karaktertrekke aan te neem, met dié dat dit blyk dat die protagoniste vir 'n
ruk lank androgene eienskappe in hul geslagsidentiteit toon. Ek argumenteer dat die protagoniste
hul geslag aanvul, nie net sodat hul aanklank binne 'n spesifieke kulturele konteks kan vind nie,
maar ook as 'n manier waarop hul hulself kan bevry van die marginale posisies waarin hulle hul
in 'n etniese kultuur, waar seksisme en vooroordeel gedy, bevind. Nietemin wil ek ook aantoon
dat moderniteit nie bloot net bevryding en selfstandigheid aan die vroulike protagoniste bied nie, maar dat dit ook tegelykertyd beperkings op die subjek se geslagsidentiteit plaas. Die uitkoms
van hierdie tesis is om te bepaal of die vroulike protagoniste in staat is tot die strategiese gebruik
van hul dubbelsinnige posisionering, wat koherensie van die self sal meebring, en tog
terselfdertyd vloeibaarheid tussen verskillende kulture sal behou.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/2253 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Joss, Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Viljoen, S. C., University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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