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Abstract
In this article, I will use a textual analysis of Sindiwe Magona’s Mother to Mother (1998) as a framework through which to critique and expand upon the concerns reflected in current studies of whiteness. As I will observe, the field of Whiteness Studies offers an insightful lens through which to examine the constructions of whiteness, particularly with regards to how it capitalizes on Black identities and subjectivities. Yet, it does not address the different formations of white identity that may emerge when seeking out points of empathy and connection between Black and white individuals and communities. Through a specific focus on Magona’s portrayal of the figures of the white “madam”, the white liberal activist, and the white grieving mother in Mother to Mother, I will examine how the novel demonstrates the ways in which engaging with the humanity of whiteness can potentially illuminate these different formations of white identity.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1 Qtd in Amnesty Hearings, Cape Town, 8 July 1997.
2 Steyn, “White Talk’: White South Africans and the Management of Diasporic Whiteness”, 121.
3 Ibid., 121.
4 Ibid., 119.
5 Ibid.
6 Ndebele qtd. in West, “Responding to Whiteness”, 117.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Magona, Mother to Mother, 224.
10 Rothberg, The Implicated Subject, 1.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Gobodo-Madikizela, “Empathetic Repair after Mass Trauma”, 331.
15 Gobodo-Madikizela, “Introduction”, 13.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Samuelson, “The Mother as Witness”, 127–144
19 Craps, Postcolonial Witnessing, 44–59
20 de Kock, “The Call of the Wild”, 18.
21 Ibid.
22 Morrison, Playing in the Dark, 39.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid., 6–7.
25 de Kock, “Blanc de blanc”, 187.
26 de Kock, “Call of the Wild”, 16.
27 Ibid.
28 Ashforth, “The Xhosa Cattle Killing”, 581.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid.
32 Offenburger, “The Xhosa Cattle-Killing Movement”, 1428.
33 Magona, Mother to Mother, 188.
34 Giliomee, “A Note on Bantu Education, 1953–1970”, 192.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
37 Gwala qtd. in Walker, “History and History Teaching in Apartheid South Africa”, 300.
38 Ibid., 303.
39 Ibid.
40 Biko qtd. in Walker, “History and History Teaching in Apartheid South Africa”, 303.
41 Ibid.
42 Magona, Mother to Mother, 188.
43 Ibid., 193.
44 Ibid., 41.
45 Ibid.
46 Allen-Paisant, “Reclaiming Time”, 31, italics in the original.
47 Ibid.
48 Ibid.
49 Magona, Mother to Mother, 74.
50 Ibid., 75.
51 Ibid., 76.
52 Ibid.
53 Ibid., 75.
54 Ally, From Servants to Workers, 5.
55 Rollins cited in Ally, From Servants to Workers, 5.
56 Ally, From Servants to Workers, 5.
57 Du Plessis, “Nation, Family, Intimacy”, 51.
58 Ibid.
59 Morrison, Playing in the Dark, 25.
60 Ibid.
61 Ibid.
62 Rothberg, The Implicated Subject, 91.
63 Magona, Mother to Mother, 28.
64 Ibid.
65 Olatunji et al. “Personal Name as a Reality”, 75.
66 Ibid., 73.
67 de Kock, “The Call of the Wild”, 8.
68 Biko, “The Totality of White Power”, 65–66.
69 Ibid., 65.
70 Ibid.
71 Ibid., 67.
72 Gish, Amy Biehl’s Last Home, 60.
73 Ibid., 94.
74 Qtd in Gish, Amy Biehl’s Last Home, 97.
75 Gish, Amy Biehl’s Last Home, 101.
76 Ibid.
77 Qtd in Gish, Amy Biehl’s Last Home, 119.
78 Gish, Amy Biehl’s Last Home, 118.
79 Ibid.
80 Van der Leun, We Are Not Such Things, 60.
81 Ibid.
82 Qtd in Amnesty Hearings, Cape Town, 8 July 1997.
83 Magona, Mother to Mother, 8, italics in the original.
84 Ibid., 18.
85 Ibid.
86 Ibid., 9, italics in the original.
87 Ibid.
88 Ibid.
89 Qtd. in Gish, Amy Biehl’s Last Home, 164.
90 Ibid., 164, italics in the original.
91 Ibid., 214.
92 Ibid., 215.
93 Ibid., 218.
94 Ibid., 225.
95 Ibid., 232.
96 Ibid.
97 Crenshaw, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex”, 144–145, italics in the original.
98 Ibid., 144.
99 Ibid., 143.
100 Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins”, 360.
101 Ibid., 367.
102 Ibid.
103 Ibid., 364.
104 Ibid.
105 Armstrong, 35.
106 Ibid.
107 Ctd in Boswell, Black South African Women Writers, 174.
108 Goldblatt and Meintjies qtd. in Samuelson, “The Mother as Witness”, 129.
109 Magona, Mother to Mother, 11.
110 Ibid, 12.
111 Ibid.
112 Ibid., 10, italics in the original.
113 Ibid.
114 Ibid., 7, italics in the original.
115 Rothberg, Implicated Subject, 145.
116 Ibid.
117 Magona, Mother to Mother, 224.
118 Ibid.
119 Gish, Amy Biehl’s Last Home, 364.
120 Ibid.
121 Ibid.
122 Ibid.
123 Ibid., 365.
124 Ibid., 8.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Adam Levin
Adam Levin is a postdoctoral research fellow at the African Center for the Study of the United States which is based at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. His research focuses on issues of racial trauma, memory, and identity in works of Holocaust literature, African American literature, and post-apartheid literature. His work has been featured in publications such as Holocaust Studies: A Journal of Culture and History, English Studies in Africa, and Journal of Commonwealth Literature.