Beyond Red and School: Gender, Tradition and Identity in the Rural Eastern Cape

Abstract

Journal of Southern African StudiesPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: Rural development policies in South Africa changed in the 1990s. The new framework combined poverty alleviation strategies with an attempt to shift rural communities away from subsistence-oriented agriculture to more market-oriented development options. While many of those who are currently assessing the impact of these policies in rural areas have focused on the extent to which they have contributed towards the creation of 'sustainable livelihoods', relatively little attention has been given to their impact on rural social relations and identity politics. This paper seeks to ll this gap by focusing on transformations in gender relations and identity politics in one rural location in the Eastern Cape. It argues that, although the new initiatives have been unevenly implemented and have not signi cantly reduced poverty in this area, they have nevertheless activated new discourses around identity and development. The paper traces these changing discourses by comparing and contrasting the polarised identity politics associated with the introduction of agricultural betterment in the 1950s and the increasingly hybrid identities and strategies constructed by rural women, in particular, in response to the new development opportunities. The paper concludes by investigating the implications of these responses for gender and power relations in the village.

Biocultural Diversity: Moving Beyond the Realm of ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Local’ People

“…Apartheid also resulted in a breakdown of traditional rural structures, particularly those responsible for management of natural resources (Fabricius et al, 2004). However, despite the onslaught of the apartheid regime and the ongoing impact of global economic change, cultural practices and activities have been recorded as taking on a new form, with women taking charge of certain aspects of ritual and custom that were largely men's responsibility in the past (Bank, 2002), although what is of more interest to this article is the resurgence of the importance of these practices within their respective communities.…”

“…This view is also illustrated in case studies from South Africa that describe 'traditional' cultural practices and activities which are still being performed in communities that have experienced social, economic, and political upheaval as result of the resettlement policy implemented by the former apartheid government (Bank, 2002;Cocks & Wiersum, 2003). This resulted in a large proportion of the rural community becoming reliant on cash income from adjacent urban areas and state welfare payments rather than on subsistence economies.…”

An assessment of women’s access to natural resources through communal projects in South Africa

“…In many cases, however, they are embedded in cultural and material barriers that obstruct their full participation and benefit. Groups such as those in our study have been regarded by the post-apartheid government as a means of achieving rural development and specifically targeting marginalized people such as women (Bank, 2002;Rangan & Gilmartin, 2002;Slater, 2002). Many of these groups were established before 1994, but they have been more heavily supported and financed during the postapartheid era.…”

The Landscape of Childhood: Play and Place as Tools to Understanding Children’s Enviromental Use and Perceptions

“…Villages often have 'token' government-provided recreational and social facilities, such as sports fields and community halls, but these are often very poorly resourced. Many families have been divided though migrant labour and continuing rural-urban migration (De Wet and Whisson 1997;Bank 2002;Ruiters 2011). Around 55 % of the working population are unemployed, with 77 % of the population categorised as living in poverty (BCM 2009), and 58.2 % depending on social grants (STATS SA 2012).…”