Space, Place, and Gendered Violence in South African Writing

“A country with land but no habitat”: Women, violent accumulation and negative-value in Yvonne Vera’sThe Stone Virgins

“…Lynette Jackson (1999) has observed how, in Zimbabwe, postindependence "public order" campaigns have specifically targeted single (and/or childless) women, perpetuating a colonial discourse that associates "mobile African women, criminality and the spread of sexually transmitted disease" (147). Sorche Gunne's (2014) work on neighbouring South Africa also suggests that such campaigns are symptomatic of a "masculine sociodicy" that naturalizes domination over everything that might nurture and reproduce life growth. "Gendered violence is not exceptional", writes Gunne: "The World Health Organisation reports that gendered violence 'accounts for more death and disability among women aged 15-44 than cancer, malaria, traffic injuries and war combined'" (xii).…”