Reclaiming Masculinities: Migrant Realism in Bheki Maseko's Stories

Summary

“[L]ike other phenomena of spiritual culture … [that] preserve for a long time old forms under new conditions”, a Bheki Maseko story reads like “folklore” (Propp 1984: 13). This article considers the significance of storytelling in mediating the depersonalisation that is caused by migrancy in Maseko's Mamlambo and Other Stories (1991). The first section considers the interrelatedness between the aesthetic strategies deployed in the stories and their ability to conjure up possibilities of wholeness. Proposing that this narrative style is “migrant realism”, the discussion shows that integral to Maseko's stories are the representations of how textures of everyday life are reutilised in projects that critically imagine completeness and its possible reinsertion into the forms of bondedness such as the family. The family is presented as severely affected by apartheid's migrant labour policies. It is interesting to observe that those stories in which Maseko deploys skaz, narrators strongly emphasise the performance of a sense of belonging. The narrators deploy fantasy since, according to Jacqueline Rose, it provides “grounds for licence and pleasure” (quoted in Peterson 2003: 197) allowing the storytellers to regale their mine migrant colleagues with anecdotes of how black men survive repressive apartheid contexts. These “aggregate[s]” and “attribution[s]”, according to Ong, are typical of the expressions and values that recur in oral narratives that seek to represent experience (1982: 38-39). The second part of the discussion examines five stories from Mamlambo and Other Stories.

Opsomming

“‘[[S]oos ander verskyningsvorme van spirituele kultuur [… wat] ou vorme vir 'n lang tyd onder nuwe omstandighede bewaar”], lees 'n storie deur Bheki Maseko soos “folklore” (Propp 1984: 13). Hierdie artikel ondersoek die betekenis van storievertelling in die bemiddeling van depersonalisering vanweë trekarbeid, soos beskryf in Mamlambo and Other Stories deur Maseko (1991). Die eerste deel ondersoek die onderlinge verhouding tussen die estetiese strategieë wat in die stories ontplooi word en hulle vermoë om moontlikhede vir heelheid op te roep. Die artikel toon aan dat die voorstellinge van hoe teksture uit die alledaagse lewe heraangewend word in projekte wat op 'n kritiese wyse heelheid en die moontlike herinstelling daarvan in bindingsvorme soos die gesin verbeeld 'n kernaspek van Maseko se stories is. Die gesin word voorgestel as ernstig beïnvloed deur die apartheidsbestel se trekarbeidersbeleid Dit is interessant om daarop te let dat dié stories waarin Maseko skaz gebruik, die vertellers die vervulling van 'n sin van êrens behoort sterk benadruk. Die vertellers gebruik fantasie aangesien dit, volgens Jacqueline Rose (aangehaal in Peterson 2003: 197, “[rede tot vergunning en plesier]” verskaf, wat die storievertellers in staat stel om hul trekarbeiderkollegas op die myne te vergas op anekdotes oor hoe swart mans onderdrukkende apartheidskontekste oorleef. Hierdie “[aggregaat/[aggregate]]” en “[kenmerk[e]]” is, volgens Ong (1982: 38-39), tiperend van die uitdrukkings en waardes wat by herhaling voorkom in orale narratiewe wat ervaring(e) wil uitbeeld. Die tweede deel van die artikel ontleed vyf stories uit Mamlambo and Other Stories.