Nelson Mandela's masculinities

Abstract

What constitutes a man is very relevant to post-apartheid South Africa, which experiences widespread violence, committed mainly by men. Across all sections of the population models of manhood are mainly of the rough, tough variety and resort to force is often a preferred method of resolving differences. The intricate strands of Nelson Mandela's evolving masculinity introduce a complexity that may contribute towards boys and men exploring ways of ‘being men’ which are not only strong but also gentle. With Mandela one is not dealing with a person whose identity as a man can be reduced to one quality that endured over time, whether in his early life or later, because of changes initiated by shifting conditions and influences, or more directly through his own agency. For much of Mandela's life he is self-conscious of what manhood entails and constantly probes whether he measures up to what he sees as its qualities, though over time he enriches his understanding of what it means. Mandela depicts his life as embracing a series of journeys, with both changes of physical environment and also in his own self-understanding. Nevertheless, there is in the unfolding of his life continuity within ruptures, and ruptures within continuities. What he becomes never entirely erases what he has been, although the meaning that is given to early masculine qualities is modified in the mature Mandela. While it would be an overstatement to describe Mandela as having become a feminist, much of his life transcends the patriarchal understanding of his early life. Indeed, unlike very many male leaders, he generally does not conform to the idea that his occupying the public space implies that his wife should be confined to the home.

Keywords::

• Mandela
• evolving masculinity
• child race
• boxing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

^1. This is not to say that girls were never shepherds, but this was in exceptional circumstances when sons were away at schools and for other reasons.

^2. It should be noted that Mandela uses the term Xhosa loosely. Strictly speaking, the Xhosa people refer to amaGcaleka and amaRharhabe and not to abaThembu, of which people Mandela was a part. There is a tendency in Mandela's statements and in common parlance to equate speaking the language isiXhosa and being Xhosa. AmaMpondo, amaMpondomise and many other Xhosa speakers are not Xhosa people (Peires, 1981, p. 3).

^3. In fact, Mandela's relationship to collective leadership was always ambiguous, notably in relation to his crowning achievement, paving the way for the establishment of talks between the apartheid regime and the ANC. See Bonner (2014, pp. 45–47) and Suttner (2014).

^4. According to Mandela, the regent was not keen for him to visit Qunu, ‘lest I should fall into bad company and run away from school …. He would allow me only a few days to go home. On other occasions he would arrange for my mother to be fetched so that she could see me at the royal residence’ (Mandela, 1976, p. 18).

^5. While Mandela's account of circumcision involves only men, there are in fact repeated moments of intervention by women, in the past and today, especially in seeking assurance of their son's health through enquiring about the qualities of the ingcibi, often taking injured initiates to doctors and other involvement. See Suttner (2010, pp. 519–520).

^6. Mandela's ambitions had earlier been more modest to become an interpreter in the Department of Native Affairs. For a very insightful discussion of Mandela and the law, see Sitze (2014).

^7. Sampson (1999, p. 110) reports that Evelyn at one point suggested that Mandela had tried to throttle her, which he strongly denied and it has never been substantiated.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Raymond Suttner

Raymond Suttner is a visiting professor at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, though he is based in Johannesburg. He has published in a range of disciplines and his books include Inside Apartheid's Prison (2001), 50 Years of the Freedom Charter (2006) with Jeremy Cronin, The ANC underground (2008) and Recovering Democracy in South Africa (2015). Suttner served over 11 years as a political prisoner or under house arrest.