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ABSTRACT
This essay works with the idea of absence and rejection of “failed” bodies/masculinities within Xhosa traditions of creating men and manhood negotiation and Morell’s assertion that boys are culturally unable to choose masculinity scripts that please them. The essay thinks through these two ideas and discusses how Mgqolozana’s novel, A Man Who is Not a Man, sutures failed bodies into “traditional” Xhosa manhood creation and definitions. It consequently demonstrates that Xhosa young men are capable of carving traditions of manhood creation that are aligned with ulwaluko but not limited by traditionalism. The essay concludes that ten years after its first publication, the novel continues to provoke debate on the reconfiguration of Xhosa masculinity creation traditions through the use of a pseudo-autobiographical narrative voice, which simultaneously incorporates failed bodies into traditions of men-making and puts emphasis on care work as a cornerstone in the construction of the ulwaluko ritual.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Mgqolozana, A Man Who is Not a Man, 65.
2 Milner, “200 Young South Africans: Arts and Culture,” Mail & Guardian, June 14, 2010.
3 Hall, “Introduction,” 6.
4 This paper reads ulwaluko as a process that weaves, stretches, and “transforms” the young boy’s body into an “ideal” Xhosa man positioned within the “appropriate” sexuality.
5 Mgqolozana, A Man Who is Not a Man, 3.
6 Dlamini, “Transformation of Masculinity in Contemporary Black Novels,” 45.
7 Ibid.
8 Ratele, Liberating Masculinities, 104.
9 Dlamini, “Transformation of Masculinity in Contemporary Black Novels,” 56.
10 Ndangam, “Lifting the Cloak on Manhood,” 210.
11 Ratele, Liberating Masculinities, 105.
12 Poni, “Nozuko Poni Interviews Thando Mgqolozana,” Books Live Sunday Times, May 9, 2012.
13 Ibid.
14 Mgqolozana, cited in Adele, “A Man Who is Not a Man Author Thando Mgqolozana Speaks to Maureen Isaacson,” Books Live Sunday Times, July 14, 2009.
15 Mgqolozana, cited in Adele, “Thando Mgqolozana’s Speech at the Launch of A Man Who is Not a Man,” Books Live Sunday Times, July 1, 2009.
16 Zvomuya, “Tackling the Matter Head-on,” Mail & Guardian, July 19, 2009.
17 Ndashe, “Can I Speak Please!” Pambazuka News: Weekly Forum for Sexual Justice, May 11, 2006.
18 Mgqolozana, cited in Zvomuya, “Tackling the Matter Head-on,” Mail & Guardian, July 19, 2009.
19 Hodgkin and Radstone, “Introduction,” 98.
20 Ratele, Liberating Masculinities, 106.
21 Mgqolozana, A Man Who is Not a Man, 69.
22 Ibid., 70.
23 Kondile, “Injuring the Initiate.”
24 Ibid., 169.
25 Ibid., 170.
26 Ibid., 158.
27 Ibid., 167.
28 Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, 34–5.
29 Musila, “Lot’s Wife Syndrome and Double Publics in South Africa.”
30 See Mahala, “Special Report from Grahamstown,” Books Live Sunday Times, July 1, 2009; and Zvomuya, “Tackling the Matter Head-on,” Mail & Guardian, July 19, 2009.
31 Goniwe and Gqola, “A Neglected Heritage,” 82.
32 Morrell, “Of Boys and Men,” 608.
33 Lorde, “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” 39.
34 Ratele, Liberating Masculinities, 105.
35 Ntombana, “Should Xhosa Male Initiation Be Abolished?” 634.
36 Ratele, Liberating Masculinities, 105.
37 Foucault, Discipline and Punish, 25–26.
38 Goniwe and Gqola, “A Neglected Heritage,” 80.
39 Mgqolozana, A Man Who is Not a Man, 170.
40 Ibid., 151.
41 Ibid., 65.
42 Ibid., 170.
Additional information
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Nonhlanhla Dlamini
Nonhlanhla Dlamini obtained her PhD in African Literature from the University of Witwatersrand. Currently, she lectures at the University of the Free State, English Department. She is also an ACLS American Humanities Program fellow. She has published a number of journal articles on gender studies. Her research interests are South Africa Literature, Black Diaspora literatures, African Literatures and Critical Men’s Studies.