Troubling transformation: storytelling and political subjectivities in Cape Town, South Africa

Abstract

Everyday experiences of trauma and violence are difficult to access and articulate, and yet have significant weight in shaping relationships of power, access, and rights. This article responds to this epistemological challenge by exploring how storytelling can be used to work into the deep gaps and brutal silences that characterize life on the margins in Cape Town. This article traces an engaged story-based form of research with people from informal settlements and townships to examine how political subjectivities are shaped and enacted through storytelling about everyday life. In terms of political subjectivity, it is possible to consider two distinct but interrelated processes within storytelling: the constitution of the person as a political subject through the interpolation of their personal experiences into public, recognizable meanings. Secondly, the constitution of the possibility of gaining a position which can be recognized and the possibility to act on this position. This article explores in greater depth the ways in which this happens. While this approach has many challenges and tensions, it also opens new possibilities for articulating and understanding political subjectivities.

Il est difficile d’accéder aux expériences quotidiennes de traumatisme et de violence et de les articuler, et pourtant elles ont un poids important dans la formation des relations de pouvoir, d’accès et de droits. Cet article répond à ce défi épistémologique en explorant comment la narration peut être utilisée pour travailler dans les écarts profonds et les silences brutaux qui caractérisent la vie dans les marges à Cape Town. Cet article engage un type de recherche fondé sur la narration avec des personnes vivant dans les townships et communes informelles pour examiner comment les subjectivités politiques sont formées et se jouent à travers la narration sur la vie quotidienne. En termes de subjectivité politique, il est possible de considérer deux processus distincts mais interconnectés au sein de la narration: la constitution de la personne en tant que sujet politique à travers l’interprétation de leurs expériences personnelles dans des formes publiques reconnaissables. En second lieu, la constitution de la possibilité d’acquérir une position pouvant être reconnue et la possibilité d’agir sur cette position. Cet article explore en profondeur ce processus. Cette approche présente de nombreux défis et tensions, mais elle ouvre aussi de nouvelles possibilités pour articuler et comprendre les subjectivités politiques.

Keywords:

• storytelling
• political subjectivities
• violence
• transformation
• intersectionality
• South Africa

Mots-clefs:

• narration
• subjectivités politiques
• violence
• transformation
• intersectionalité
• Afrique du Sud

Notes

1 This article draws on research conducted in collaboration with the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation (SLF) with funding from the Participate Initiative at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK. The findings of this research were largely collective and generated by the members of Delft Safety Group and SLF staff, including Nava Derakhshani, Nabeel Petersen, Rory Liedeman and Gill Black. I would like to thank and acknowledge the members of the Delft Safety Group for agreeing to share their stories with wider publics. A collaborative and visual report on this research is available online at http://www.participatesdgs.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/DELFTLIVESMATTER_Final-Report.pdf

2 http://www.participatesdgs.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/DELFTLIVESMATTER_Final-Report.pdf

3 Community Policing Forums are legally mandated forums for public participation in safety and policing at the local level. In practice, many are not functional or have been co-opted by political parties, armed actors or other groups.