¹Social media representations of masculinity and culture in Inxeba (The Wound)

abstract

In 2017 the film Inxeba (The Wound), showing the practice of ulwaluko kwa Xhosa, was released internationally to much discontent and backlash from predominantly amaXhosa people and other black audience members in South Africa. The hashtag movement #TheWoundMustFall testifies to the emotive response to the film’s story content and engagement with the cultural practice of male initiation. This article analyses the rigid constructions of culture as sacred relative to gender and sexuality in the film Inxeba through an analysis of commentaries posted on social media online forums. Focusing on the construction of “black” and “amaXhosa” masculinity, ubudoda (manhood), we analyse the ways that certain imaginaries of (black) masculinity and its intersections with sexuality and culture is made (im)possible.

keywords:

• Inxeba (The Wound)
• ulwaluko (Xhosa male initiation)
• black masculinity
• culture
• film

Notes

1 The current paper specifically addresses itself to constructs of masculinity relative to the film and in online social media spaces. Elsewhere we problematise the film’s engagement with and representations of ulwaluko and the more contentious issue of voice and representation.

2 The film has received 26 film awards, see: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6333070/awards (accessed 29 April 2018).

3 G Van Niekerk, ‘‘Inxeba’ film ‘banned’ from mainstream South African cinemas’, 2 February 2018, Huffington Post: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2018/02/14/inxeba-banned-from-all-south-african-cinemas_a_23361089/ (accessed 29 April 2018); J Levitt & K Zeeman, ‘A victory for Inxeba producers as film is allowed back in cinemas’, 6 March 2018, Times Live: https://www.timeslive.co.za/tshisa-live/tshisa-live/2018-03-06-a-victory-for-inxeba-producers-as-film-is-allowed-back-in-cinemas/ (accessed 29 April 2018).

4 C Collison, ‘Actor Nakhane Touré fends off hate speech over controversial new film’, 28 February 2018, Mail and Guardian: https://mg.co.za/article/2017-02-28-actor-nakhanetoure-fends-off-hate-speech-over-controversial-new-film (accessed 29 April 2018).

5 Elsewhere we engage with a more critical analysis of cultural, racial and gendered representations as constructed in the film itself.

6 M de Waal, ‘Skoonheid a film that confronts truths both beautiful and ugly’, 24 July 2011, Daily Maverick: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2011-07-24-skoonheid-a-film-that-confronts-truths-both-beautiful-and-ugly/ (accessed 11 April 2018).

7 D Hawker & N Makoba, ‘SABC pulls contentious drama on circumcision’, 2 April 2007, IOL: https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/sabc-pulls-contentious-drama-on-circumcision-321363 (accessed 11 April 2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anele Siswana

ANELE SISWANA is a registered clinical psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). He is also a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), South Africa. His research interests are centred in gender and sexuality focusing on Ulwaluko kwaXhosa (Xhosa male initiation), psychology and decolonisation and critical psychology. His current research trajectory explores gender expressions of gay Xhosa men who have undergone ulwaluko kwaXhosa. He is one of the guest editors of a special issue on Decolonisation and Psychology in South Africa (South African Journal of Psychology). Email: [email protected]

Peace Kiguwa

PEACE KIGUWA (PhD) is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Her research interests include gender and sexuality, critical race theory, and teaching and learning. Her current research projects focus on young women’s leadership in higher education and destabilising heteronormativity. She has co-edited three books (UCT and ZED Press releases) and has published in both local and internationally accredited journals. She has co-edited three Special Issue journals: Rethinking social cohesion and its relationship to exclusion, Papers on Social Representations and the forthcoming Micro-politics of Belonging in Higher Education. She is current Chair of the Sexuality and Gender Division of the Psychology Society of South Africa (PSYSSA). Email: [email protected]