‘A long way from earning’: (re)producing violence at the nexus of shame and blame

ABSTRACT

Symbolic violence is (re)produced within families at the nexus of blame and shame. This paper presents an understanding of symbolic violence that extends beyond processes of internalisation, in which shame is directed against the self, to questions of processes of reproduction within families, in which shame is externalised through blame. Drawing on mother-tongue life-history interviews with mothers and grandmothers in rural KwaZulu-Natal, the paper explores how this nexus of blame and shame is situated at the intersect of race and gender. It is bound by intergenerational poverty and educational exclusion that span the apartheid and post-apartheid eras in South Africa. Our understandings of gendered poverty thus need to attend to these intergenerational processes of shaming, in which pervasive neoliberal discourses around individual effort and success mask structural constraints, potentially damaging relationships within families and across social networks.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• poverty
• education
• symbolic violence
• south Africa

JEL:

• I24 (Education and Inequality)
• I32 (Measurement and Analysis of Poverty)

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Jenny Parkes, Elaine Unterhalter and Jasmine Gideon for the warmth and depth of their supervision and their insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper, and the broader doctoral thesis from which it is drawn. Thanks also to Gottfried Schweiger and the participants of the 2019 Gender and Poverty workshop at the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research at the University of Salzburg, whose questions helped to finalise this paper. In particular, thank you to Serene Khader for the conversation about education as discourse and questions of decoloniality. This research was supported by a Bloomsbury scholarship at UCL’s Institute of Education.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This locative isiZulu word simply means ‘in the place’.

2. The Matric certificate is the South African National Senior Certificate, acquired upon completion of the 12^th (final) year of school.

3. ‘Udlame’ is the isiZulu for ‘Violence’; when I refer to this period of political violence I will use a capital ‘V’.

4. This unstructured life-history interview was opened with the invitation, ‘Please think of the course of your life, in relation to education, beginning when you were born, and up until now. Please tell me your story’.

5. Mina ngisekude kabi ukuhola.

6. Mina abazali anginabo. Anginaye umama, anginaye ubaba, angina mfowethu.

7. nhlobo, nhlobo.

8. Iyona ezongisiza ezintweni eziningi, ngoba mina angifundile. Kuthi umsebenzi akakuwutholi. Wafikile u-10, wake wasebenza emajalidini, kodwa kwashesha kwaphela lelo tohwana elibhedayo.

9. sike sihlale siswele, ukuswela hlale lize lishone ilanga ekhaya kungcono silalaele njenak. Bekungcono kukhona ubaba wakhe.

10. impilo enzima ungabona imizi yabantu ihleli kanti kuba nalokho bunzima ongeke utshele umuntu kwimfihlo yakho kuphela sihlale nengane yami kuphela.

11. mawufundile uyakwazi ukuqhubeke phambili.

12. Nezingane esasinazo, zashona ngodlame, kwasala eye ntombazane.

13. mawufundile, uyakwazi ukuthola umsebenzi osile, njengoba efundisa ingane yakhe manje. Ngoba angifundanga kungcono ngiqhube ingane yami, umzukulu wami.

14. angimsizi ngalutho. Uyena ofanele asize mina ngoba ngangizama ukumfundisa. Manje, angimsizi ngalutho. Nami ngihlala nengane yakhe. uhlala nodadewethu e[place]. Iyamufonela ingane yakhe mengabe imfonelile ifuna amacosmetics, kanjalo, izinto ezincane ngoba akukho imali. Akasebenzi.

15. Ngiye ngifise sengathi angawuthola umsebenzi osile, ngoba yena ugcono waya kancane esikoleni. Unalo ulwazana, akafani nami. Mhlawumpe yena angathola umsebenzi ongcono, ngangimuqhubela ukuthi akaze afike ka-Standard 10, ukuze akwazi ukuthola umsebenzi ongcono.

16. okusho ukuthi ingane yami ngakhathala. Ngathi sengizoqhuba ingane, ngoba usemdala naye, akazame amatoho azizamele. okusho ukuthi ingane yami ngakhathala. Ngathi sengizoqhuba ingane, ngoba usemdala naye, akazame amatoho azizamele. ngingathini nje ngoba noma ngingamutshela ngeke enze lutho. Ngoba ngiyafisa uGrand-daughter ufunde nje. Angithi uzowenza uMatric, uqeda kwakhe.

17. ubaba wengane akazange ayikhokhele akazange enze lutho nje.

18. Angazi ukuthi ngizomqhuba ngani, ngizomuyisa ngani kumaCollege, njengoba ngisebenza nje u3 days. Kungcono noma umkhulu wakhe useyahola. Manje akakaholi. Mina ngisekude kabi ukuhola, manje angazi. Nempilo kumina ayisekho kahle. We, ngathi nginokugula okuhlukene, amathambo. Shukela, BP, amathambo.

19. inursing, wathi akayifuni ufuna ukuba udokotela. Manje ngingawathathaphi lawo amandla? ngingawathathaphi lawo amandla, njengoba kiyimina nje?

20. Ngicabanga ukuthi akukho okunye, ngoba ngikuphe konke obekungaphakathi, njenga ngane yontanami bengifisa ukuthi ibe umuntu manje amandla awekho. ngingawathathaphi lawo amandla, njengoba kiyimina nje.

21. kodwa naye ngiyafisake kungabi-ke sonke nje ngane esikhathini samanje ngathi izingane zingafunda ingane esikhathini samanje uma ilithola ithuba ifunde. Ngiyathanda manje mengase ngithole amandla ngingazama uyabona.

22. Yah, ngiyazama zonke izikhathi nje, abantwana bami bafunde bangaqhubeka. Noma ngizothi, ngizothi nje ngi single parent, noma abanye baye abasena baba. Manje lona omunye angikwazi ukumlekelela noma support ngike ngizame kuthi. Ngiyathanda baqhubeka phambili.

23. wabaleka!.

Additional information

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Charlotte Nussey

Charlotte Nussey is a Research Fellow at UCL's Institute of Education, University College London. Her work explores education and intersecting inequalities, particularly around gender, and with a regional focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Her current fellowship explores the transformative potential for universities in the context of the climate crisis.