"[O]m die wit staar aan myself te verduidelik": witheid en die interseksionele spreker in Antjie Krog se Plunder (2022).
The research focus of this article is the lived reality of the poet-speaker - a South African white woman - in Antjie Krog's Plunder, specifically how it is depicted in the poem "(work in progress) 'n meerstemmige teks: pogings om die wit staar aan myself te verduidelik" / "(work in progress) a poly...
| Published in: | Journal of Literary Studies Vol. 41; pp. 1 - 25 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
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Unisa Press
2025
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| Summary: | The research focus of this article is the lived reality of the poet-speaker - a South African white woman - in Antjie Krog's Plunder, specifically how it is depicted in the poem "(work in progress) 'n meerstemmige teks: pogings om die wit staar aan myself te verduidelik" / "(work in progress) a polyphonic text: attempts to explain the white gaze to myself'. The aspects of exploration include how the speaker's intersectional reality and identity are influenced by whiteness, and the relations that whiteness has with the white gaze, middle-classness, power and gender. The aim of the research is to illustrate how Krog engages with the politics of whiteness in post-apartheid South Africa in a self-revealing manner, but also that there is a possibility that Krog is sometimes unaware of the ways in which her explorations can reflect a continuation of hegemonic white privilege. The discussion of the poem ultimately illustrates how the poet-speaker' s persistent ambivalent position can indicate that clarity and reconciliation continue to slip from the grasp of those trying to make sense of the complex relationality between white and black people. The barriers caused by the white gaze, class and power differences are present throughout the poem, even in and through the perspective of the poet-speaker who undertakes to grasp the white gaze, and to grasp it with regard to how the black gaze views it. Die navorsingsfokus van hierdie ondersoek is die geleefde realiteit van die digter-spreker --'ʼn Suid-Afrikaanse wit vrou -- in Antjie Krog se Plunder, meer spesifieke hoe dit uitgebeeld word in die gedig "(work in progress) ʼn meerstemmige teks: pogings om die wit staar aan myself te verduidelik". Die aspekte van verkenning sluit in hoe die interseksionele realiteit en identiteit van die spreker beïnvloed word deur veral witheid, asook die relasies wat witheid met die wit staar, middelklasheid, mag en gender inhou. Die doel van die navorsing is om te illustreer hoe Krog op 'n selfontblotende wyse met die politiek van witheid in postapartheid Suid-Afrika in gesprek tree, maar dat daar ook 'n moontlikheid bestaan dat Krog self met tye onbewus is van die maniere waarop haar verkennings 'n voortsetting van hegemoniese wit bevoorregting kan reflekteer. Die bespreking van "(work in progress) ʼn meerstemmige teks: pogings om die wit staar aan myself te verduidelik" illustreer uiteindelik hoe die voortdurende ambivalente posisie van die digter-spreker daarop kan dui dat klarigheid en versoening aanhou glip uit die greep van diegene wat probeer sin maak van die komplekse relasionaliteit tussen wit en swart. Die versperrings veroorsaak deur die wit staar, asook deur klas en magsverskille, is deurgaans in die gedig teenwoordig, selfs in en deur die perspektief van die digter-spreker wat onderneem om die wit staar te begryp, en dit ook te begryp in terme van hoe die swart staar dit beskou. |
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