Trickster tropes : Female storytelling and the re-imagination of social orders in four nineteenth-century southern African communities

Abstract

Women in nineteenth century southern Africa used storytelling, especially tales in which tricksters were the central characters, in order to make sense of – and often to critique – rapidly changing social and political orders. The stories they told constitute an underutilised historical source. This article draws from four anthologies compiled by men engaged in missionary endeavours in the region to explore these points. I argue that these tales complicate our understanding of ethnic and gendered identity construction during the period and promise to cast new light on contemporary understandings of social reproduction, especially during times of societal upheaval.Negentiende-eeuse suider-Afrikaanse vroue het stories, veral stories waarin truuksters die hoofkarakters gespeel het, gebruik om sin te maak van vinnig-veranderende sosiale en politieke ordes, en gereeld ook om dit te kritiseer. Die stories wat hulle vertel het, verteenwoordig onderbenutte geskiedkundige bronne. In hierdie artikel maak ek gebruik van vier negentiende-eeuse bundels, saamgestel deur mans wat hulle in sendingwerk gebesig het, om hierdie punte te ondersoek. Ek argumenteer dat hierdie stories die manier waarop ons etniese- en gender-identiteitsformasie verstaan, kompliseer, en nuwe lig mag werp op die wyses waarop daar aan sosiale reproduksie in tye van sosiale wanorde gedink word.