Toward a public sphere for South African women : narrating gender-based violence in tertiary education spaces

Abstract

The failure of the Habermasian public sphere in the South African context results in the marginalisation of South African women and their experiences of gender-based violence (GBV). While various reformulations and revisions to Habermasian public sphere theory have been made, they do not account for the South African reality. In this thesis, I offer a revision to public sphere theory that draws on Hamilton and Cowling’s recent theorisation of the local public sphere as a network to offer a revision that perceives of the dominant and counterpublic spheres as interlinked. Using this model, I show how narratives in subaltern counterpublics, such as those about women and their experiences, move into the dominant public sphere. Using the idea that the public sphere is a network, I further argue that the various media (mainstream, alternative and social) in South Africa are interdependent and thus important. I make an argument for all media to be involved with the process of reporting and verifying basic fact as well as following up and analysing. I further show how women can stake a claim in the public sphere through what I term “disruptive reportage and public engagement”. Drawing on Gqola’s understanding of gender-based violence as produced by patriarchy and producing what she terms “The Female Fear Factory”, I offer specific examples of how to disrupt the patriarchal norms in public engagement. I do this by analysing the news reportage of four different university-related incidents of gender-based violence, specifically the Rhodes Memorial Rapist, the #RUReferenceList, the Wits topless protests and the University of Pretoria’s Serrie poster incident. The disruptions I present are characterised by an awareness of Foucault’s arguments that language creates and maintains our reality and power relationships as well as a commitment to dismantling the gendered power struggle gender-based violence is produced by. The implementation of these disruptive public engagements can contribute to recreating a world void of gender-based violence.