TY - JOUR
T1 - The Literary Space of Black Women: Trauma, Memory, and Literary Activism in Selected Works of Koleka Putuma
AU - Chow-Quesada, Shun Man Emily
N1 - Funding Information
This article is graciously supported by the Early Career Scheme of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, under Project number 22621522 (Intersections of Postcolonial Female Subjectivities: A study of Post-Apartheid South African Women Playwrights and Staging their Voices for Contemporary Anglophone Hong Kong Theatre), which facilitated my participation in the South Africa National Arts Festival.
Publisher copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
PY - 2024/7/2
Y1 - 2024/7/2
N2 - This article examines how Koleka Putuma, through her poetry, plays, and installations, illuminates the lived experiences of Black women in post-apartheid South Africa by interweaving themes of trauma, memory, and empowerment. By exploring her works, Collective Amnesia (2017), No Easter for Sunday Queers (2021), and Theatre of Beauty: Imvuselelo (2023), this study argues that Putuma’s artistic expressions disrupt conventional narratives, amplifying the voices of marginalised individuals over collective identities. Her literary activism not only exposes and addresses trauma but also offers a pathway to healing while persistently challenging the enduring impacts of colonialism and apartheid systems and their legacies.
AB - This article examines how Koleka Putuma, through her poetry, plays, and installations, illuminates the lived experiences of Black women in post-apartheid South Africa by interweaving themes of trauma, memory, and empowerment. By exploring her works, Collective Amnesia (2017), No Easter for Sunday Queers (2021), and Theatre of Beauty: Imvuselelo (2023), this study argues that Putuma’s artistic expressions disrupt conventional narratives, amplifying the voices of marginalised individuals over collective identities. Her literary activism not only exposes and addresses trauma but also offers a pathway to healing while persistently challenging the enduring impacts of colonialism and apartheid systems and their legacies.
KW - Koleka
KW - Post-apartheid
KW - South Africa
KW - empowerment
KW - memory
KW - postcolonialism
KW - trauma
UR - https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/rcwr20/2024/00000036/00000002/art00009
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85211094741&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1013929X.2024.2410082
DO - 10.1080/1013929X.2024.2410082
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1013-929X
VL - 36
SP - 211
EP - 227
JO - Current Writing
JF - Current Writing
IS - 2
ER -
