Trauma and memorying in King's killing Karoline, Msimang's always another country and Smith's the camp whore
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Date
2022-03
Authors
Dicks, Tamia Tina
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Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
In this study I read Smith’s The Camp Whore (2017), King’s Killing Karoline (2017) and Msimang’s Always Another Country (2017) through theories of life narratives, memory, trauma and feminisms in order to unpack the representation of the authors and fictional character, Susan (Smith), in relation to narration, gender, belonging, memory and identity reformation. The study also considers the autobiographical and fictional characters as gendered subjects, their specific experiences in history and everyday life experiences and the different ways in which the narrators attempt to resist existing oppressions, engage in memory making and healing, and reconstitute themselves. Therefore, this study evaluates the narrators' life experiences through South Africa's history, their individual traumatic and other lived experiences, and how this leads to the reconstruction of their identities. This study also evaluates how the narrators claim their place in historical events such as the Anglo-Boer War, the apartheid and post-apartheid era, and the way their narratives engage with official histories. These objectives assisted in developing an analysis of the ways in which the auto-biographers, King and Msimang, and the fictional character, Susan, resist their oppressions, partake in memory making and healing, and reconstructing their identities. The research also presents the link between the authors and character under study’s experiences and the recollection of their countries’ history. I therefore underline further the link between their individual traumatic and other lived experiences and their identity reformation. In addition, I consider how the women reflect their agency and subjectivity through finding healing and attaining their subjectivity through writing.
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Keywords
Dissertation (M.A. (English))--University of the Free State, 2022, Trauma and memorying, Autobiographical, Fictional character, Auto-biographers - King and Msimang, Fictional character - Susan