Towards a Slow Decolonisation of Sexual Violence
Towards a Slow Decolonisation of Sexual Violence
Author(s): Louise du ToitSubject(s): Philosophy, Studies in violence and power, 19th Century
Published by: Trivent Publishing
Keywords: Colonial Difference; Decolonisation; Mignolo; Missions; 19th century; Sexual Violence; amaXhosa;
Summary/Abstract: This paper explores how we could approach the decolonising of the debate on sexual violence within the South African post-colony. For this purpose, a historical event is analysed: two presbytery hearings of 1843 and 1845, both involving Xhosa convert John Beck Balfour, at the Scottish mission station of Burnshill based in Xhosaland (later called British Caffraria). The hearings involve (extra-)marital and sexual behaviour. Walter Mignolo’s notions of border thinking and colonial difference, further complicated with the idea of colonial-sexual differentiation, are employed to show aspects of what is at stake in a decolonising reading of Xhosa convert sexual behaviour.
Journal: The Philosophical Journal of Conflict and Violence
- Issue Year: 3/2019
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 35-54
- Page Count: 20
- Language: English