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Gender, Race, and the Biopolitics of Extractivism in the Poetry of Nontsizi Mgqwetho

McGiffin, Emily; (2022) Gender, Race, and the Biopolitics of Extractivism in the Poetry of Nontsizi Mgqwetho. Research in African Literatures , 53 (2) pp. 60-78. 10.2979/ral.2022.a884539.

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Abstract

Published almost exclusively in the multilingual Johannesburg newspaper Umteteli wa Bantu during the 1920s, Nontsizi Mgqwetho's poetry is enmeshed with the racial and industrial politics of her time and place. Despite its denunciations of the colonial state and vehement calls for black unity and activism, her work is complicated by its publication in a newspaper sponsored by the Chamber of Mines. This article investigates Mgqwetho's forceful political poetry and its intersection with both the coercive, racist labor policies of the period and the discursive power of Umteteli wa Bantu. It argues that in linking her religious and political convictions with the social anxieties of her times, Mgqwetho's work provided the ford through the era's turbulent political waters.

Type: Article
Title: Gender, Race, and the Biopolitics of Extractivism in the Poetry of Nontsizi Mgqwetho
DOI: 10.2979/ral.2022.a884539
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.2979/ral.2022.a884539
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > SELCS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10148090
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