Papers by Jan-Louise Lewin
AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GENDER AND RELIGION, 2018
Understanding gang culture through a conceptual lens that views (ex-)gang members as “pilgrims,” ... more Understanding gang culture through a conceptual lens that views (ex-)gang members as “pilgrims,” invites us into a world where men are invested in a continuous quest for sanctified sources of belongingness. We witness men undertaking lone journeys between institutions of family, gangs, and religion in search of this need, relying on hallowed rituals, scripts, and symbolic structures to find and salvage this meaningfulness. This explorative study attempts to unpack the meanings of ‘coloured’ masculine identity by focusing on the intersections of gender, race, place, and religion in the process of “becoming” and “being” a man during and after incarceration. The research question asks, what meaning(s) do ‘coloured’ men derive from their belonging to street and prison gangs? Furthermore, how does gang and prison culture as sites of belonging influence the process of identity formation? This in-depth qualitative study explores the life history narratives of six ‘coloured’ men from the Cape Flats, who are between the ages of 21 and 35 years. It employs feminist theoretical frameworks broadly modelled on the theory of Intersectionality, Feminist Standpoint Theory, and Critical Men’s Studies. The narrative analysis revealed that family was a central theme in the life histories of the men. Family bonds were constructed around moments of contradiction, crisis, and trauma in the gang space, which ultimately transformed into an epiphany of religious conversion. Instrumental in this process of meaning-making was that the brotherhood that gangs provided replaced family units in times when families of origin were in states of precarity. The aim of this study is to refute dominant, negative representations of ‘coloured’ masculinity as only absent, aggressive, criminal, and/or violent. An investigation of ‘coloured’ masculinity is compounded by the multiple and problematic ways that ‘colouredness’ is perceived as synonymous with gangsterism and thus critical to understanding the gendered and racialised experiences of incarceration and reintegration, particularly in the South African context.
Agenda: Empowering women for gender equity, 2019
In this open forum piece we bring together our lived experiences and intersectional identities as... more In this open forum piece we bring together our lived experiences and intersectional identities as young Black women to make sense of the question: What is Blackwom?nhood? We explore a variety of topics ranging from identity, feminist activism, the environment, and decoloniality by focusing on the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, location, and language. The gendered and racialised identities given to Black women by culture and society greatly impact on their ability to produce knowledge and live a pleasurable life in the home,
university, and, particularly, the workplace. In acknowledging that Blackwom?nhood is not a singular experience, this paper explores the multiple ways that women of colour choose to represent themselves in a
world dominated by a racist, capitalist, patriarchal system. This piece is a provocation of thoughts on Black women’s representation, expression and sexual exploration, and the possibilities it has for producing critical
feminist theories. In the current age of decoloniality, the question of what Blackwom?nhood is and means becomes increasingly important in understanding Black women’s role in activism, academia, and the workplace. We attempt to (re)imagine and (re)configure how
Blackwom?nhood has resisted and evolved despite reductionist definitions and tropes.
AFRICAN JOURNAL OF GENDER AND RELIGION , 2018
Understanding gang culture through a conceptual lens that views (ex-)gang members as “pilgrims,” ... more Understanding gang culture through a conceptual lens that views (ex-)gang members as “pilgrims,” invites us into a world where men are invested in a continuous quest for sanctified sources of belongingness. We witness men undertaking lone journeys between institutions of family, gangs, and religion in search of this need, relying on hallowed rituals, scripts, and symbolic structures to find and salvage this meaningfulness. This explorative study attempts to unpack the meanings of ‘coloured’ masculine identity by focusing on the intersections of gender, race, place, and religion in the process of “becoming” and “being” a man during and after incarceration. The research question asks, what meaning(s) do ‘coloured’ men derive from their belonging to street and prison gangs? Furthermore, how does gang and prison culture as sites of belonging influence the process of identity formation? This in-depth qualitative study explores the life history narratives of six ‘coloured’ men from the Cape Flats, who are between the ages of 21 and 35 years. It employs feminist theoretical frameworks broadly modelled on the theory of Intersectionality, Feminist Standpoint Theory, and Critical Men’s Studies. The narrative analysis revealed that family was a central theme in the life histories of the men. Family bonds were constructed around moments of contradiction, crisis, and trauma in the gang space, which ultimately transformed into an epiphany of religious conversion. Instrumental in this process of meaning-making was that the brotherhood that gangs provided replaced family units in times when families of origin were in states of precarity. The aim of this study is to refute dominant, negative representations of ‘coloured’ masculinity as only absent, aggressive, criminal, and/or violent. An investigation of ‘coloured’ masculinity is compounded by the multiple and problematic ways that ‘colouredness’ is perceived as synonymous with gangsterism and thus critical to understanding the gendered and racialised experiences of incarceration and reintegration, particularly in the South African context.
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Papers by Jan-Louise Lewin
university, and, particularly, the workplace. In acknowledging that Blackwom?nhood is not a singular experience, this paper explores the multiple ways that women of colour choose to represent themselves in a
world dominated by a racist, capitalist, patriarchal system. This piece is a provocation of thoughts on Black women’s representation, expression and sexual exploration, and the possibilities it has for producing critical
feminist theories. In the current age of decoloniality, the question of what Blackwom?nhood is and means becomes increasingly important in understanding Black women’s role in activism, academia, and the workplace. We attempt to (re)imagine and (re)configure how
Blackwom?nhood has resisted and evolved despite reductionist definitions and tropes.
university, and, particularly, the workplace. In acknowledging that Blackwom?nhood is not a singular experience, this paper explores the multiple ways that women of colour choose to represent themselves in a
world dominated by a racist, capitalist, patriarchal system. This piece is a provocation of thoughts on Black women’s representation, expression and sexual exploration, and the possibilities it has for producing critical
feminist theories. In the current age of decoloniality, the question of what Blackwom?nhood is and means becomes increasingly important in understanding Black women’s role in activism, academia, and the workplace. We attempt to (re)imagine and (re)configure how
Blackwom?nhood has resisted and evolved despite reductionist definitions and tropes.