Silence is the kosmos of women - listening to female noise

Abstract

This special issue presents a collection of stories which were entrusted to me. Its aim is, in making these voices available, to contribute toward a fuller picture of how South Africans understand and express their sexual identity now over twenty years into the post-apartheid context. Its aim, moreover, is to add to the documentation of responses to traumatic experiences of sexual violence, and in so doing, to challenge patriarchal discourses within South African society. The data is drawn from sixteen of the twenty-eight interviews I conducted in a twenty-eight day cycle, beginning in October 2015 and continuing later in February/ March 2016. Taking discourse into account as a social practice, I use this data in an attempt to provide a form of critical analysis, showing how my interview partners’ linguistic resources and communicative strategies reveal their ability to make choices in actively confronting the challenges they face.