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The Mbokodofication of Black Women: An Autoethnographic Study of Post Dramatic Stress and the ‘Strong Black Woman' Trope
This study introduces into performance discourse the mbokodofication of Black women – that is, the production of the ‘Strong Black Woman' trope, specifically in the South African context. To this end, the study traces the genealogy of the tropes of Black womanhood that have emerged throughout the hi...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Drama
2022
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| _version_ | 1867614092157517824 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Ngcobo, Balindile |
| author2 | Fleishman, Mark |
| author_browse | Fleishman, Mark Ngcobo, Balindile |
| author_facet | Fleishman, Mark Ngcobo, Balindile |
| author_sort | Ngcobo, Balindile |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | This study introduces into performance discourse the mbokodofication of Black women – that is, the production of the ‘Strong Black Woman' trope, specifically in the South African context. To this end, the study traces the genealogy of the tropes of Black womanhood that have emerged throughout the history of the South African literary canon, analyzing them critically for their varied contributions to the (mis)representations of Black women, both on stage and in the world. Employing the joint methodologies of Practice as Research and African Feminist Autoethnography (which I propose as a variant of Black Feminist Autoethnography specifically contextualized to Black African women), the study unpacks the psychological effects of mbokodofication on Black women performers who, through this phenomenon, become locked into the Sisyphean task of portraying trauma and having this trauma re-inscribed to them through the mimetic style of performance imposed by the dramatic paradigm. The ways in which the dramatic paradigm reproduces coloniality are explored and code-switching is proposed as a potential aesthetic liberator for performers who wish to obfuscate and make visible certain elements of Black womanhood from the violent colonial gaze and thus protect themselves from post-dramatic stress. The study follows the trajectory of my research enquiry and performance practice to explicate the dramaturgical process which brought into being my thesis production, Malibongwe, and, in the end, proposes the work as a post-mbokodoist manifesto. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/36010 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:46:32.649Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | Department of Drama |
| publisherStr | Department of Drama |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/36010 The Mbokodofication of Black Women: An Autoethnographic Study of Post Dramatic Stress and the ‘Strong Black Woman' Trope Ngcobo, Balindile Fleishman, Mark Theatre & Performance This study introduces into performance discourse the mbokodofication of Black women – that is, the production of the ‘Strong Black Woman' trope, specifically in the South African context. To this end, the study traces the genealogy of the tropes of Black womanhood that have emerged throughout the history of the South African literary canon, analyzing them critically for their varied contributions to the (mis)representations of Black women, both on stage and in the world. Employing the joint methodologies of Practice as Research and African Feminist Autoethnography (which I propose as a variant of Black Feminist Autoethnography specifically contextualized to Black African women), the study unpacks the psychological effects of mbokodofication on Black women performers who, through this phenomenon, become locked into the Sisyphean task of portraying trauma and having this trauma re-inscribed to them through the mimetic style of performance imposed by the dramatic paradigm. The ways in which the dramatic paradigm reproduces coloniality are explored and code-switching is proposed as a potential aesthetic liberator for performers who wish to obfuscate and make visible certain elements of Black womanhood from the violent colonial gaze and thus protect themselves from post-dramatic stress. The study follows the trajectory of my research enquiry and performance practice to explicate the dramaturgical process which brought into being my thesis production, Malibongwe, and, in the end, proposes the work as a post-mbokodoist manifesto. 2022-03-10T08:07:17Z 2022-03-10T08:07:17Z 2021 2022-03-08T12:17:01Z Master Thesis Masters M.A. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36010 eng application/pdf Department of Drama Faculty of Humanities |
| spellingShingle | Theatre & Performance Ngcobo, Balindile The Mbokodofication of Black Women: An Autoethnographic Study of Post Dramatic Stress and the ‘Strong Black Woman' Trope |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The Mbokodofication of Black Women: An Autoethnographic Study of Post Dramatic Stress and the ‘Strong Black Woman' Trope |
| title_full | The Mbokodofication of Black Women: An Autoethnographic Study of Post Dramatic Stress and the ‘Strong Black Woman' Trope |
| title_fullStr | The Mbokodofication of Black Women: An Autoethnographic Study of Post Dramatic Stress and the ‘Strong Black Woman' Trope |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Mbokodofication of Black Women: An Autoethnographic Study of Post Dramatic Stress and the ‘Strong Black Woman' Trope |
| title_short | The Mbokodofication of Black Women: An Autoethnographic Study of Post Dramatic Stress and the ‘Strong Black Woman' Trope |
| title_sort | mbokodofication of black women an autoethnographic study of post dramatic stress and the strong black woman trope |
| topic | Theatre & Performance |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36010 |
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