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Interrogating female leadership : Miriam (Numbers 12), Jael (Judges 4), and Jezebel (1 Kings 16) in conversation with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the film Long Walk to Freedom
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867614096421027840 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Davis, Sheurl Valene |
| author2 | Claassens, L. Juliana M., 1972- |
| author_browse | Claassens, L. Juliana M., 1972- Davis, Sheurl Valene |
| author_facet | Claassens, L. Juliana M., 1972- Davis, Sheurl Valene |
| author_sort | Davis, Sheurl Valene |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description |
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132126 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:46:36.532Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132126 Interrogating female leadership : Miriam (Numbers 12), Jael (Judges 4), and Jezebel (1 Kings 16) in conversation with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the film Long Walk to Freedom Davis, Sheurl Valene Claassens, L. Juliana M., 1972- Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and new Testament. Bible -- Feminist criticism Women in the Bible Leadership in women -- Religious aspects -- Christianity UCTD Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Davis, S. V. 2025. Interrogating Female Leadership: Miriam (Numbers 12), Jael (Judges 4), and Jezebel (1 Kings 16) in Conversation with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the Film Long Walk to Freedom. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/dd0dd325-975a-418e-bb1a-766e49122575 ENGLISH SUMMARY: This study examines how women are portrayed in leadership in the Hebrew Bible and in a modern film. It brings into conversation the portrayal of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the film Long Walk to Freedom (2013) with three biblical characters, i.e., Miriam (Numbers 12), Jael (Judges 4), and Jezebel (1 Kings 16). Read through a postcolonial feminist framework as well as postcolonial film theory, strategies of imperialism and patriarchal ideologies are identified when portraying the character of Winnie as well as of women in the biblical text as products of patriarchal and imperial contexts. This study presents intersectional avenues and parallels between these biblical women leaders and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. This dissertation asserts that these women have not always been recognised for their pivotal leadership roles; their contributions have been met with forms of punishment for speaking against their male counterparts or holding different convictions. The study illuminates alternative avenues of interpretation and reconsiders the complex relationship between violence, power, and leadership in the portrayal of these female characters. Moreover, it presents questions that should be continually probed and contested in biblical texts and contemporary society. It poses the fundamental question present in feminist and womanist interrogation: Whose interests do these portrayals of these women and their leadership serve? In its quest to probe the fundamental question in feminist and womanist interrogation, this study rejects the binaries imposed on these women and explores alternative possible interpretations. This research has been a development of discovering and restructuring coherent sense-making of these women’s characterisations by employing restorative frameworks for ongoing discussion of women in leadership. With the abovementioned in mind, this dissertation employs multidimensional intersecting reading lenses, which enriched and transformed interpretative possibilities and nurtured life-giving portrayals of women. In doing this, the study displays the possibilities the reading lenses may yield at the junctions of apparently opposing yet interlinked components of both the biblical text and women’s lived experiences. By reading the Old Testament narratives intersectionally, this study pursues the goal to reason and argue for the elusive, multifaceted, hermeneutical, and moral engagements exhibited amid interrelated issues of power, domination, hierarchy, and ideals of male honour and female shame. This study is immersed in the possibility of alternative portrayals of underdog women in biblical texts as well as in contemporary society. Finally, this study focusses on the retelling of stories, and illuminates that the manner in which they are remembered in the repositories of history does matter, and therefore, retelling, recreating, and re-evaluating ideological motives behind how women are portrayed and remembered is crucial for contemporary society and future generations. When we embark on this journey, we ensure that these women are never remembered as one-dimensional beings in the derogative manner so often prioritised. The study shows that when we continually move forward in terms of challenging, questioning, and reconstructing, we give life to how women, specifically women in leadership, are portrayed and remembered; they are re-imagined in their afterlife and the reception of their leadership. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek hoe vroue in leierskap in die Hebreeuse Bybel en in hedendaagse film uitgebeeld word. Die proefskrif bring die uitbeelding van Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in die film Long Walk to Freedom (2013) in gesprek met drie Bybelse karakters, naamlik Miriam (Numeri 12), Jael (Rigters 4) en Jezebel (1 Konings 16). Wanneer dit deur 'n postkoloniale feministiese raamwerk sowel as postkoloniale filmteorie gelees word, word strategiee van imperialisme en patriargale ideologiee geidentifiseer; die karakter van Winnie asook vroue in die Bybelse teks word uitgebeeld as produkte van patriargale en imperiale kontekste. Hierdie studie bied interseksionele wee en parallelle tussen hierdie Bybelse vroueleiers en Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Dit stel dat hierdie vroue nie altyd vir hul deurslaggewende leierskaprolle erken is nie; hul bydraes is met vorme van straf beantwoord omdat hulle teen hul manlike ewekniee gekant was of ander oortuiginge gehad het. Verder belig hierdie studie alternatiewe wee van interpretasie en heroorweeg die komplekse verhouding tussen geweld, mag en leierskap in die uitbeelding van hierdie vroulike karakters. Dit bied ook vrae wat voortdurend ondersoek en betwis behoort te word in Bybelse tekste en die hedendaagse samelewing. Dit stel die fundamentele vraag in feministiese en womanistiese ondersoek: Wie se belange dien hierdie uitbeeldings van hierdie vroue en hul leierskap? In 'n poging om die fundamentele vraag in feministiese en womanistiese ondervraging te ondersoek, verwerp hierdie studie die tweeledigheid wat op hierdie vroue afgedwing is, en verken alternatiewe moontlike interpretasies. Hierdie proefskrif het ontwikkel uit die ontdekking en herstrukturering van samehangende singewing van hierdie vroue se karakterisering deur die gebruik van herstellende raamwerke vir deurlopende bespreking van vroue in leierskap. Met bogenoemde waarneming in gedagte, gebruik die navorsing multidimensionele oorkruisende leeslense, wat interpretasiemoontlikhede verryk en transformeer en lewegewende uitbeeldings van vroue moontlik maak. Sodoende wys die studie die moontlikhede wat die leeslense kan oplewer by die interseksies van oenskynlik verskillende dog onderling verbinde komponente van beide die Bybelteks en vroue se geleefde ervarings. Deur die Ou-Testamentiese narratiewe interseksioneel te lees, streef hierdie studie om te redeneer en te argumenteer vir die ontwykende, veelvlakkige, hermeneutiese en morele verbintenisse wat uitgebeeld word te midde van onderling verwante kwessies van mag, oorheersing, hierargie en ideale van manlike eer en vroulike skaamte. Hierdie studie delf in die moontlikheid van alternatiewe uitbeeldings van ondergeskikte vroue in Bybelse tekste sowel as in die hedendaagse samelewing. Laastens fokus hierdie studie op die oorvertel van stories, en dit belig dat die wyse waarop dit in die die geskiedenis onthou word, wel saak maak, en daarom is die oorvertel, herskep en herevaluering van ideologiese motiewe agter hoe vroue uitgebeeld en onthou word, deurslaggewend vir die hedendaagse samelewing en toekomstige generasies. Wanneer ons hierdie pad loop, verseker ons dat hierdie vroue nooit dieselfde onthou word nie – as eendimensionele wesens op die neerhalende wyse wat so dikwels geprioritiseer word nie. Die studie toon dat, wanneer ons voortdurend die roete van uitdaging, bevraagtekening en rekonstruksie kies, ons lewe gee aan hoe vroue, spesifiek vroue in leierskap, uitgebeeld en onthou word; hulle word heruitgebeeld in hul hiernamaals en die ontvangs van hul leierskap. Doctoral 2025-05-27T06:39:59Z 2025-05-27T06:39:59Z 2025-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132126 Stellenbosch University 256 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Bible -- Feminist criticism Women in the Bible Leadership in women -- Religious aspects -- Christianity UCTD Davis, Sheurl Valene Interrogating female leadership : Miriam (Numbers 12), Jael (Judges 4), and Jezebel (1 Kings 16) in conversation with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the film Long Walk to Freedom |
| title | Interrogating female leadership : Miriam (Numbers 12), Jael (Judges 4), and Jezebel (1 Kings 16) in conversation with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the film Long Walk to Freedom |
| title_full | Interrogating female leadership : Miriam (Numbers 12), Jael (Judges 4), and Jezebel (1 Kings 16) in conversation with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the film Long Walk to Freedom |
| title_fullStr | Interrogating female leadership : Miriam (Numbers 12), Jael (Judges 4), and Jezebel (1 Kings 16) in conversation with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the film Long Walk to Freedom |
| title_full_unstemmed | Interrogating female leadership : Miriam (Numbers 12), Jael (Judges 4), and Jezebel (1 Kings 16) in conversation with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the film Long Walk to Freedom |
| title_short | Interrogating female leadership : Miriam (Numbers 12), Jael (Judges 4), and Jezebel (1 Kings 16) in conversation with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the film Long Walk to Freedom |
| title_sort | interrogating female leadership miriam numbers 12 jael judges 4 and jezebel 1 kings 16 in conversation with winnie madikizela mandela in the film long walk to freedom |
| topic | Bible -- Feminist criticism Women in the Bible Leadership in women -- Religious aspects -- Christianity UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132126 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davissheurlvalene interrogatingfemaleleadershipmiriamnumbers12jaeljudges4andjezebel1kings16inconversationwithwinniemadikizelamandelainthefilmlongwalktofreedom |