Militant femininity in Southern African poetry: a discussion of selected poems by Micere Mugo and Gladys Thomas

Abstract

This paper is based on selected poems by Micere Mugo and Gladys Thomas that were written during the apartheid period but were unavailable for critical evaluation because of apartheid circumstances. Focusing on the exigencies of the period, it discusses how context helped to emphasize the militant disposition of the female characters. It analyzes their contribution in the domestic, public, and in-between spheres as well as their visioning of contemporary Southern African and global calamities, showing intersections shaped by gender, class, and postcoloniality in their personalities.