Manifestations of Shame at the Intersections of Gender, Sexuality, Race and Class: A Feminist Literary Analysis of Dominique Botha’s Valsrivier

Abstract

This article offers a feminist literary analysis of the representation of shame in Dominique Botha’s Valsrivier and it demonstrates how shame manifests itself in the spaces where gender, sexuality, race and class intersect. The study of shame offers myriad analytical possibilities and these have largely been left unexplored in scholarly engagements with Botha’s critically acclaimed text. By focusing on the embodied experiences of shame of the character of Dominique and those of a number of other, often peripheral, characters, I contend that the politics of shame are as crucial to understanding these women’s lived realities as those of race and class. Because of its very nature, a number of challenges crop up when one attempts to broach the topic of shame, not least of which is the fact that it makes people extremely uncomfortable. I argue that it is crucial that feminist critics move beyond the desire to turn away so that we can turn the scholarly gaze on shame in order to expose it to analysis. This article has entered into this uncomfortable and challenging conversation by considering how selected female literary characters experience shame at the intersections of gender, race, sexuality and class.

Opsomming

Hierdie artikel bied ʼn feministiese literêre analise van die uitbeelding van skaamte in Valsrivier deur Dominique Botha en ek illustreer hoe skaamte gestalte verkry by die snypunte van gender, seksualiteit, ras en klas. Die studie van skaamte bied talle analitiese moontlikhede wat grootliks onbenut gelaat word in akademiese omgang met Botha se teks wat wyd deur kritici geloof is. Deur te fokus op die liggaamlike belewenis van skaamte van die karakter van Dominique, sowel as dié van ʼn aantal ander, minder prominente karakters, voer ek aan dat die politieke dinamika van skaamte so belangrik is vir die verstaan van hierdie vroue se wêrelde soos die van ras en klas. As gevolg van die aard van skaamte, duik ʼn aantal uitdagings op wanneer mens probeer om die tema van skaamte aan te spreek. Onder andere maak dit mense geweldig ongemaklik. Ek voer aan dat dit noodsaaklik is vir feministiese kritici om die behoefte om weg te draai te weerstaan sodat ons skaamte direk kan aankyk en sodoende kan blootstel aan ontleding. Hierdie artikel tree toe tot die ongemaklike en uitdagende gesprek deur te ondersoek hoe sekere vroue­karakters skaamte beleef by die snypunte van gender, ras, klas en seksualiteit.