In the Interstices of Oppression

Charting Identity in Maishe Maponya’s Umongikazi through the Thirdspace

Abstract

As an advocate of the Black Consciousness Movement, South African playwright Maishe Maponya employs dramatic space as an analytical framework in his play Umongikazi/The Nurse to reveal the oppressive social realities faced by marginalised groups under the white-dominated power structure. This article, grounded in Edward Soja’s theory of Thirdspace, systematically analyses the spatial organisation patterns within the play’s narrative structure and their correlations with the identity construction strategies of the characters. Within the distorted spatial hierarchy shaped by systemic racism, Black individuals endure dual oppression in both the physical and mental dimensions. The characters in the play resist the oppressive spatial order through bodily practice strategies, specifically demonstrated by the reoccupation and functional reconstruction of spaces previously restricted to them, thereby deconstructing the established spatial configuration of power. At the mental level, the characters transcend the limitations of real-world spaces through imaginative construction, creating an ideal spatial vision of racial equality. This cognitive process provides spiritual support for their identity struggles. The above-mentioned practices ultimately give rise to a “Thirdspace” with transformative potential. This space breaks the oppressor-oppressed binary and challenges institutionalised power’s spatial discipline, and creates possibilities for the reconstruction of Black subjectivity.