What is it about?
As laws related to the 'acceptable' punishment of slaves in the Cape Colony were changing, womyn who were legally enslaved made use of the Office of the Protector of Slaves to complain about the violence they experienced at the hands of female slave owners. The article draws on records from the Protector's office to reveal tales of violence, resistance, and complex relationships. It also shows how ideas about violence, gender, and punishment were linked through legal and social aspects of the time.
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Why is it important?
Resistance to patriarchy, and patriarchal constructions of the world, continues on a daily basis. This article provides an insight into resistance and the relationship between structural and personal violence from the 1830s - reminding us that this has been an ongoing struggle.
Perspectives
When I first started realising that slave owners defined as womyn were frequently using violence against slaves defined as womyn it challenged some of my assumptions about the gendered nature of violence and punishment in slave-owning societies. The more time I spent in the archives the louder the voices of the womyn who resisted became. Initially I was concerned about whether it was possible to write about this kind of violence without violating the memory of the womyn concerned, but their voices grew more and more insistent and I wrote this article to honour their struggle.
Assoc. Prof. Carla Tsampiras
University of Cape Town
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: “Stubborn Masculine Women”, Radical History Review, October 2016, Duke University Press,
DOI: 10.1215/01636545-3594457.
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