Browsing by Author "Davis, Sheurl Valene"

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    Viewing ‘Krotoa’ through a Rahab Prism : a postcolonial feminist encounter
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-10) Davis, Sheurl Valene; Claassens, L. Juliana M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis employs a hermeneutic of suspicion to reread the narratives of two underdog women characters, as it analyses the narrative world of Rahab in Joshua 2 and 6 and the story of Krotoa as portrayed in the 2017 film Krotoa side-by-side. This study argues that decolonising and deconstructing hegemonic interpretations of the biblical texts is the only way the Bible still may possess value to the marginalised. Insights from postcolonial feminist biblical interpretation are employed to show how these two very different narrative worlds collide with each another. To reflect on the stories of Rahab and of Krotoa, Musa Dube’s Rahab’s reading prism is used as a reading strategy to reread the narrative of Rahab as well as the portrayed character of Krotoa in the 2017 film Krotoa. Rahab’s character and portrayals are analysed by means of a postcolonial reading optic. Although most previous interpretations have portrayed Rahab as heroine as well as traitor, this study argues that Rahab was also the victim of the coloniser's pen, a literary construction of Israelite ideology. This study further employs postcolonial feminist film theory as an additional methodological approach to critique the imperial strategies employed in the portrayal of Krotoa in the film Krotoa (2017). Postcolonial feminist film theory shows how the portrayal of Krotoa in the film version possesses a specific form of power which could liberate and at the same time perpetuate imperialising interpretations and ideologies. Instead of revolutionising Krotoa in the history of South Africa by offering a life-giving portrayal of Krotoa, this study argues that the film has perpetuated elements of Afrikaner nationalism. Delineating the various portrayals of Krotoa exposed the patriarchal and imperial ideologies still present in the film especially with a practical application of Rahab’s reading prism. The central premise of this thesis is that both Rahab and Krotoa have much in common. This study, therefore, applies a hermeneutic of suspicion that prioritises alternative perspectives in the pursuit of a transformative understanding of these two women in contrast to their reputation and portrayals as traitors. This study argues that the two women have suffered under the rhetoric of God, glory, gold, and gender. The biblical narrative of Rahab and the film Krotoa (2017), as well as the historiographies that depict them, are a perfect example of how the imperial powers impose their control on foreign lands and on the bodies of women, who have been sacrificed on the altar of unity and imperial control. Moreover, this study explores the possibility that these two women were betrayed by their own people and the colonisers have done what they do best—employing the bodies of women who serve as the contact zones for colonisation. By interrogating, deconstructing, and re-interpreting these two characters, this study prioritises life-affirming interpretations and portrayals of both women. The study demonstrates how the chosen reading optic liberates Rahab and Krotoa from the yoke of imperial and patriarchal interpretations and portrayals.