Hegemonic Masculinity in K. Sello Duiker's The Quiet Violence of Dreams

Abstract

Globally, long-held perceptions about gender are coming under scrutiny. Marginalized groups the world over are using social media to create platforms for themselves, thereby allowing activism and social engagement to flourish in ways that were not possible before. Forming part of this global social dynamism regard-ing gender are the efforts that South African academic institutions and society at large are making towards an active engagement with the process of rethinking patriarchal, colonial, and heteronormative structures. Our academic discourses should reflect our lived experiences, and research which does not seek to engage with the society that it focuses on is at risk of becoming irrelevant. Our country’s own liter-ary canon has the potential to incite meaningful interrogations of the world we live in. Literature can offer a somewhat more compact framework for analysing complex issues that affect our realities. One such issue is the prevalence of violence in South Africa against women, femininities in general, as well as non-conventionally masculine bodies.