Content uploaded by Jennifer Keahey
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Jennifer Keahey on Mar 14, 2018
Content may be subject to copyright.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
1
Gendered livelihoods and social change in post-apartheid South Africa
Dr. Jennifer Keahey | School of Social and Behavioral Sciences | Arizona State University
Email: jennifer.keahey@asu.edu
ABSTRACT
This article employs gendered livelihoods analysis and participatory methods to examine the
politics of development among small-scale rooibos tea farmers in a rural coloured area of
southwestern South Africa. Differentiating between sources of conflict and cohesion, I discuss
how communities navigated resource scarcity, unstable markets, and shifting relations. While
patriarchal dynamics informed livelihoods, with males and elders enjoying greater access than
females and young adults, women took advantage of relatively fluid female roles to enter into
agriculture and commerce. In contrast, rigid male roles and unattainable expectations of
manhood isolated men, engendering destructive behaviors among young men in particular.
Communities maintained social cohesion through democratic arrangements, and a politics of
identification enabled research participants to relate to differential interests. In addition to
providing situated and relational insight into the identitarian aspects of rural development,
participatory gendered livelihoods analysis offers a critical means for deconstructing power and
decolonizing knowledge.
Keywords: gender; development; postcolonial feminism; identity; social change; South
Africa
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
2
Introduction
South Africa ended white-minority rule in 1994, setting the stage for multiracial democracy. In
addition to incorporating racial and gender justice into its legal and policy frameworks (Seidman
1999), the post-apartheid state has combined a trajectory of neoliberal growth with investments
in social welfare (Ferguson 2010). It is unclear whether this development model has worked,
particularly in rural South Africa where agro-food system disparities have reinforced poverty
among those living in apartheid-era homelands (Greenberg 2015). Small-scale farmers have less
access to land and resources than do commercial estates, but local power dynamics remain
understudied and there is a need to query rural agency. Feminist research offers the means for
investigating complex intersections of power, identity, and change (Marchand and Sisson
Runyan 2010). As research can reify inequity by reducing complexity and essentializing
difference, scholars are calling for more qualitative and participatory approaches that allow local
people to define themselves and challenge stereotypical assumptions (Chilisa, Major, and
Khudu-Petersen 2017).
I address these issues in crosscutting ways. First, this article advances knowledge of rural
livelihoods and coloured racial identity via a case study of Wupperthal, a rural coloured area
comprised of small-scale rooibos tea farmers. Focusing on the local politics of development, it
employs gendered livelihoods analysis to examine the material and ideological dimensions
shaping household and community occupations (Oberhauser, Mandel, and Hapke 2004;
Oberhauser 2016). Second, it engages postcolonial feminist theory to elucidate the impacts of
patriarchy, colonialism and globalization on development activities, connecting these structural
influences with ‘the micropolitics of context, subjectivity, and struggle’ (Mohanty 2003, 501).
Third, my use of participatory and ethnographic methods meets demands for scholars to
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
3
decolonize the production of knowledge (Janes 2016). Co-investigators included local residents
who were elected by their communities to engage in training and research.
Wupperthal is located in the Cederberg Mountains of South Africa’s Western Cape Province.
As a mission station, this rural coloured area remains under the jurisdiction of the Moravian
Church, and its inhabitants share a common religious identity. Figure 1 depicts the numerous
settlements of Wupperthal. The mission is remote and rugged, with communities scattered across
rocky escarpments and low-lying valleys. Although farmers are involved in international rooibos
markets, development projects, and tourism ventures, they have minimal contact with whites
who largely live along the more arable western slope of the Cederberg where the town of
Clanwilliam lies, and virtually no contact with blacks who have little presence in the region.
[Insert Figure 1 Here]
Comprising nine percent of the national population, coloured South Africans are the majority
racial group of the Western Cape (Lehohla 2012). The term ‘coloured’ encompasses indigenous
Khoe and San peoples as well those who comprise a mix of Khoe-San, South Asian, European,
and Xhosa or other African ancestries (Adhikari 2009). Tracing their origin to Dutch colonial
rule, which began in 1652 with the founding of the Cape Colony at Table Bay, coloureds
primarily speak Afrikaans and possess a shared identity forged from a history of conquest,
slavery, segregation, and resistance. Many participated in the black consciousness movement in
protest of apartheid and the term ‘black’ broadly signifies all disadvantaged racial groups. Yet
coloured people experienced differential privilege under white rule. Placed above blacks but
below whites in a national racial hierarchy that was codified under apartheid, coloureds have
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
4
‘occupied an ambiguous position within the South African polity’ (Erasmus 2000, 71). The
ambiguity surrounding coloured identity has continued into the post-apartheid era, with coloured
people commonly stating that they are neither black nor white enough for recognition (Adhikari
2006). The question of rooibos heritage illustrates the precarity of this racial position. White and
coloured producers both claim cultural ownership of this indigenous plant to assert their rightful
belonging to the Cederberg. Whereas white accounts of heritage ignore the presence of coloureds
who often do not own the land upon which they reside, coloured accounts emphasize connection
to the plant itself and express the hopes of a dispossessed people for a more prosperous future
(Ives 2017).
Little is known about the localized power dynamics informing livelihoods in rural coloured
areas. I address this gap and more broadly inform postcolonial feminist scholarship by providing
a dialectical and intersectional analysis of structure and agency that unpacks local sources of
conflict and cohesion. First, I demonstrate how a racialized trajectory of underdevelopment and
neoliberal market ventures engendered struggle in Wupperthal, exacerbating poverty in general
and hindering opportunities for women and young adults in particular. Second, I examine how
inhabitants navigated post-apartheid shifts, showing how fluid female and rigid male roles
engendered differential experiences with uncertainty and change. Third, I share the codes of
conduct that communities employed to ensure social cohesion, including what Sa’ar (2005) has
termed a ‘politics of identification’. Structural forces shaped hierarchies of power and access to
resources, but community relations were equitable. It was through social connection that
inhabitants recognized the challenges of others, enabling identity to be negotiated. Not only did
research support local dialogue, but the cultural knowledge provided by my co-investigators
ensured situated understanding. Our work suggests that participatory gendered livelihoods
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
5
analysis offers a complementary framework for deconstructing power and decolonizing
knowledge in rural research communities.
Political economy, rurality, and rights in post-apartheid context
The South African state has united neoliberal policies with social justice politics. By the mid-
1990s, the incoming government had moved to deregulate industry and liberalize trade in an
effort to revitalize the national economy and improve its position in global markets (Peet 2002).
This neoliberal agenda represented a shift away from anti-apartheid politics, which advocated in
favor of redistributive justice through a democratic socialist framework of needs-based
reconstruction. However, the state also sought to address social issues by investing in welfare;
and in recent years, social spending has substantially increased in response to the ‘widening
inequality and very high rates of employment’ engendered by neoliberal policies and practices
(Ferguson 2010, 175).
Despite two decades of political and economic restructuring, racial inequality in rural areas
has yet to be addressed. Four-fifths of rural South Africans live below the national poverty line
(Lehohla 2014), with most of these residing in former racial and ethnic homelands that have been
systematically underdeveloped (Mazibuko 2013). During the colonial expansion into South
Africa’s interior, Protestant Churches assumed authority over coloured lands. As part of a
broader thrust to extend and legally codify racial segregation, the apartheid state classified these
mission stations as rural coloured areas; and in the post-apartheid era a number of these areas
have remained under Church jurisprudence (May and Lahiff 2007). In the Cederberg, where
rooibos tea is produced, indigenous and ex-slave populations were limited to the dry eastern
slope when white farmers appropriated the richer lands of the western range. To date, the state
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
6
has failed to secure major land reforms, with more than 80 percent of national arable land still
under the control of whites who represent less than 10 percent of the population (Chikulo 2015).
A growing body of evidence suggests that market-based development may be exacerbating
rather than ameliorating rural poverty. Large firms that are better prepared to assume market
risks have disproportionately benefitted from neoliberal development strategies like product
upgrading (Ponte and Ewert 2009). As a result, agricultural profits have become increasingly
concentrated (Aliber and Cousins 2013). In an effort to address combat poverty, social justice
interests have invested in ethical trading networks that seek to embed an ethic of responsibility
into business practices (Hughes, McEwan, and Bek 2015) National groups have aligned with
international certification systems such as Fairtrade, which provides producer organizations with
access to global buyers who agree to meet minimum pricing standards and pay social
development premiums for certified purchases (Raynolds and Greenfield 2015). While the state
has incentivized the formation of small-scale producer cooperatives, commercial estates
dominate South African Fairtrade as the national movement has prioritized securing better
conditions for farmworkers (Keahey 2015).
In regards to gender, the state has formalized the rights of women. Not only has it
encouraged female leadership via the establishment of economic empowerment protocols that
support the entry of black and coloured women into positions of commercial leadership (Linton
2012), but it also has mandated equal pay, criminalized rape in marriage, and strengthened
penalties for violence against women (Dworkin et al. 2012). These changes have been
accompanied by national efforts to address implications for masculinity, including the formation
of HIV and antiviolence programs that help men and boys explore assumptions about manhood
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
7
and develop healthier relations with women. Of scholarly interest is how these political shifts are
translating into everyday life.
Gendered livelihoods and postcolonial feminism
Gendered livelihoods analysis aligns a feminist materialist and postcolonial framework to
disentangle the complexities impacting the rural global South. Similarly to conventional
livelihoods research, it ‘provides a means to link macro-level processes to micro-level outcomes
and responses’ providing insight into ‘how people are coping with or adapting to economic
restructuring’ (Oberhauser, Mandel, and Hapke 2004, 206). It extends conventional analysis by
considering the local power dynamics shaping access to household and community occupations
and by examining identitarian influences on social roles, relations, and experiences.
Postcolonial feminism is compatible with livelihoods analysis as it offers a theoretical
foundation for examining nuanced and shifting power dynamics in an unequal world. It is similar
to intersectional feminism in that it addresses multiple axes of oppression; yet as a distinctly
Southern tradition, postcolonial feminism employs a historical and transnational lens to explore
the intersections and impacts of patriarchy, colonialism, and globalization on subaltern
populations (Kerner 2017). Scholars note that colonial practices have given rise to a globalized
system of control that continues to classify and subordinate people according to Eurocentric
norms (Quijano 2000; Mendoza 2015). In contrast to conventional Western feminism, which
replicates the colonial power structure through the categorization of identity, postcolonial
feminism challenges fixed and universal assumptions by asking scholars to develop a more
situated and dynamic understanding of power (Mohanty 1984). Attuning to the dialectic of
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
8
difference, postcolonial feminist inquiry seeks to ‘replace an essentialist and limited politics of
identity with a politics of identification’ (Sa’ar 2005, 696).
In the African context, scholars are documenting the fluidity of identity (Oyĕwùmí 2002) and
examining efforts to align an African-based relational paradigm with participatory methods that
enable subaltern people to speak and be heard (Chilisa, Major, and Khudu-Petersen 2017, 326).
As research can reinforce segregation by failing to acknowledge the relatability of different
social groups, Ratele (2001) urges intellectuals to find points of connection with the poor. Noting
that identity is negotiated in practice, he argues that postcolonial feminism represents an
opportunity to radically renegotiate power. This is achieved by deciphering meaning through
deep listening and the pursuit of relational awareness.
Methods and positionality
Over the course of 2010, I conducted research with small-scale farmers as the field researcher for
a rooibos livelihoods project. Developed in tandem with participating communities, this broader
initiative combined research, training, and networking activities into a year-long farmer
leadership program. This arrangement enabled small-scale producers to investigate livelihood
concerns while gaining production and market knowledge and seeking better representation in
industry and trade networks (Keahey et al. 2016).
Five of the seven participating groups were located in Wupperthal, where roughly 60 percent
of South Africa’s small-scale rooibos farmers resided. At project outset, I and a South African
partner made several visits to local communities. Providing training and networking services,
this predominantly white partner firm was female-owned and staffed. Over the course of one
month, we knocked on doors and spoke with as many inhabitants as possible to determine farmer
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
9
interests and develop an initial plan of action. While we originally intended to work through
existing producer organizations, Wupperthal farmers were experiencing cooperative turmoil and
wanted to develop a community-based leadership network. Women also stated the importance of
ensuring their involvement.
We responded by facilitating community workshops in five areas of Wupperthal. Residents
advised us to select locations based on local topography; thus the workshops were accessible to
the inhabitants of remote hamlets and we encouraged all adults to participate. A total of 189
people attended workshops, each of which culminated in democratic elections for male and
female leadership teams, with 10 residents elected into the leadership role. One of the five
female leaders was unable to fully participate in the program due to her employment as a cleaner
in the village. The leaders resolved this issue by selecting a sixth woman to replace her, but both
of these women were involved in fieldwork. More broadly, the election process ensured that the
leaders comprised people of both sexes residing in communities across the mission. Apart from
one young male who worked for a rooibos cooperative in the central village, none of the elected
leaders previously held any positions of authority since workshop participants largely chose to
nominate and vote for peers who were uninvolved in local power structures.
In addition to engaging in industry training and networking activities with our South African
partners, the leaders and I comprised an independent research team. We conducted fieldwork in
four steps. The first of these involved research design, a process that was started during
leadership workshops held in a regional town approximately one month after elections. The
second step involved semi-structured livelihood interviews with Wupperthal farmers and rooibos
cooperative staff, and these were conducted over five weeks at project midterm. Interviews
primarily focused on livelihoods, resources, and decision making, but also covered aspects of
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
10
identity and asked respondents to differentiate between challenges and opportunities. After the
leaders completed a census of their communities, we generated a random sample stratified by
sex, adult age cohort, and hamlet. Because each leader first acted as a respondent during the
research training process, 37 of the 48 livelihood interviews conducted in Wupperthal derived
from the stratified random sample. Having received research training, the leadership teams
attended interviews in their area, where they translated from Afrikaans to English as needed.
After watching me lead initial interviews, co-investigators took turns assuming the role of lead
interviewer. Their involvement proved critical. Not only did respondents often ask the leaders if I
could be trusted, but they also eagerly discussed livelihood barriers as they understood that
research findings would be shared with industry networks.
The third step comprised semi-structured interviews that I privately conducted with each of
the leaders to capture their perceptions about power and identity. These sessions occurred after
completing livelihood interviews in each area, for a total of 11 sessions. Similarly to our
everyday communication, we spoke a mixture of Afrikaans and English, although questions were
posed in Afrikaans. These sessions enabled my co-investigators to reflect upon livelihood
dynamics while providing them with a safe space to establish their own voice. Having
collectively determined power dimensions for inquiry during initial research design, the leaders
knew they would explore issues related to race, class, gender, and age, as well as those related to
bureaucratic and democratic processes; however, they were not involved in developing specific
questions to ensure unrehearsed responses. The dialogues that began during these sessions were
extended during the fourth step, which consisted of theoretical training, informal discussions,
and analytical workshops as depicted in Figure 2. Training broadly differentiated between
theories of power, enabling my co-investigators to examine issues from different perspectives;
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
11
and a process of reflexive dialogue and consensus building helped us develop integrative
understanding.
[Insert Figure 2 Here]
As a non-religious white American woman, I clearly diverged from the other members of the
research team and their communities. In seeking to find points of connection, I found that my
working-class upbringing in a rural and religious western state facilitated my connection to the
values governing everyday life in Wupperthal. While it is important not to conflate our
experiences given the complex intersections of class, race, geography, and education as well as
the cumulative effects of these on life chances, I could relate to the insecurity of having to
scramble to get by or not having access to basic needs like affordable health care. Yet my gender
politics were at odds with dominant local values, requiring me to unlearn assumptions of a way
of life that was both similar to and different from the world from which I had come. I navigated
power asymmetries by: 1) residing almost entirely in coloured Afrikaans-speaking households
throughout my stay in South Africa; 2) sharing knowledge and resources; 3) actively assuming
the roles of learner and facilitator; and 4) committing to frank and open-minded discussions
about power and privilege.
My co-investigators were a fairly heterogeneous representation of their communities. Half
were woman and most were young adults, although a few were middle-aged and one male was
retired. Apart from myself and a white male who had married into his community, the research
team was coloured. All the leaders self-identified as working class, although the retired white
leader stated that he had once been middle class. Most leaders experienced periods of poverty but
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
12
their circumstances ranged from the extreme insecurity of near homelessness to the greater
security of steady income and accrued resources. Apart from myself and the white male, the
research team possessed a similar economic and educational background as the majority
population of their communities; and as the residents of a Moravian Church mission, all of my
co-investigators professed this faith.
The remainder of the article focuses on the Wupperthal case study. After providing an
overview of livelihoods, I examine sources of conflict, weaving in findings related to assets and
household decision-making. I then consider sources of cohesion, covering governance protocols
and codes of conduct that promoted equitable relations. To ensure situated understanding, my
analysis incorporates the differential voices of my research team, with pseudonyms used to
protect individual identities.
Wupperthal livelihoods
Subsistence activities remained essential to survival, but inhabitants sought to take advantage of
political reforms by diversifying their livelihoods. Respondents self-identified with the following
occupations: 1) vegetable gardening and animal husbandry; 2) Fairtrade and organic certified
rooibos tea production; 3) small-scale enterprise and tourism; 4) vocational work; 5) formal and
intermittent employment; and 6) household work and childcare. As this section discusses, rural
coloured livelihoods were gendered and women encountered greater barriers than men.
However, age and minor class differences also informed access, and some occupations were
more gendered than others. While the participation of women in production and enterprise was
illustrative of shifting gender norms, male roles were rigidly enforced.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
13
First, vegetable gardening and animal husbandry filled household larders and served as an
occasional source of income. Men comprised three-quarters of those involved in these
traditionally male occupations. Not only did notions of manhood center on the role of provider,
but gardening symbolized masculinity. Envisioning his future life as a married man, David stated
his preference for ‘traditional gender roles’. When explaining his view of these roles, David
invoked his garden, stating ‘I don’t want my wife to step foot in unless maybe bringing
food…the garden is a man’s space’. Some women and men preferred what they termed ‘modern’
roles and most females in Wupperthal were involved in some form of income generation; yet
subsistence activities largely remained a man’s affair and single women without access to a male
provider experienced heightened food insecurity.
Second, rooibos was an essential crop as it grew well in its native Cederberg environment,
and most respondents were tea farmers. According to one cooperative manager, tea production
was ‘the only possibility for economic survival’ because ‘there is less rain here and less land, so
land must be used optimally’. The biological characteristics of rooibos enabled women to enter
into production as dry tea plots were more plentiful than vegetable gardens, which required
irrigation. A third of the respondents in this traditionally male occupation were female; however,
the level of women’s involvement in rooibos varied. While female heads-of-households were
active producers, others paid men to work their plots. As Olivia explained, ‘women must work
by the house, caring for the kids and doing the cleaning, so women don’t have time to work the
tea land themselves’. Most farmers hired neighbors to assist with seasonal harvesting, but
women who did not work their own land encountered higher labor expenses because they had to
pay for routine farm management as well as seasonal costs.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
14
Third, small-scale enterprise was prevalent. Women comprised nearly 60 percent of this
group and many female entrepreneurs were single. According to Johan, ‘you don’t get single
fathers around you, only single mothers and if you don’t get welfare or men to support you, you
have to enter into the man’s role to bring money in the house’. Women often did so by saving
money to establish home shops and bakeries. In the central village, six entrepreneurial women
operated a small cosmetics firm that provided high-quality rooibos skincare products for national
and German markets, the latter of which was accessed through Moravian networks. In contrast to
women, men who owned trucks or donkey carts provided transportation services; and a team of
elderly men made boots at a historic shoe shop that was located in the central village. Both sexes
collaborated to develop tourism. Some married couples co-managed guesthouses, and in one
area, a community-based tourism project provided inhabitants with access to income as women
rotated food and cleaning responsibilities while men provided transportation and maintained
infrastructure. Finally, both women and men participated in development projects that paid for
work. In one area, a local female was leading a campground construction project and in another
area, women worked alongside men to improve roads.
Fourth, 15 percent of respondents listed vocational livelihoods and this group was wholly
male. Elderly men were more likely to identify as roof-thatchers while younger men were
plumbers, welders, and electricians. Income was scarce so these men traded work for favors and
assisted those in need. In one area, a single mother rented a small cottage with no toilet or water,
but a neighbor was building her a home with plumbing and electricity without charging for his
services. Young adult males with vocational skills lacked the resources to develop their vocation,
but dreamed of possibilities. A young man with training as a welder said ‘I can use my welding
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
15
experience to make things to sell to tourists here. I haven’t got all the tools I need, but now that
I’m working with [tourism project] I can save’.
Fifth, inhabitants sought formal and intermittent employment. Some were employed in the
central village where the Church and the mission school were located. Small staffs of men and
women processed rooibos at cooperative-based tea courts, but apart from one female treasurer,
cooperative management was comprised of males; and more broadly, formal employment was
scarce. Most households, and in particular those located in more remote hamlets, survived on
subsistence goods and income from temporary jobs, government support, and remittances sent by
city-dwelling children. Given the dearth of local opportunities, youth flight was prevalent; in
Frank’s words, ‘they have wives and lives elsewhere, so I don’t know what will happen to this
place in the end’. Youth who stayed were frustrated and boredom was gendered. Young women
typically were occupied with housework and childcare, but young males had little to do. These
played rugby and soccer, and one passed the time on his ‘self-made golf course’.
Finally, whether working, married, or single, women routinely used the term ‘housewife’ to
describe their primary occupation and female-headed households were common. Not only did
young women retain custody of their children and remain with parents until they established
households or married, but few people married young and many did not marry at all. Women of
all ages were less interested in marriage than men although married women tended to experience
greater prosperity. During livelihood interviews, young women with boyfriends were most likely
to say that they ‘maybe want to marry but not for a few years’; yet single women often lacked
interest, with a young female bluntly stating ‘I like living alone’ and an elderly woman saying ‘I
never in my life wanted to get married and now I’m too old’. In contrast to women, only one
young male, who resided with an elderly grandmother, mentioned involvement in housework.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
16
Men who performed women’s work were derided by their peers. According to Anton, ‘if I’m
cleaning my house and a friend comes by the house, he says many things—that I must get
married or get a girlfriend’. Women also pressured men to conform. In Bernadine’s words, ‘a
man has no respect if he is doing traditional female roles—he must provide’. Expressing
frustration with these norms, one male stated ‘the roles are more rigid for me’.
Sources of conflict
Wupperthal was not immune to the ‘coloniality of power’ that has resulted in a world system
predicated upon social hierarchies and the relegation of production to markets (Quijano 2000,
216). This rural coloured area was struggling to emerge from a history of underdevelopment.
Responding to neoliberal influences, farmers entered into global rooibos markets, but with less
access to land and financial reserves than commercial estates, their involvement was fraught with
risk. Patriarchal influences also informed access to local resources, with elders and males more
able to acquire subsistence assets. Female-headed households were most likely to experience
food insecurity, but women of all ages were involved in commercial activities and some had
entered into positions of authority. The relative fluidity of female roles contrasted with rigid
male norms. Pressured to avoid women’s work, many men also lacked the resources needed to
establish livelihoods and had little to occupy their time. Young men were the most likely to
express anxiety about their prospects as well as to engage in destructive behaviors.
Resource scarcity
Wupperthal lost significant tracts of arable land under apartheid, at which time an influx of
displaced coloured people swelled the local population (Bilbe 2009). In addition to uncovering
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
17
acute land shortages, our research found that arable plots were not evenly distributed. Eighty
percent of farmers grew less than two tons of rooibos per year. As a point of comparison, an
industry report classified small-scale farmers as those who produce less than 10 tons of rooibos
per year (Kruger and Associates 2010). With hundreds of inhabitants seeking access to farmland,
the Moravian Church governed usage by renting small plots for nominal fees. Most residents felt
this system supported more equitable access than would privatization, but right of usage often
passed through families and waiting lists were long. As Johan noted ‘older people are established
with land but middle and young adults are not established’. Due to the concentration of tea lands
in more arable areas of the mission, a few farmers had larger plots and secured significantly
higher yields. Four percent of respondents produced more than five tons, with one producer
yielding nine tons and one cooperative manager farming between 14-15 tons. Females produced
nearly the same volumes as men and were as likely as men to be high-volume producers. Among
the few inhabitants who had vehicles and savings, these high-volume farmers invested in
additional livelihoods and sent children to college, suggesting the emergence of a local elite.
Gender disparities were more prevalent in relation to subsistence resources as access to
produce from vegetable gardens and livestock generally flowed to women through men. While
widowed women often maintained assets inherited from their husbands and young women who
lived in familial households had access through their fathers, among single women who managed
their own households, only one possessed livestock and two had gardens. Women who headed
their own households were most likely to talk about food insecurity, and those with children
faced even graver challenges as their occupational mobility was curtailed. Discussing how the
burden of childcare reduced women’s life chances, Olivia said that women ‘don’t have quite the
same opportunities because we have to look after kids or find someone to do this’. Not only did
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
18
Olivia see this as a problem for women, but she also felt that it was a family issue ‘because the
father must also be involved’ with childcare.
Development projects were a critical livelihood resource as these offered vocational training
or paid participants to work. Less-established young adults were particularly eager to participate;
yet funded projects were scarce giving rise to gendered conflicts. Young men who were
struggling to meet expectations of manhood felt more entitled to access, but women also needed
income and sought involvement. Some females encountered sexual harassment. According to
David, ‘women tend to quit projects more because the men may make sexist comments or hit on
women or make sexist jokes’. In the case of the leadership project, all areas of Wupperthal chose
to follow our suggested policy of electing male and female leadership teams. However, in one
area, some men actively opposed female involvement during leadership nominations. Elder
women disagreed and nominated a young woman who won the election. Over the course of the
project, this female leader had vocal supporters of both sexes; but she endured harassment from a
few young men who had desired the role for themselves.
Unstable markets
Cooperative membership was a critical resource, but rooibos markets were unstable. Possessing
the capacity to ferment, dry, and transport tea in bulk, Wupperthal’s producer organization could
negotiate higher pricing and secure certifications that enabled direct access to international
buyers. Yet a failed product upgrading initiative reified poverty and led to strife. In the mid-
2000s, the cooperative went into debt to participate in a Fairtrade packaging venture that was
managed by a white male entrepreneur who collaborated with two producer organizations to
institute an export packaging firm in Cape Town. This scheme fell apart in 2009 after an industry
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
19
collapse in tea pricing and sales (for further information, see Keahey 2017). Lacking the reserves
to pay its farmers for tea they had delivered, Wupperthal’s cooperative failed an audit, resulting
in the loss of certifications and buyers. By 2010, some members had left to form a smaller
cooperative, but this group was awaiting initial profits. Nearly all respondents said that
household savings were decimated. With less access to subsistence livelihoods, single women
were more dependent on rooibos income and struggled to get by. An older woman said ‘my
son’s wife buys some food for me to survive…but I could save if I had been paid for rooibos all
these years’.
Both the struggling and newly formed producer cooperatives were democratically organized,
but the market turmoil negatively impacted relations among the first group. As this larger
organization struggled to navigate the financial crisis, member meetings were contentious and
often ended before voting could occur. A number of women saw female leadership as the
solution, with Bernadine arguing that ‘men don’t talk about problems—women get advice…but
men bottle things up, they don’t communicate’. Some men expressed an interest in bringing
women into management, including the head of the newly formed cooperative who said that
gender equity was a priority (this organization had a female treasurer). Yet most males and some
females felt that women required more training as it was commonly assumed that men ‘have
more knowledge about management’. There was no time for the leaders to work with
management to improve communication as events were fast moving. Aligning with an external
organization, a network of predominantly male farmers planned to take over the struggling
cooperative; in an attempt to delay this move, management responded by shutting down farmer
meetings. This resulted in legal proceedings and the larger cooperative was liquidated in 2011.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
20
Shifting relations
Social change is an interactive process that involves reconciling traditional arrangements with
modernizing influences (Moghadam 2013). In Wupperthal, traditional roles were predicated
upon a Christian worldview that was both a product of mission-based colonialism and an
essential facet of local identity. In terms of gender, patriarchal tradition called for men to provide
and for women to nurture, but this was an ideal that few could afford. Not only did women
historically work outside of the mission as farmworkers or servants, but a number of women and
men stated a preference for what they termed ‘modern’ roles. While respondents typically
framed women’s roles as a matter of choice, females who entered into traditionally male spheres
encountered greater obstacles and costs. In addition to resource disparities, underlying beliefs
encouraged women to stay away from more physically demanding work, with Bernadine stating
that ‘Church rules are not discriminatory but the vibe is that women cannot do what men can do’.
Working women also were burdened by what Hochschild and Machung (1989) have termed ‘the
second shift’. In Mariette’s words, ‘when a man comes home from work, he is tired and can rest.
The woman is also tired but must continue to do her work as the wife’.
Despite these challenges, women tended to perceive social change as a freeing of options.
Those who embraced modern roles, either out of necessity or desire, did not feel that this shift
threatened traditional values. Indeed, respondents often invoked a historical interpretation of
Moravian scripture by stating that men were suited to the physical labor of biblical times, but
that women were adept at the mental work of modernity. This belief was fairly widespread and
materially impacted everyday life. As Table 1 shows, women across the mission were more
likely to manage finances than were men. Young adults paid part of their income into household
accounts, but only one young man was involved in decision making whereas young women
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
21
tended to co-manage finances with their mothers. Married couples often made decisions
together; but while findings suggest that men assumed responsibility as they aged, a number of
elder respondents stated that women have gained greater control over household affairs in the
post-apartheid era. Alcohol abuse also was cited as a factor for female control. According to
Helen, ‘older men, if they are respectable, make decisions about money, but women take over if
their man is drinking’.
[Insert Table 1 Here]
In contrast to women, men did not experience a freeing of roles and struggled to meet social
expectations. Similarly to other studies on South African masculinity (Ratele 2008), the research
team found that rigid male norms confined men in Wupperthal to narrow avenues of expression.
Men could not obtain a respectable adult status without becoming familial providers, but most
men lacked the resources to marry until well into middle age. As Church rules prohibited
unmarried couples from cohabiting, men became unmoored from family life. Due to patriarchal
norms, men faced fewer social consequences for consuming alcohol and drugs than did women
who were busy with housework and childcare. With little to occupy their time, young men were
most likely to abuse substances and engage in acts of violence. Domestic abuse was an
occasional occurrence, but my research team concurred that male-on-male violence was more
common. Discussing the reality of men’s lives, Estelle said ‘people here treat women softer than
men’; and when explaining the prevalence of single mothers in his area, Johan bluntly stated,
‘many men here pass away—they drink and smoke a lot more than women’.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
22
[Insert Table 2 Here]
Finally, age relations were impacted by political shifts. In 1994, the state mandated primary
education and began providing child support grants to poor families of all races (Case,
Hosegood, and Lund 2005). As Table 2 shows, educational attainment in Wupperthal differed by
adult age cohort rather than by sex. In addition to completing primary school in the central
village, a number of young adults had attended secondary school in regional towns and girls
were as likely as boys to continue their studies. Education was highly valued among mission
youth. In Rochelle’s words, ‘older people got more work in the past without an education. In
today’s times, you must have education and training’. Elder and younger inhabitants were
generally supportive of one another, but age-based tensions did arise. Reminiscing about his own
youth, one elderly man bitterly stated ‘young people then had more respect for their parents and
elders than now because young people today are modern’. In contrast, young people like Johan
stressed the importance of reciprocity, saying ‘if old people don’t respect younger people then
the youth inherently won’t respect the elder’. Although most of my co-investigators were under
the age of forty, my research team broadly agreed that the potential loss of elder authority was of
greater threat to traditional values than were shifting women’s roles.
Sources of cohesion
Inhabitants relied upon three sources of social cohesion when addressing scarcity and conflict: 1)
Moravian Church leadership; 2) democratic community forums; and 3) a politics of identification
based upon an ethic of generosity and mutual respect. While Church leaders governed
Wupperthal, community-based democracy enabled people to voice their interests in everyday
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
23
life. Not only did social codes of conduct serve to redirect resources to those in need, but these
also provided people with a sense of agency and belonging.
The Moravian Church was a traditional legal authority. It provided a similar function as
African chiefs in rural black areas by regulating resources, preserving cultural tradition, and
facilitating conflict resolution (Ubink 2008). As a resource regulator, the Church approved
business licenses and building permits, and rented buildings and plots of land. To preserve
mission traditions, it mandated Moravian membership, prohibited cohabitation outside of
marriage, and revoked rights when residents broke laws. Finally, the Church provided conflict
resolution services via a local network of male elders who provided spiritual guidance in cases of
household or community strife. Although some of my co-investigators were critical of the
bureaucratic and patriarchal nature of Church governance, the research team collectively agreed
that this traditional authority maintained a fairly equitable land management system and helped
ensure peace in a region marked by systemic scarcity.
Personal independence was valued and communities were democratically organized.
Inhabitants had a voice in mission politics via community forums where issues were discussed
and decisions were determined by majority vote as depicted in Figure 3. Adult citizens of both
sexes and all ages attended meetings, but informal rules framed engagement. As Bernadine
explained, ‘elders are expected to share their wisdom, middle-aged adults make a plan, and
younger adults are expected to listen and learn’. Decisions included voting for representatives to
lead collective projects and deciding how community resources were to be used. According to an
elderly woman who was active in local politics, those who were displeased with majority vote
could continue to agitate their positions by convincing others to change their mind and calling
for a revote.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
24
[Insert Figure 3 Here]
An ethic of mutual respect enabled Wupperthalers to maintain a politics of identification. My
research team espoused diverse perspectives in relation to identity, but their analysis of research
findings was undergirded by situated and relational awareness. During private interviews, co-
investigators often emphasized the concerns of inhabitants least like themselves. Having
completed secondary school, David juxtaposed his life chances with those of less-educated
people, stating ‘I have the education to get a better job, but all they can do is physical labor’.
Although Anton lacked the resources to establish himself, he invoked his male privilege to
explain women’s barriers, noting ‘I play rugby, make friends, travel, and see places, but young
women stay here doing what they must, looking after the kids, cooking for men’. Rather than
focusing on her problems as a single mother, Estelle talked about the harsh treatment that men
faced; and despite his background as a middle-class white man who grew up under apartheid,
Frank identified with his coloured community, saying that he did not like to leave the mission
because ‘some whites hate whites who mix’.
In connection with mutual respect, an ethic of generosity enabled poorer residents to access
resources for everyday survival and extended familial ties helped reduce local class disparities.
With her husband out of work, Rochelle’s family resided in a one-room shack without water,
electricity, or toilet. Unable to access tea land, she secured occasional income by farming for
extended family. Rochelle’s in-laws provided her with access to survival resources while her
community supported her desire for livelihood training by electing her as farmer leader. As she
discussed, ‘community is a greater family who you can go to for help…if you want to do
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
25
something to better yourself, the community support will always be there’. Extended familial ties
and close community relations meant that people had avenues of support to turn to during times
of crisis.
These forms of social connection provided Wupperthalers with a sense of belonging and
agency. According to David, who had spent time living in Cape Town:
We are raised to accept that we have everything we need. We are raised to look
after one another. If a household is struggling, everyone in the community is
expected to help out. So even the poor have basic support…we have little, less than
people in the cities, like supermarkets and liquor stores, but actually we are happier
than they are. They say to us, you have nothing and we say, yes, but are you happy
and they say no. We accept more than they do. We can live with a problem and
keep working on it. We accept that things won’t change overnight.
The dual sense of belonging and agency enabled inhabitants to negotiate identity within their
communities. My co-investigators and other respondents often said that identity ‘matters but it
doesn’t’ as people were defined by the value they brought to their community and their efforts to
better themselves. This emphasis on personal behavior represented an ideal view that obscured
local disparities, but it nevertheless informed everyday relations. The expression ‘staan saam’ or
‘stand together’ was used by men to welcome women into leadership, by women in support of
men’s concerns, by elders who sacrificed for youth, and by relatively prosperous people who
helped those in need. My research team concluded that equitable social relations were essential
for combating underdevelopment. In Bernadine’s words, ‘if the community practices the equality
that already exists with their hearts then they can improve their community as a whole’.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
26
Discussion and conclusion
These research findings illustrate the paradoxical complexities of post-apartheid development.
First, Wupperthal struggled to surmount land and resource scarcity wrought by the racialized
trajectory of colonialism and apartheid. While patriarchal influences further reduced women’s
access to livelihoods, exacerbating food insecurity among female-headed households in
particular, rigid male roles and unattainable expectations of masculinity unmoored men from
family life, fueling destructive behaviors among younger and less-established men. Further
research is needed to explore the breadth of subsistence abuse and male-on-male violence;
however, my research team concurred that these issues negatively impacted male health and their
communities as a whole. Such findings substantiate postcolonial claims that ‘women in the South
do not necessarily consider their agendas to be opposed to, or separate from those of men in
similar circumstances’ (Radcliffe 2015, 39).
Second, Wupperthal was negatively impacted by neoliberal development as a large rooibos
cooperative collapsed subsequent to a failed product upgrading scheme. At the same time,
participation in agriculture and commerce enabled women to assume positions of relative
authority. Not only did most women manage household finances and pass down control to their
daughters, but by actively negotiating their entry into development initiatives, some women were
able to attain leadership roles. Third, colonial missions played a central role in establishing the
foundations for racial segregation, but Christianity was essential to local identity. Despite some
disgruntlement with Moravian Church governance, mission inhabitants felt that resources were
managed in an equitable manner and appreciated the Church’s peacekeeping role. Similarly to
other postcolonial feminist scholars working in the southern African context, my research team
found that power and identity were neither static nor universal, but rather were negotiated
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
27
through complex social relations that were situated in place and time (Chilisa, Major, and
Khudu-Petersen 2017). Democratic community forums and egalitarian codes of conduct enabled
Wupperthalers to voice their interests, access resources, and negotiate difference.
Feminist scholars have noted that participatory research offers the means to ‘move toward an
implicated, embodied, reflexive and responsible participative inquiry’ (Janes 2016, 75). In the
case of Wupperthal, local knowledge proved vital in terms of unpacking sources of conflict and
cohesion. Like other Northern scholars who have worked with Southern populations, I found that
participatory methods supported the connection of local and expert knowledge, but that a vigilant
sensitivity to power was necessary in order to prevent a process of recolonization (Schurr and
Segebart 2012). By demonstrating a willingness to listen and learn, I enabled the research team
to establish the trust-based relations needed to investigate sensitive topics. My co-investigators
and other participants likewise taught me that a spirit of generosity and mutual respect is
essential if communities of research and practice are to genuinely connect with and learn from
difference. These local and relational insights may inform strategies for addressing the material
and ideological divisions impeding development on a more global scale. Indeed, the time for
building a politics of identification has never been more important than now.
Notes on contributor
Jennifer Keahey PhD is Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Senior
Sustainability Scholar at Arizona State University. As a development sociologist with expertise
in agriculture and trade, she studies power in relation to rural livelihoods, market-based
sustainability, and stakeholder participation. Committed to the principles of feminist praxis,
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
28
Keahey connects development knowledges by reuniting social theory with empirical observation
and by integrating methods for research and practice.
Funding
This research was supported by the Horticulture Collaborative Research Support Program [grant
number 09-002945-10].
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Acknowledgments
I am indebted to several project partners. These include my research team and the communities
of Wupperthal as well as the Center for Fair & Alternative Trade (CFAT), the Institute for
Poverty, Land, and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), and Sandra Kruger and Associates. I am also
grateful to Pamela Moss and my three peer reviewers for their thoughtful assistance.
References
Adhikari, Mohamed. 2006. Not White Enough, Not Black Enough: Racial Identity in the South
African Coloured Community. Cape Town: Double Storey Books.
———. 2009. Burdened by Race: Coloured Identities in Southern Africa. Cape Town: UCT
Press.
Aliber, Michael, and Ben Cousins. 2013. "Livelihoods after Land Reform in South Africa."
Journal of Agrarian Change 13 (1):140-65. doi: 10.1111/joac.12012.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
29
Bilbe, Mark Charles. 2009. Wupperthal: The Formation of a Community in South Africa, 1830-
1965: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
Case, Anne, Victoria Hosegood, and Frances Lund. 2005. "The Reach and Impact of Child
Support Grants: Evidence from KwaZulu-Natal." Development Southern Africa 22
(4):467-82. doi: 10.1080/03768350500322925.
Chikulo, B.C. 2015. "Land Reforms in South Africa: A Review of Progress and Challenges." In
Land Reforms and Natural Resource Conflicts in Africa, edited by Tukumbi Numumba-
Kasongo, 33-54. New York: Routledge.
Chilisa, Bagele, Thenjiwe Emily Major, and Kelne Khudu-Petersen. 2017. "Community
Engagement with a Postcolonial, African-based Relational Paradigm." Qualitative
Research 17 (3):326-39. doi: doi:10.1177/1468794117696176.
Dworkin, Shari L., Christopher Colvin, Abbey Hatcher, and Dean Peacock. 2012. "Men’s
Perceptions of Women’s Rights and Changing Gender Relations in South Africa: Lessons
for Working With Men and Boys in HIV and Antiviolence Programs." Gender & Society
26 (1):97-120. doi: 10.1177/0891243211426425.
Erasmus, Zimitri. 2000. "Recognition Through Pleasure, Recognition Through Violence:
Gendered Coloured Subjectivities in South Africa." Current Sociology 48 (3):71-85. doi:
10.1177/0011392100048003006.
Ferguson, James. 2010. "The Uses of Neoliberalism." Antipode 41:166-84. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-
8330.2009.00721.x.
Greenberg, Stephen. 2015. "Agrarian Reform and South Africa's Agro-food System." The
Journal of Peasant Studies:1-23. doi: 10.1080/03066150.2014.993620.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
30
Hochschild, Arlie, and Anne Machung. 1989. The Second Shift: Working Parents and the
Revolution at Home. New York: Viking Press.
Hughes, Alex, Cheryl McEwan, and David Bek. 2015. "Mobilizing the Ethical Consumer in
South Africa." Geoforum 67:148-57. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.07.011.
Ives, Sarah. 2017. Steeped in Heritage: The Racial Politics of South African Rooibos Tea.
Durham: Duke University Press.
Janes, Julia E. 2016. "Democratic Encounters? Epistemic Privilege, Power, and Community-
based Participatory Action Research." Action Research 14 (1):72-87. doi:
10.1177/1476750315579129.
Keahey, Jennifer. 2017. "The Promise and Perils of Market-based Sustainability." Sociology of
Development 3(2):143-62. doi: 10.1525/sod.2017.3.2.143.
Keahey, Jennifer, Laura T. Raynolds, Sandra Kruger and Andries du Toit. 2016. "Participatory
Commodity Networking: An Integrated Framework for Fairtrade Research and Support."
Action Research. doi: 10.1177/1476750316661396.
Keahey, Jennifer. 2015. "Fair Trade and Racial Equity in Africa." In Handbook of Research on
Fair Trade, edited by Laura T. Raynolds and Elizabeth A. Bennett, 441-56.
Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Kerner, Ina. 2017. "Relations of Difference: Power and Inequality in Intersectional and
Postcolonial Feminist Theories." Current Sociology 65 (6):846-66. doi:
10.1177/0011392116665152.
Kruger and Associates. 2010. "Rooibos Socio-Economic Study." In, 1-263. Cape Town: Ministry
of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
31
Lehohla, Pali. 2012. Census 2011: Census in Brief. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.
———. 2014. Poverty Trends in South Africa: An Examination of Absolute Poverty between
2006 and 2011. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.
Linton, April. 2012. "Growing Fair Trade in South Africa." Globalizations 9 (5):725-40. doi:
10.1080/14747731.2012.732440.
Marchand, Marianne H., and Anne Sisson Runyan. 2010. Gender and Global Restructuring:
Sightings, Sites and Resistances. New York: Routledge.
May, Harry, and Edward Lahiff. 2007. "Land reform in Namaqualand, 1994–2005: A Review."
Journal of Arid Environments 70 (4):782-98. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2006.08.015.
Mazibuko, Sibonginkosi. 2013. "Understanding Underdevelopment through the Sustainable
Livelihoods Approach." Community Development 44 (2):173-87.
Mendoza, Breny. 2015. "Coloniality of Gender and Power." In The Oxford Handbook of
Feminist Theory, edited by Lisa Disch and Mary Hawkesworth, 100-21. New York:
Oxford University Press.
Moghadam, Valentine M. 2013. Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle
East. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. 1984. "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial
Discourses." Boundary 2 12 (3):333-58.
———. 2003. "“Under Western Eyes” Revisited: Feminist Solidarity through Anticapitalist
Struggles." Signs 28 (2):499-535. doi: 10.1086/342914.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
32
Oberhauser, Ann M. 2016. "(Re)constructing Rural–Urban Spaces: Gendered Livelihoods,
Migration, and Natural Resources in South Africa." GeoJournal 81 (3):489-502. doi:
10.1007/s10708-015-9635-5.
Oberhauser, Ann M., Jennifer L. Mandel, and Holly M. Hapke. 2004. "Gendered Livelihoods in
Diverse Global Contexts: An Introduction." Gender, Place & Culture 11 (2):205-8. doi:
10.1080/0966369042000218455.
Oyĕwùmí, Oyèrónkẹ́ 2002. "Conceptualizing Gender: The Eurocentric Foundations of Feminist
Concepts and the Challenge of African Epistemologies." Jenda: A Journal of Culture and
African Women Studies 2 (1).
Peet, Richard. 2002. "Ideology, Discourse, and the Geography of Hegemony: From Socialist to
Neoliberal Development in Postapartheid South Africa." Antipode 34 (1):54-84. doi:
10.1111/1467-8330.00226.
Ponte, Stefano, and Joachim Ewert. 2009. "Which Way is “Up” in Upgrading? Trajectories of
Change in the Value Chain for South African Wine." World Development 37 (10):1637-
50. doi: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.03.008.
Quijano, Aníbal. 2000. "Coloniality of Power and Eurocentrism in Latin America." International
Sociology 15 (2):215-32. doi: 10.1177/0268580900015002005.
Radcliffe, Sarah A. 2015. "Gender and Postcolonialism." In The Routledge Handbook of Gender
and Development, edited by Anne Coles, Leslie Gray and Janet Momsen, 35-46. New
York: Routledge.
Ratele, Kopano. 2001. "Notes on the Anxieties of Belonging." Agenda: Empowering Women for
Gender Equity (50):77-82.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
33
———. 2008. "Masculinity and Male Mortality in South Africa." African Safety Promotion 6
(2):19-41.
Raynolds, Laura T., and Nicholas Greenfield. 2015. "Fair Trade: Movement and Markets." In
Handbook of Research on Fair Trade, edited by Laura T. Raynolds and Elizabeth A.
Bennett, 24-41. Northampton: Edward Elgar.
Sa’ar, Amalia. 2005. "Postcolonial Feminism, The Politics of Identification, and the Liberal
Bargain." Gender & Society 19 (5):680-700. doi: 10.1177/0891243205278405.
Schurr, Carolin, and Dörte Segebart. 2012. "Engaging with Feminist Postcolonial Concerns
through Participatory Action Research and Intersectionality." Geogr. Helv. 67 (3):147-54. doi:
10.5194/gh-67-147-2012.
Seidman, Gay W. 1999. "Gendered Citizenship: South Africa's Democratic Transition and the
Construction of a Gendered State." Gender & Society 13 (3):287-307. doi:
10.1177/089124399013003002.
Ubink, Janine. 2008. Traditional Authorities in Africa. Resurgence in an Era of
Democratisation: Leiden: Leiden University Press.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
34
Figure 1. Wupperthal communities.
Note: Distances are approximate.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
35
Figure 2. Co-investigators analyze research findings.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis
in Gender, Place and Culture.
36
Figure 3. Community decision-making.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis in Gender, Place and Culture.
37
Table 1. Involvement in household financial decision-making by sex and age (N=48)
Female
Male
18-29
30-59
60+
Total
18-29
30-59
60+
Total
Yes
3
11
7
21 (87.5%)
1
4
7
12 (50%)
No
2
1
--
3 (12.5 %)
5
5
2
12 (50%)
Total
5 (21% )
12 (50%)
7 (29%)
24 (100%)
6 (25%)
9 (37.5%)
9 (37.5%)
24 (100%)
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that is in the process of being published by Taylor & Francis in Gender, Place and Culture.
38
Table 2. Years of formal education by sex and age (N=48)
Sex
Female
Male
Age
18-29
30-59
60+
Total
18-29
30-59
60+
Total
0-4 years
--
--
3
3 (12.5%)
--
--
2
2 (8%)
5-9 years
1
10
4
15 (62.5%)
1
5
7
13 (54%)
10-12 years
4
2
--
6 (25%)
5
3
--
8 (33%)
Tertiary
--
--
--
--
--
1a
--
1 (4%)
Total
5 (21%)
12 (50%)
7 (29%)
24 (100%)
6 (25%)
9 (37.5%)
9 (37.5%)
24 (100%)
Note:
a. Sole white inhabitant.
