’n Feministiese ondersoek na Bettina Wyngaard se misdaadfiksie

Abstract

The recent discourse on black feminism in Afrikaans literature is strongly influenced by powerful and activist-oriented writers like Ronelda Kamfer, Lynthia Julius, and Veronique Jephtas. With their poetry and public statements, they have shaped the feminist discourse significantly. However, the recent discourse on feminism in Afrikaans largely overlooks the contributions of certain black Afrikaans women writers. Bettina Wyngaard, a black Afrikaans woman novelist, attempts to disrupt this silence and through her literature and opinion pieces, she advances an alternative feminist stance. This article focuses on Wyngaard’s contribution to the recent feminist discourse and the ways in which she asserts her voice within the debate. In this article I refer to three of her crime fiction novels, namely Vuilspel (Foul play) (2013), Slaafs (Slavishly) (2016) and Jagter (Hunter) (2019). I analyse these texts in attempt to examine the feminist ideology underlying her literature. I argue that Wyngaard chooses crime fiction, a genre traditionally dominated by white males, in attempt to sanction her voice within the feminism debate in Afrikaans. In this article, I examine Wyngaard’s crime fiction within the context of third wave of feminism, which engages with popular culture as a tool for critique and to promote feminist ideology. I explore the feminist consciousness and ideology in Wyngaard’s novels and the ways in which she challenges established patriarchal conventions in crime fiction as a genre. I employ Anne Cranny-Francis’ framework in the feminist value of crime fiction to examine the feminist themes in Wyngaard’s work.