Abstract: Yvette Abrahams
My paper will look at the lives and social structure of the historical
Khoekhoe as a model for a gift economy. The Khoekhoe are the First Nations
people of South Africa. I feel they are a suitable model because much
of Khoekhoe culture is based on giving. Even today, after three hundred
and fifty years of colonialism, two hundred and fifty years of slavery,
and fifty years of apartheid, much remains of Khoekhoe culture. So I want
to talk about the little daily things we do which remain based on an ethic
of giving, and how this plays out in our struggle for indigenous people's
rights.
My paper will conclude with a warning, and that is based on my experience
of trying to implement a culture of giving in a capitalist economy. The
question is how much of this can actually work in a very different social
system. Most particularly I think of women, whose free labour in terms
of housework, raising children and providing psychological care and nurturing
for the patriarchs must be regarded as form of giving, yet it is one which
works to the disadvantage of women.
Hopefully these two examples, one positive and one negative, will inform
us in our deliberations around the gift economy.
Biographical Information
In essence what I study is social transformation for equity. I wish to
highlight the relationship between the theory and practice of social transformation,
since I believe that any attempt to divorce the two is self-defeating
in practice, and theoretically sterile.
One might say that my whole life has been determined by the struggle for
social transformation. I was born in Cape Town in 1963 to activist parents.
I went into exile at the age of six months, and grew up in Namibia, Zambia,
England and Sweden. I came back in time for the last of the struggle in
1983. Joined the Black Consciousness Movement (AZASM) in 1984, and never
left. It may have moved but I did not. Spent the period 1986-1990 running
community projects in Mitchells Plain, particularly arts and culture projects.
Resumed studies with negotiations in 1991, but remained running a dance
school until 1998, with a short break for Master's studies in Canada in
1993.
I came back home in 1994, when I began a doctorate in History at the University
of Cape Town dealing with race, class and gender in the historiography
of the Khoekhoe woman Sarah Bartmann. I completed in 2000. I am currently
working at Herstory Project, which does the simple first wave Black feminist/womanist
work of telling womenıs stories. I also do consultancy work on gender
issues. I informally mentor Black women academics, I would suppose the
number of mentorees currently amounts to about twenty. In my consultancies,
I always employ interns from the UWC Gender Equity Unit's volunteer program,
and from the Namibian Women's Association's Girl-child Project. Up to
now, I have employed about nine, providing them with on-the-job experience
and valuable CV building, not to mention a bit of extra income.
I was co-founder of the Women of Colour Consciousness raising group at
UCT, co-organizer of the First Africanist Womanist Workshop at UCT in
1998, and the #Khib Women's Centre Consultative workshop at UWC in 2003.
I have remained an activist, and am currently a member of the Sarah Bartmann
Centre for Women and Children Volunteer program, as well as a member of
their board. Am also chairperson of the Sarah Bartmann Cultural Council,
and a founder member of #Khib Women's Centre, an NGO dedicated to research
against gender-based violence.
For fun, I garden, dance, cook and spend time with friends. I also write
poetry and paint textiles.
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