“Save us all”: “baby rape” and post-apartheid narratives

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10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This essay aims to discuss post-apartheid reports about the myth of ‘the virgin cure’ (the idea that sex with a virgin cures AIDS) alongside representations of black men and babies in Lara Foot Newton’s play Tshepang: The third testament, and the film Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood. In the context of reports about an epidemic of ‘baby rape’ in South Africa - which have been distributed to the rest of the world in a global media blitz expressing reservations about the newborn democracy since the late 1990s - Tshepang and Tsotsi present sacrificial characters whose suffering becomes elevated in redemptive national narratives that move symbolically towards restoring the black heterosexual couple as custodians of the new-born nation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)105-119
Number of pages15
JournalScrutiny2
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2008
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Literature and Literary Theory

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