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Communicating through performance: Izigiyo zawomame as gendered protest texts

This paper examines the content of Zulu women's izigiyo performed at functions in KwaQwabe, a rural area near Stanger in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. We hypothesise that izigiyo as oral texts are largely gendered responses to issues of heritage, culture, women abuse and domestic violence. The paper explores gender relations in izigiyo in order to establish whether Zulu women have always been silent when it comes to issues of abuse and domestic violence. Izigiyo are, in most cases, metaphoric in nature and are performed by both Zulu men and women (Jousse, 2004). In the midst of the izigiyo expression(s) and performances men and women relay their perceptions, experiences and feelings about the way of life in their families and communities at large. This paper, however, confines itself to the Zulu women's izigiyo performance and does not include those enacted by men.