'Treating one another like human beings': South African engendering within the semantics of current feminist discourse

Abstract

As a route towards analysis of key debates in South African discussions about gender, this article explores the use of a key term within the range of terminologies currently common throughout much feminist discourse, in English, in South African space: engender. Although the article recognises the implications of the use of English in the representation of key debates concerning gender, sexuality and power within South Africa, the focus of the argument is on the semantic complexities illuminated through detailed consideration of speakers' use of the English term 'engender' in activist contexts. This consideration is prefaced by discussion of some of the difficulties of working with ideas about 'sex' and 'gender' in plurilingual activist contexts, when adult education is often driven by development training discourses. The article concludes by suggesting that semantic negotiations of English words may bear witness to a moment of particular historical debate in the way in which 'gender struggles' are currently articulated.