Abstract:
The failure of the Habermasian public sphere in the South African context results in the marginalisation of South African women and their experiences of gender-based violence (GBV). While various reformulations and revisions to Habermasian public sphere theory have been made, they do not account for the South African reality. In this thesis, I offer a revision to public sphere theory that draws on Hamilton and Cowling’s recent theorisation of the local public sphere as a network to offer a revision that perceives of the dominant and counterpublic spheres as interlinked. Using this model, I show how narratives in subaltern counterpublics, such as those about women and their experiences, move into the dominant public sphere. Using the idea that the public sphere is a network, I further argue that the various media (mainstream, alternative and social) in South Africa are interdependent and thus important. I make an argument for all media to be involved with the process of reporting and verifying basic fact as well as following up and analysing. I further show how women can stake a claim in the public sphere through what I term “disruptive reportage and public engagement”. Drawing on Gqola’s understanding of gender-based violence as produced by patriarchy and producing what she terms “The Female Fear Factory”, I offer specific examples of how to disrupt the patriarchal norms in public engagement. I do this by analysing the news reportage of four different university-related incidents of gender-based violence, specifically the Rhodes Memorial Rapist, the #RUReferenceList, the Wits topless protests and the University of Pretoria’s Serrie poster incident. The disruptions I present are characterised by an awareness of Foucault’s arguments that language creates and maintains our reality and power relationships as well as a commitment to dismantling the gendered power struggle gender-based violence is produced by. The implementation of these disruptive public engagements can contribute to recreating a world void of gender-based violence.
