Abstract
Winnie Madikizela Mandela has authored two autobiographies, Part of My Soul Went with Him (1984) and 491 Days: Prisoner Number 1323/69 (2013), which provide valuable historical testimonies about her growing up within the turmoil of South African history. Using her autobiographical writing to shed light on the events that have prompted Winnie Madikizela Mandela to take political action, this essay retraces the construction of the woman’s image as a political icon. Her books portray a woman who has developed her charisma independently of her husband Nelson Mandela, showing how her political views matured and her personal political consciousness evolved.
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Notes
- 1.
Part of My Soul Went with Him is hereafter referred to as POS and 491 Days: Prisoner Number 1323/69 as 491PN. Winnie Mandela refers to her first autobiography (POS) and Winnie Madikizela Mandela refers to her second work (491PN).
- 2.
Antjie Krog is a poet and an anti-apartheid campaigner; she published her accounts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Country of My Skull.
- 3.
My translation of “un récit rétrospectif en prose qu’une personne réelle fait de sa propre existence et de sa personnalité” (Lejeune 1996: 14).
- 4.
Under the banner of the ANC , Winnie Mandela organized the Defiance Campaign along with women in the township of Soweto . They burnt their passes as a protest against discrimination. The Pass Laws (1952) made it compulsory for all black people to have passes with them at all times. This internal pass was a means to control the movements of black people in white areas.
- 5.
In the French translation of her autobiography , the then French President’s wife, Danielle Mitterrand, wrote in her foreword that all young French people should read about Winnie Mandela’s struggle in order to be aware of what was going on under the apartheid regime.
- 6.
Three years after the publication of her autobiography , Winnie Mandela received the United Nations Prize for Human Rights (in December 1988).
- 7.
Indeed, during Nelson Mandela ’s trial, Winnie Mandela decided to wear Xhosa traditional costumes as a form of resistance and protest. The police then forbade her from coming to court dressed in her traditional costume (POS 76).
- 8.
The body of Stompie Seipei was found on January 6, 1989 (Krog 1999: 375).
- 9.
Rich Mkhondo in “Facing the Past: Truth and Winnie Mandela,” http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/July-dec97/mandela_12-4.htlm, accessed on June 25, 2017.
Works Cited
Krog, Antjie. Country of My Skull. London: Vintage Books, 1999.
Lejeune, Philippe. L’Autobiographie en France. Paris: Colin, 1971.
———. Le Pacte autobiographique. Paris: Seuil, 1996.
Madikizela Mandela, Winnie. 491 Days: Prisoner 1323/69. Johannesburg: Picador Africa, 2013.
Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom. London: Hachette Digital, 2013 [1994].
Mandela, Winnie. Part of My Soul Went with Him. New York: W. W. Norton, 1984.
Meer, Fatima. Plus haut que l’espoir, une biographie de Nelson Mandela. Paris: Présence Africaine, 1993.
Mkhondo, Rich. “Truth and Winnie Mandela.” Online Newshour, December 4, 1997, 1–7.
———. “Facing the Past: Truth and Winnie Mandela.” http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/July-dec97/mandela_12-4.htlm. Accessed on November 22, 2017.
Njabulo, Ndebele. The Cry of Winnie Mandela. Claremont: Ayebia, 2004.
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Lebdai, B. (2018). Winnie Madikizela Mandela: The Construction of a South African Political Icon. In: Letort, D., Lebdai, B. (eds) Women Activists and Civil Rights Leaders in Auto/Biographical Literature and Films. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77081-9_2
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