Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Collaboratively Writing a Self : Textual Strategies in Margaret McCord's The Calling of Katie Makanya: A Memoir of South Africa

Siméus, Jenny LU orcid (2015) In Research in African Literatures 46(2). p.70-84
Abstract
This paper analyzes The Calling of Katie Makanya (1995) by Margaret McCord as a collaborative autobiography. Katie’s motive for wanting her story to be told is not a desire to find her own voice and identity through narration, but seemingly rather to add to and complete the picture presented in the narrative My Patients Were Zulus (1946), written by Katie’s employer and Margaret McCord’s father, Dr. James B. McCord. Moreover, Margaret McCord is portrayed in The Calling of Katie Makanya as finding it problematic as a white woman to write a black woman’s story. Using the theories of Judith Butler, the analyses show that the context of the narrative’s emergence creates a complex framing of The Calling of Katie Makanya. This paper aims to... (More)
This paper analyzes The Calling of Katie Makanya (1995) by Margaret McCord as a collaborative autobiography. Katie’s motive for wanting her story to be told is not a desire to find her own voice and identity through narration, but seemingly rather to add to and complete the picture presented in the narrative My Patients Were Zulus (1946), written by Katie’s employer and Margaret McCord’s father, Dr. James B. McCord. Moreover, Margaret McCord is portrayed in The Calling of Katie Makanya as finding it problematic as a white woman to write a black woman’s story. Using the theories of Judith Butler, the analyses show that the context of the narrative’s emergence creates a complex framing of The Calling of Katie Makanya. This paper aims to highlight and examine instances where the effects of this complex framing rise to the surface of the text and create tensions in the narrative. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Collaborative autobiography, Margaret McCord, James McCord, Katie Makanya, South Africa
in
Research in African Literatures
volume
46
issue
2
pages
70 - 84
publisher
Indiana University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:84930251858
ISSN
0034-5210
DOI
10.2979/reseafrilite.46.2.70
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
ede56819-e2bb-4581-87d9-76578ab77b40
date added to LUP
2021-08-13 14:35:18
date last changed
2022-04-19 07:43:49
@article{ede56819-e2bb-4581-87d9-76578ab77b40,
  abstract     = {{This paper analyzes The Calling of Katie Makanya (1995) by Margaret McCord as a collaborative autobiography. Katie’s motive for wanting her story to be told is not a desire to find her own voice and identity through narration, but seemingly rather to add to and complete the picture presented in the narrative My Patients Were Zulus (1946), written by Katie’s employer and Margaret McCord’s father, Dr. James B. McCord. Moreover, Margaret McCord is portrayed in The Calling of Katie Makanya as finding it problematic as a white woman to write a black woman’s story. Using the theories of Judith Butler, the analyses show that the context of the narrative’s emergence creates a complex framing of The Calling of Katie Makanya. This paper aims to highlight and examine instances where the effects of this complex framing rise to the surface of the text and create tensions in the narrative.}},
  author       = {{Siméus, Jenny}},
  issn         = {{0034-5210}},
  keywords     = {{Collaborative autobiography; Margaret McCord; James McCord; Katie Makanya; South Africa}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{70--84}},
  publisher    = {{Indiana University Press}},
  series       = {{Research in African Literatures}},
  title        = {{Collaboratively Writing a Self : Textual Strategies in Margaret McCord's The Calling of Katie Makanya: A Memoir of South Africa}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.2979/reseafrilite.46.2.70}},
  doi          = {{10.2979/reseafrilite.46.2.70}},
  volume       = {{46}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}