Moms with guns: women's political agency in anti-apartheid visual culture

African Arts, Summer, 2009 by Kim Miller

The cover image from Sechaba, an anti-apartheid magazine published by the African National Congress (ANC) in 1968 (Fig. 1), features a common subject embraced by artists and familiar to art historians across historical eras and geographical locations: motherhood. (1) Like other mother and child images appearing in a wide range of visual media, the woman here conveys qualities that are typically associated with "good" motherhood: maternal devotion, a desire to protect one's child, and a willingness to self-sacrifice for a greater good. This South African image, however, presents the "good mother" in an unconventional--if not uncomfortable--role: that of soldier.

Confronting us directly with an unwavering gaze, this mother conveys strength and defiance in multiple ways. Her substantial muscles are visibly taut, demonstrating great physical power. She is in motion, actively turning toward us, her chest thrusting outward as her right shoulder and arm drawback. She holds her weapon close. The fingers of her right hand close tightly around the base of a bayonet, and its shining, sharp blade points out in front of her, poised and ready to use. She is steady, unyielding, and prepared for combat. In contrast, the other side of this soldier's body supports and shields an infant. Sleeping soundly on her mother's back, the child's heavy head rests on top of the mother's shoulder, the child's soft, small hands tenderly framing its face. The mother's left arm is drawn back behind her body and beyond our view, perhaps reaching to support, shield, or comfort the child. The child is unaware that she is both linked to conflict and protected from it by the mother's body.

Here, the "good mother" is active and empowered, focused primarily not on her child, but on a larger political goal. Prepared for sacrifice in a much more literal sense than usual, this maternal image affirms women's life-giving potential while concurrently displaying the mother's ability, if not willingness, to take it away. This image presents an atypical vision of maternal responsibility, or what it means to be a good mother, in the context of South Africa's struggle against apartheid. It is one of a range of images that work together to establish an iconography of militarized motherhood in apartheid-era South Africa.

By tracing South African images of anti-apartheid militarized mothers, I aim to pursue two threads of thought. First, I consider how profoundly different these images are from visualizations of mother-activism in politicized contexts outside of South Africa. Second, I consider the ways in which motherhood is conceived, conveyed, and manipulated for political use in South Africa's revolutionary struggle. I am specifically interested in insights the images provide into the shifting relationship between motherhood, ANC political objectives, and women's political realities. Each section of this paper questions the extent to which mother-activism, and its representation, leads to long-term social change and increased political agency for women.

THE SPECTACLE OF MOTHER-ACTIVISM

The idea that motherhood entitles women to speak to and for entire societies has moved women to organize courageous movements against military dictatorships, and to confront poverty, environmental degradation, and racial inequality (Orleck 1997:10).

In order to understand the discourse of motherhood within the anti-apartheid movement, it is useful to contrast it with other instances where women have used motherhood for political gain. As feminist scholars have noted, there are a variety of ways in which women have employed symbols and images associated with motherhood as a basis for political engagement. For example, women have drawn on their roles as mothers to promote peace during times of war; they have relied on perceptions of motherhood to confront oppressive authorities on behalf of their children; and they have organized and agitated to improve living or environmental conditions for their families. As Annelise Orleck notes, "[F]or many women in cultures around the world, motherhood is a powerful political identity around which they have galvanized broad-based and influential grassroots movements for social change" (Orleck 1997:7). In many cases, mother-activist movements have included women who were previously apolitical, and who were motivated to engage in political action because of an injustice committed against their children. (2)

One of the better-known examples of the link between motherhood and activism is the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, an organization of Argentine women who came together to publicly protest and mourn the disappearance (and presumed torture and murder) of their children during Argentina's Dirty War. The Mothers engaged in courageous public activities that were profoundly visual: they wore white headscarves to symbolically invoke the dove as a symbol of peace, they carried large photographic portraits of their children to recall memories of them, and some women held blank, lifesized cut-outs in the shape of bodies to emphasize their absence (see Bouvard 2002). These weekly demonstrations took place in the Plaza de Mayo of Buenos Aires, in front of the Presidential Palace, and boldly served as a reminder of the willingness of everyday women to risk their lives and engage in political action in defense of their children. Indeed, several scholars argue that it was the Mothers' reliance on maternal politics, or what Julia Wells calls "the motherist pattern," that gave them a critical edge in permanently transforming Argentine politics (see Taylor 1997b and Bouvard 2002). According to Wells, the "motherist pattern" includes an intensity of commitment, unusual levels of political activity, building strong alliances and challenges to government policies" all articulated through language and imagery that focuses on mothering (Wells 1991:9).