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Silence, Disobedience, and African Catholic Sisters in Apartheid South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Catherine Higgs
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Abstract:

This article considers the choices made during the apartheid era by Catholic sisters who were members of one of the largest orders for African women, the Montebello Dominicans, based in KwaZulu-Natal, and one of the smallest orders, the Companions of Saint Angela, based in Soweto, the sprawling African township to the southwest of Johannesburg. The Montebellos took an apolitical stance and embraced “silence,” but they could not avoid the political tensions that defined KwaZulu-Natal. The Companions became activists, whose “disobedience” brought them into direct confrontation with the state. History, region, ethnicity, and timing help explain what it meant for African women religious to be apolitical, and what it meant to be politicized, in the context of state repression so effective that every action could be interpreted as a political act.

Résumé:

Résumé:

Cet article évalue les choix des soeurs catholiques pendant l'Apartheid, qui étaient membres d'un des plus grands ordres pour les africaines, les dominicaines de Montebello, basées dans le KwaZulu-Natal, ainsi que l'un des ordres les plus petits, les compagnes de St Angela a Soweto, le township tentaculaire du sud ouest de Johannesburg. Les sœurs de Montebello restèrent neutres politiquement, et adoptèrent un statut “silencieux,” tout en ne pouvant éviter les tensions politiques qui régnaient dans le KwaZulu-Natal. Les compagnes s'engagèrent alors politiquement, et leurs actes d'insubordination les poussèrent à un état de confrontation directe avec l'état. Le contexte historique, régional et ethnique, ainsi que l'époque permettent de comprendre la signification d'un choix de neutralité ou d'engagement pour les religieuses africaines, dans un état de répression si percutante que tout acte risquait d'être interprété comme un acte politique.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , September 2011 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2011

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References

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