In Conversation with Mamphela Ramphele on the Urgency of Storytelling for Blackwomen in South Africa

Abstract: The South African Apartheid government undermined Black people's capacity to engage in epistemic practices, such as giving testimony about their experiences of living under Apartheid or making sense of the various Acts that conditioned their unfreedoms. Many Blackwomen freedom fighters, such as Mamphela Ramphele, made it their project to resist Apartheid. In her writings, Ramphele not only reclaims her position as an epistemic subject but also demonstrates the power of self-narration, of telling her own story in ways that are attentive to the nature of Apartheid and its interlocking systems of oppression. This conversation provides insights into the ways in which Ramphele measures the value and impact of her writing which cuts across various genres. She has authored several autobiographies, policy briefs, political manifestos, and scholarly essays and books.