Basali!: Stories by and about Women in Lesotho
Basali! means 'women' and is one of the most common exclamations in the Sesotho language. Usually uttered by a woman and delivered with a laugh, a shaking of the head, or a clapping of hands, Basali! evokes Basotho women's admiration and wonderment for themselves and each other. These stories in 'Sesotho-ised' English reveal a way of life and a way of perceiving experience that is unique in African literature. The stories offer glimpses of traditional healers, circumcision schools, witches,...
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Basali! means 'women' and is one of the most common exclamations in the Sesotho language. Usually uttered by a woman and delivered with a laugh, a shaking of the head, or a clapping of hands, Basali! evokes Basotho women's admiration and wonderment for themselves and each other. These stories in 'Sesotho-ised' English reveal a way of life and a way of perceiving experience that is unique in African literature. The stories offer glimpses of traditional healers, circumcision schools, witches, bride-prices, and extended rural family life. There are families disrupted by migrant labour, women and men brutalised by apartheid, teenagers who violate tradition, and middle-class office-workers whose rural families live by a different click than the one that ticks for them. The focus of each story is the decisions women make, the actions they take to protect and to provide for themselves and their children, and to care for the people they love.
AcknowledgementsIntroductionThree Moments in a Marriage1An Unexpected Daughter17The Lost Sheep is Found24Give Me a Chance31Arriving Home in a Helicopter39How She Lost Her Eye51A Letter to 'M'e61Catastrophe64The Decision to Remain70The Universe77Why Blame Her?79The African Goddess: The Figure in My Past86What about the Lobola?92Escape to Manzini99Ask Him to Explain104How I Became an Activist109Basali! A Photographic Essay119Glossary128Contributors131
