Songs of struggle: dominance and resistance in Venda ngano song narratives

Abstract

Characterisation in Venda ngano song narratives affirms social identity as comprising multiple divergent social roles that are situationally enacted. Such characterisation subverts the notion of structure as the fixed, overarching principle of social organisation. Instead, structure emerges as a variable framework within which divergent views of the world are expressed in a variety of conflicting situations. Any notion of a dominance-acquiescence dichotomy that posits male and traditional political hegemony against submission by women and other subordinates is undermined by the interaction of a range of power forms, and by resistance to dominance.