Using cotton, needles and threads to break the women's silence: embroideries as a decolonising framework

Like many other countries in the world, South Africa is going through a process of transformation (with a high focus on gender transformation). After existing under an oppressive apartheid regime that rendered many people as second-class citizens for decades, most South Africans are seeking ways to move forward and make meaning of their newly found democracy. One of the ways in which meaning and balance is sought is through empowerment processes that have been put in place by the government and other non-governmental agencies. With this in the background, and borrowing from Paulo Freire's pedagogy of the oppressed and Yuval-Davis's notions of citizenship, this paper seeks to look at how empowerment is understood, put into action and possible challenges that accompany it. Drawing briefly from a research project I conducted, I shall highlight how visual methodologies such as embroideries can be used as narratives that break the silence and challenge the taken for granted. I will further highlight the importance of taking seriously the effects of history in the present, and the importance of engaging the communities with which we work in our quest for meaning-making and social justice.