Two hours of Koleka Putuma’s ‘Collective Amnesia: The Audio Experience’ later, and this single line remains ingrained in my brain. I stay glued to my seat, my body numb as I try to process what I just experienced.
“Black solidarity at the expense of a black womxn’s anything is a farce.”
There are few works of literature that manage to resonate with me on a level like this, and even fewer that encapsulate my experience as a womxn in South Africa. Koleka Putuma’s ‘Collective Amnesia’ is a work of art and is the perfect balance between being both witty and absolutely heart-breaking. It serves as a critical commentary on the complex power dynamics that manifest as a result of existing as a queer, black womxn in a postcolonial context.
‘It seems like the world does not know what a black womxn walking, looks like, when she is breathing.”
The collection is divided into three parts: Inherited Memory, Buried Memory and Postmemory, where each new section introduces alternative notions of the intricacies of navigating the pain of the past, healing and moving on. It explores the realities of GBV and the commodification of the female body, the prevailing legacy of Apartheid and the use of religion to justify the repression of queer existence. Additionally, ‘Collective Amnesia’ delves into grief, depression, complicated family relationships, the role of social media in an era of emerging ‘modernity’ and the beauty of female sexuality.
Of course, my existence as a white womxn only allows me a glimpse into the experiences that Koleka so rawly presented me with. But what she does so masterfully, is urge us, all of us, to REMEMBER. Twenty-six years may have passed, but ‘collective amnesia’ is simply not an option. As she so aptly states in “1994: A Love Poem”:
I want someone to who is going to look at me
and love me
the way that white people look at
and love
Mandela.
There are ghosts that continue to live among us, and the only manner of moving forward is through listening, respecting each other’s experiences and actively unlearning.
Through her work as a poet and theatre-maker, Koleka Putuma has continued to inspire people around the world, and as such, was nominated as Okay Africa’s Most Influential Womxn of the Year in 2019.
To purchase ‘Collective Amnesia’: the book/audio experience or to find out more, visit www.kolekaputuma.com.