Abstract
This dissertation examines the representation of customary marriage and lobola in Lauretta
Ngcobo’s And They Didn’t Die (1990), Malebo Sephodi’s Miss Behave (2017), and Sihle Hlophe’s
Lobola, A Bride’s True Price? (2022). I argue that these texts make visible how lobola converges
with sexism, racism, and classism to oppress Black South African women and reproduce gender
inequalities. This dissertation illuminates the argument above by engaging with customary
marriage, lobola and critiquing both customs for reproducing patriarchal logics that continue to
oppress Black women. It employs Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality to make visible
how lobola intersects with classism, sexism, and racism to subordinate Black South African
women and mostly benefit men and grant them power. In this dissertation, I show that in And They
Didn’t Die, lobola and customary marriage operate in conjunction with racism and patriarchy to
oppress Black women in rural landscapes. I also show that, while Miss Behave offers a powerful
critique of patriarchy and customary marriage, it also offers individual solutions to gendered
inequality that leave racial capitalism intact, thus further raising questions about Black women’s
complicity with their own oppression. Lastly, in Lobola, A Bride’s True Price?, Hlophe suggests
that women can make decisions about lobola that challenge dominant and oppressive societal
norms, insisting on women’s agency within the context of customary marriage.