Our Generation

by Zubeida Jaffer

Intertwined with the struggle against apartheid in South Africa is the personal story of a courageous woman who strove to make a difference on her own terms. In this compelling autobiographical account, Zubeida Jaffer, one of the most senior black women in the South African media, documents her struggles during a 15-year span—from 1980 when she was a young reporter to post-1994 and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings where she testified. Her political experiences in the Western Cape—of activism, harassment, torture, and detention, once while she was pregnant—are interspersed with talk about babies, her passionate love for her husband, and her problematic relationship with Islam and its sexist rules. In her story, driven by an impulse toward joy, Zubeida Jaffer triumphs as an individual, a woman, a freedom fighter, a writer, and a mother.

Genres: South Africa

164 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2005

Reviews

[Shirene Rosenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book covers an important era in South Africa’s history. The book starts off with much promise. It provides the potential of a perspective on on a generation of south africans and the impact of post traumatic stress disorder or the neglect thereof on a generation of anti-apartheid activists. The memoir however does not provide a panned perspective but does deliver voyeuristic snappshot.

[Hecate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, intimate and yet wide-angled vision of an activist's life. Speaks with dignity of topics from teething to torture, prayer rituals to divorce, children's birthday parties to the TRC. Essential reading for all interested in SA history of the last 3 decades. Jaffer's insistence of the value of women's lives is esp compelling. One quibble is poor production -- font is almost unreadable.