Crossroads: I Live Where I Like: A Graphic History

by Koni Benson, Robin D.G. Kelley (Foreword), Andre Trantraal (Illustrator)

Drawn by South African political cartoonists the Trantraal brothers and Ashley Marais, I Live Where I Like is a graphic nonfiction history of women-led movements at the forefront of the struggle for land, housing, water, education, and safety in Cape Town over half a century. Drawing on over sixty life narratives, it tells the story of women who built and defended Crossroads, the only informal settlement that successfully resisted the apartheid bulldozers in Cape Town. The story follows women’s organized resistance from the peak of apartheid in the 1970s to ongoing struggles for decent shelter today. Importantly, this account was workshopped with contemporary housing activists and women’s collectives who chose the most urgent and ongoing themes they felt spoke to and clarified challenges against segregation, racism, violence, and patriarchy standing between the legacy of the colonial and apartheid past and a future of freedom still being fought for. Presenting dramatic visual representations of many personalities and moments in the daily life of this township, the book presents a thoughtful and thorough chronology, using archival newspapers, posters, photography, pamphlets, and newsletters to further illustrate the significance of the struggles at Crossroads for the rest of the city and beyond. This collaboration has produced a beautiful, captivating, accessible, forgotten, and in many ways uncomfortable history of Cape Town that has yet to be acknowledged. I Live Where I Like raises questions critical to the reproduction of segregation and to gender and generational dynamics of collective organizing, to ongoing anticolonial struggles and struggles for the commons, and to new approaches to social history and creative approaches to activist archives.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Comics, South Africa, History

168 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2021

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm always ready to learn about overlooked people and moments in history, but this book killed my interest in South African women's activism against racist and forced relocations in the 1970s-90s with its deadly dull text that assumes a lot of foreknowledge of the situation on the audience's part. It's a "graphic history" but it is told almost entirely in captions that either overwhelm the art or whose font is reduced to microscopic size to fit into slightly less obtrusive boxes. Dozens and dozens of people are quoted in passing, but I didn't really get to know anyone well enough to connect to their plight on an emotional level.

The art is okay, but there are a lot of talking heads. It occasionally varies between depicting real events and offering an editorial cartoon style interpretation of the people and forces at play.

[Sucre · Rating 3 out of 5]

lots of really good info in here but it unfortunately doesn't translate well as a graphic novel. I feel like I could have processed it all better as a full on book rather than the huge chunks of text forced into small boxes. the timeline jumps around, and in general this doesn't have a ton of context for anyone who isn't as well-versed in this place + time in history. I feel like I walked away from this with some more knowledge, but it would have been better conveyed and easier to access through a different medium. there could have been other additions made (a list of the key political players and brief bios on them, a generalized timeline that could be referenced by the reader, a glossary for different terms and organization names that crop up a lot) that would have made this work easier to keep up with.

[Derek Minno-Bloom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read, powerful book about a feminist South African struggle that has been purposely suppressed by government and patriarchy. The art is out of control good. What a gem this book is for herstory.

[Y.S. Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crossroads: I Live Where I Like is a graphic novel that retells some parts of the South African apartheid story through the lens of gender and housing. In this book, we see how South African women organised and resisted the government's attempt to bulldoze Crossroads, a settlement created by women who had nowhere to live because of the government's segregation policies.

THINGS I LOVE IN THIS BOOK
Crossroads contains diverse accounts (more than 50 witnesses) of the atrocities committed during the apartheid period. The book explains the origins of the underhanded tactics used by the government to sow distrust and division within black communities.

DISLIKES
None.

WHO THIS IS FOR
Those interested in the historical happenings during the South African apartheid regime will find new perspectives and narratives here.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is quite a dense book. It is very text heavy, with minimalist portraits and bobble-head style characters. There's a lot of bright, primary colors in backgrounds and character designs. The art is very legible and simple, but it does devote time to drawing out pivotal scenes. The book is about something immaterial-- organizing -- so it's q tall order to illustrate. Notably, it's illustrated by two South African artists.

This book does demand some familiarity with South African apartheid. There are a lot of name drops, but Wikipedia can help keep the people and organizations straight. It also portrays the story of Crossroads in its triumphs and ugliness, both historical fact and the experiences of the residents.

If you are involved in grassroots organizing, this novel is more of a campaign post-mortem than a story, but that is what makes this a rare find. I stumbled upon it by chance, and realized I had found something extraordinary.

The introduction is an excellent resource (I've added quite a few books to my reading list) and brilliantly sets up the book.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read a whole lot of graphic novels in my day, and I sure am glad I picked this one up. The best way to learn history, in my opinion, isn't by reading about it in books written by old white dudes, but rather to hear it directly from the people (not governments, not police departments, not military) who experienced it. This book does a great job of doing that.

My only issues were that (a) the sometimes non-linear story telling made it a bit hard to follow and (b) the writing was so darn small that I had to hold it up to my face to read.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is such an important topics and an incredibly thoroughly researched book but it just did not work as a graphic novel. Extremely text heavy with next to no dialog and it was a struggle to keep track of names and events. It's great the information has been compiled and I'm sure this could be a useful book for somebody doing research (it def made me want to read more) but I had a headache just trying to read so much hand lettered complicated text in a book that's ostensibly graphic.

[Vickie Van Vliet · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was really interested in learning about women's rights in South Africa, however; I found this book to be too advanced for my level of knowledge. Before reading this book I knew nothing of women's rights in South Africa. The way this book is written was too advanced for my limited knowledge. I was often lost and uninterested due to having no contextual knowledge. I would recommend this book to individuals who already have some understanding of women's rights issues in South Africa.

[Emma Goldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lively and thorough account of the women's struggle in Crossroads, the opposition from the men, and eventual marginalisation of their part in the actions there. The continued harassment by the authorities, the corruption within the organisation run by the men, and the deliberate exclusion of the women's story from the official accounts, is clearly told in pictures and commentary.

[Rachel]

This was hard for me. I REALLY wanted to like it and get into it; but it was very academic, very technical and historical. It's something I know really nothing about, so it was a HUGE lift for me to be able to really understand and track. I nearly DNF'd, but ended up skimming the last third or so.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as a reading for a course I took this year, but wow. This is incredible. It is challenging material, especially for those of us in the West, but this is an incredible book and way to learn about lived experiences that may be more digestible than a long, academic paper.

[Michael Daines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super dense and more of an illustrated history than a graphic novel. Deep insight into life on the ground during and after apartheid in South Africa. Not a happy tale to see democratic initiatives thwarted.

[Mills College Library]

968.735 B4746 2021

[Rob McMonigal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really strong work of graphic nonfiction on a subject I admittedly knew little about. I am so glad to see more and more work like this seeing print.

[Katie Colley · Rating 4 out of 5]

uni really is uni-ing

[Suzanne Ondrus · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is about a very important social movement in South Africa of people protesting against the state forcing them to move. However, I found the book needing to be simplified.