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Title:Dictionaries and discourses of deviance: changing lexical representations of 'moffie' and the reorganisation of sexual categories among Afrikaans speakers during the second half of the twentieth century
Author:Pieterse, Jimmy
Year:2013
Periodical:South African Historical Journal (ISSN 0258-2473)
Volume:65
Issue:4
Pages:618-637
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:dictionaries
Afrikaans language
homosexuality
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02582473.2013.776096
Abstract:This article has as its aim to demonstrate that successive editors of descriptive dictionaries such as the Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (HAT) were instrumental in the shaping and reshaping of idealized Afrikaner masculinity during much of the second half of the twentieth century. Moreover, it seeks to show how the term 'moffie', through processes of definition and redefinition, came to form part of a discourse of power, dominance and control that reinforced the ideals of a patriarchal State, and ultimately how its meaning came to be renegotiated as ideals of masculinity changed along with the shifting sands of State (re)formation. Changing meanings assigned to the word 'moffie' mirrored shifting attitudes towards homosexuality, specifically towards male homosexuals.The article further seeks to demonstrate how idealized masculinity was conceptualized and reconceptualized by means of the definition and redefinition of its deviant opposite/s. Methodologically, this is achieved by triangulating three sets of data: (1) unpacking changing lexical representations of the word 'moffie' and comparing these to (2) contemporary narratives sourced from the popular print media and (3) ethnography. The author argues that this allows a better understanding of the reorganization of sexual categories among Afrikaans-speakers, as well as changes in the gendered ordering of Afrikaner society during the second half of the twentieth century. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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