‘You Remember to Excavate; You Excavate to Remember:’ Women Poets Exposing the Shortcomings of the South African Archive ”

This paper investigates the intersections of race, class, and gender in women’s voices and/or in historical characters from a selected corpus of English and Afrikaans poems from South Africa. The discussed authors include Makhosazana Xaba, Koleka Putuma, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, Malika Ndlovu, Yvette Christiansë, Ronelda Kamfer, Jolyn Phillips, and Lynthia Julius. The article will specifically examine how black and coloured women’s poetry often focuses on historical female figures, either ignored or marginalised in the official records. By unearthing forgotten women and their life stories, the poets we examine contribute to illuminating the complex experiences of South African black and coloured women from different periods.