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16 Mar 2010

Thando Mgqolozana

@ BOOK Southern Africa

A Man Who is Not a Man

The controversial topic of botched traditional circumcision has been very much in the news of late. A Man Who is Not a Man is a powerful first novel recounts the personal trauma of a young Xhosa initiate after one such circumcision gone wrong.

With frankness and courage the author details the pain and life-long shame that is experienced as a result of not just the physical trauma, but the social ostracism of being labelled 'a failed man'.

He decodes the values and mysteries of this deep-seated cultural tradition and calls to account the elders for the disintegrating support systems that allow such tragic outcomes to happen. But it is also through this life-changing experience that his protagonist is forced to find his strength and humanity, and reassess what it really means to be a man.

ISBN-13: 9781869141769
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