Gender on the Settler Colonial Frontier: How Women Participated in and Resisted Settler Colonisation in Southern Africa
The Canadian Associate of African Studies annual conference will commence June 3-5, 2020, subsequent to the Canadian Historical Association’s annual meeting. The topic of this year’s conference is “Bridging Divides.” There is not yet an official call for papers, so this is a preliminary call-out to communicate with like-minded scholars to collaborate on a panel, with room to modify the abstract.
I anticipate a topic that looks at community formation between women in southern Africa (South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Angola, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique) during the settler colonial period, loosely restricted. This workshop will explore both how women participated in the construction, and resisted the formation, of settler societies.
On the settler colonial frontier, women played important roles in establishing, but also resisting, the construction and function of empire. White women acted as stewards of European culture and society and pushed gendered performative boundaries to carve out new opportunities for themselves in settler communities. However, their contribution to settler society often came at cost to Indigenous African communities, particularly women and children. In turn Indigenous Africans resisted colonial rule and often forced empires to reconceptualise manifestations of power in southern Africa in response to resistance. I explore the role of women, African and European, in contributing or resisting settler colonisation in southern Africa.
This panel seeks to ask where women fit into our outside of settler colonial societies, how women facilitated settler colonial regimes, or how women acted to destabilise empire. Our geographic range is limited to southern Africa but encourages boundary crossing, of settler borders, Indigenous African communities, and colonial norms. We welcome unique questions around the definition of empire, and new sources of geographic study on empire.
I anticipate that we will require 250-word presentation and panel abstracts, and am presently hoping for 3 additional presenters and a chair. All inquiries welcome to cjoubert@uwo.ca.
Panel Organiser: Carla Joubert, Ph.D. Candidate University affiliation: Western University Supervisor: Dr. Laurel Shire
I am presently in the unenviable position of editing a 40 page dissertation paper to become an 8 page conference paper. Hurrah to me, I am attending an academic conference. Boo to me, I am feeling the grind of wanting to prepare something next level. I know this is an unrealistic goal, but I will try anyway.
I leave for the conference in 13 days and in that time I want to write double my normal daily output so I don’t fall behind while I am in Edinburgh (for the European Conference of African Studies) and Amsterdam (brief vacation detour while I’m in Europe, anyway). And I have to prepare the paper.
How do we get through double the writing output over a 12 day period?
Iced Lattés.
Preparing these is a breeze, but I do have a little espresso machine – so that took me a long way. If you don’t have an espresso machine you can absolutely brew double strength coffee for the same effect.
Things you will need:
espresso machine or coffee machine
espresso beans or coffee beans (if you don’t have a grinder, obviously buy pre-ground beans and not whole beans)
cream (I use half & half) and milk (I use whole)
a blender or some method of ice crushing (sheer force of will and stabby motions at an ice cube with an ice chipper would be…okay…but not recommended)
Preparing the espresso cubes
To prepare the espresso cubes requires preparation beforehand, you can’t prepare these when you want an iced latté, so you’ll need to start the night before.
I grind whole beans on an as-needed basis, but there are lots of delicious coffee beans available pre-ground. Whatever your budget is, options exist. I combine Melitta Hazelnut Coffee beans in a 1:2 ratio with dark roast coffee beans. I prefer Melitta’s dark roast brand, but Melitta is too expensive for me when it’s not on sale. So, I am currently using President’s Choice Espresso Forte beans, with which I’m surprisingly satisfied.
Get a PhD Juice™
I purchased a soft bottomed ice cube tray from Dollarama for the specific purpose of making these espresso cubes, so that it didn’t matter if the flavour of the tray changed. I will never use it for regular ice cubes.
Then all you do is pull espresso and fill the ice cubes. I saved up my RBC Rewards Points until I could use them to purchase a small and simple espresso machine, which has made a massive difference in my bougie abilities. I bought a Breville Café Roma Espresso Machine, which includes a milk frother. It’s a simple little machine, but it does what I need it to do. It also regularly retails for under $200 wherever you like to buy stuff (Canadian Tire, BB&B, Amazon, whatever), and comes with all the accessories you need. Many high-end espresso machines make you buy a scoop, tamper, and milk frothing jug. They all come included with the Café Roma.
My Breville Café Roma. Does not normally include super cute espresso shot cups, which I purchased at a small pottery store in South Africa.
My ice cubes are 2 in3, so they hold roughly 2.5 oz in each cube. That’s about the same amount of caffeine as a 12 oz cup of coffee.1
Yum yum yum This is what the espresso cubes look like before freezing – I have read about other people mixing in the crema. I can’t bring myself to do that, look how delicious.
Freeze overnight and make an iced latté in the morning!
Making the iced latté
For this, you’ll need a blender, your iced espresso cubes, and milk and cream in whatever capacity you like them.This part is so easy and the most delicious. Basically, just put one cube inside your blending container. I have an old model of the Ninja Blender, which allows you to blend into a tumbler for low-volume items. It is super powerful and it didn’t break the bank when I bought it five years ago. I’m sure their latest models are just as great.
Espresso cube, cinnamon on top, and dairy.
I like heavy cream lattés so I use a ratio of 1/3 half & half with 2/3 whole milk. Because the blending creates extra volume, I usually use about 1 cup of liquid in total, so whatever ratio of that makes you happy. This makes a slushy consistency, so you can modify it to reach a desired consistency. I also sprinkle in a bit of cinnamon, though you could also sprinkle this on top of your slushy latté afterwards.
blending…blending…
Et voilà!
You have a slushy iced latte.
Iced latté in a Kruger National Park mug to keep me focused on the task at hand: writing a conference paper about my research!
A word on sweeteners: I do not use any. That’s my preference. I presume you could add sweetness in a few ways: sprinkle a bit of sugar into the bottom of each ice cube square before pouring espresso over (I like condensing everything into ice form, if possible), or sprinkle sugar in before you blend. Or, do the same but with a sugar-free alternative, or a syrup of your choosing.
A word on liquids: Again, I use heavy cream and whole milk. I love full fats. But many people don’t, and I presume that a 1% or 2% would work just as well. These liquids are not as conducive to enhancing the flavour of the espresso as a full-fat dairy product.2 And while you could absolutely use a dairy free product, the same is true of them. So, I encourage that if you do use these liquids in place of a full fat milk, be sure to increase the strength of your espresso to ensure you don’t have a watered down product. Unless you like weak coffee. But my area of work – basically writing, all the time – is pretty hostile to weak coffee, in strength or flavour. Not allowed, goodbye.
References
1. Kicking Horse Coffee, “Caffeine Myths: Espresso vs. Drips – Which Has More Caffeine?” Kicking Horse Coffee Website, accessed 27 May 2019. 2. Scott, “Why Do We Add Milk or Creamer to Coffee?” Driftaway Coffee, accessed 27 May 2019
Barberton Daisies 