BOOK REVIEW: Memoir portrays exiles’ lives as peripatetic outsiders
Sisonke Msimang’s liminal eyes provide a keen and unique view on how much South Africa’s descent under the leadership of venal politicians has wounded those who sacrificed so much, writes Rehana Rossouw
ALWAYS ANOTHER COUNTRYSisonke Msimang Jonathan Ball Publishers Liminality is not a word in everyday use but it best describes Sisonke Msimang’s unforgettable memoir. Her life, birthed in exile and forged during frequent arrivals and departures, places her on thresholds where she peers into the promise of another new life and assesses its ability to enfold and welcome. The dictionary definition of liminality is "the transitional period or phase of a rite of passage, during which the participant lacks social status or rank, remains anonymous, shows obedience and humility, and follows prescribed forms of conduct and dress". And so it was in Msimang’s childhood — born to an ANC guerrilla and Swazi accountant, reared in exile and moved several times before returning to the promise of a free SA. Unlike most black South Africans in the 1970s, Msimang was born free in newly independent Zambia. Unlike most exiles she had a relatively stable family life with two parents and two siblings, atte...
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