What's in a name

The poem "The Baptism" by Ijeoma Umebinyo explores one of the persistent "leftovers" from colonialism: changing given, traditional black names to Europian names. This is and was done for various reasons. In order to be baptized a name must sound "holy" (read "white") in the eyes of the colonizers. The white colonizers and those who constructed benefited from apartheid must be able to pronounce it and they have the power to change it.

A poem I found on The Kiffness' Facebook page explores this change of name from the perspective of a white person.

The speaker in this poem is speaking to the woman who has worked in their home for 29 years. It seems that the speaker has finally been disillusioned to the fact that "Jane" is a false identity. "Jane" is a name that was given to Kgagamatso perhaps so that her employers would be able to communicate with her without having to make too much effort to pronounce her name. It is such an entitled position to take in. Having someone change their name, the first thing they own, their identity, simply so that you are spared the work of having to twist your mouth and tongue around sounds that are not at home in your mouth. Instead, this person must twist an equally unwelcome sound not only in their mouths but in their entire being.


Once the oppressor (the speaker of the poem) has realised the ridiculousness of this situation and how unfair and dehumanizing it is, that entitlement falls away and the power dynamics are, at least in a marginal step, made more equal.