Lorato Mokwena
Dr Lorato Mokwena is a co-editor of The Routledge Handbook of Language and the Global South/s. Her research interests include orality, indigenous knowledge(s) and the linguistic landscape of sparsely populated areas
Redefining ‘Madam’
/ 9 March 2022

Redefining ‘Madam’

Growing up, no black woman worth her salt would take kindly to being referred to as a “Madam”. The term Madam was reserved for white women who had a black domestic worker. Being called a Madam was linked to unsavoury connotations such as laziness (unwillingness to perform supposedly women-like duties), incompetence (inability to perform everyday […]