Narratives between generations: Stories of Black grandmothers and granddaughters in Soweto, South Africa

Abstract

This research project explores intergenerational narratives of grandmothers and young women living in Soweto, South Africa. The study explores the ways that the past is (re)constructed and communicated (in)directly by grandmothers to the next generation(s) of young women and how the young women receive those messages and how this influences their lives in the present and future. Conversely, the study also examines how young people’s experiences are told to and (mis)understood by the older generation. Guided by narrative identity and intersectionality frameworks, the study is positioned within a qualitative narrative methodology and underpinned by a social constructionist lens, attending closely to the ways in which stories are shaped by broader social, cultural, and historical contexts. Ten participants, five grandmothers aged 60+ and five young women aged 17 / 18 years old, were interviewed through open-ended narrative interviews that centred their voices, allowing them to reflect on their own lives as well as those of the other generation. Through these narratives, five key thematic threads emerged: 1) intergenerational caregiving, 2) transmission of values, 3) the notion of the “strong Black woman”, 4) negotiating gendered expectations, and 5) hopes and fears for the future. This research is also layered with reflexivity, acknowledging the researcher’s positionality as a young Black woman who shares certain identities with her participants. This closeness created moments of recognition but also required careful navigation of power and interpretation. In this way, the study becomes not only about what was said, but also about how meaning was co-constructed in the telling. Ultimately, these intergenerational stories offer insight into how ordinary, everyday accounts become rich sites of memory, identity, and hope—shedding light on how Black womanhood continues to evolve within a society marked by historical trauma, cultural continuities, and the desire for a hopeful future. Keywords: narrative, identity, intersectionality, grandmothers, young women, intergenerational caregiving, values, “strong Black” woman, hope