Shana Fife is an acclaimed author, blogger and 2019 Jakes Gerwel fellow. Her debut memoir, Ougat, from a hoe to a housewife and then some, is redefining what it means to be honest. The Cape Town-based Fife’s writing exudes vulnerability. Her work is a study on the coloured woman and a true testament to the power of relatability.
Shana Fife does not live to be palatable. Anyone who has read any of the posts on her blog, …Into a Housewife, would know that Fife does not shy away from the realities of life – even if it is uncomfortable.
Fife was born in 1989, in Mitchell’s Plain. At the age of six, her family moved to Pelican Heights, a small suburb between Strandfontein and Muizenberg in Cape Town, where she was raised and where her journey as a writer began.
In 2011, Fife studied journalism at City Varsity at the recommendation of her father. At this stage in her life, Fife already had a bachelors degree from AFDA, and her first child had been born. Her father’s health was in a delicate state, but he had a plan and, trusting him, she went with it.
Shana Fife started her blog in 2014 with the hope that she would be able to use her skills to “do something that meant something”. In 2022, Fife is fresh off the release of her first book, Ougat, from a hoe to a housewife and then some, a memoir on her life. PHOTO: Supplied/Shana Fife
“My father said that he was going to take a risk on me and that he’s gonna pay for me to study journalism because he heard from a friend that you can do a one year journalism course and get a job,” explained Fife.
With a degree in live performance, music and film, Fife’s path to journalism was a detour.
“I’ve always had a penchant for lifestyle stuff – whether I was choosing to read it or write it. Because [at] that time, writing was a hobby, but I never considered it as a career.”
After joining the course, her lecturer instructed the class to start their own blogs. “Blogs were the in thing,” said Fife. When thinking of what style she wanted her blog to have, she knew exactly what she wanted to go for.
“I very much like books like The Sucias Girls [The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes] – sort of the cosmopolitan female, a group of women; very Sex and the City. That was the style that I enjoyed, so when I wrote my blog for the class, I wrote about myself.”
Fife reinvented her blog in 2014, shortly after giving birth to her second child. “I was very depressed. I had friends but their lives had taken different avenues. They were bored of my k*k because they couldn’t relate. So, then I decided to write, cause I remembered that I enjoyed writing,” said Fife. “I also needed to vent. I felt like I was doing something that meant something.”
Riyaahd Fife, Shana Fife’s husband, describes Ougat as “an extension of her soul, laid bare for the world to absorb”. He said that the book should not only be read by women, but more importantly, men too. PHOTO: Tamia Retief
Writing with a level of consciousness
While Fife’s work is autobiographical, she stated that she has an awareness of the fact that she is not only writing about her life experiences but also intertwining them with broader issues. These issues include gender-based violence, depression, abuse and sex.
“I’ve always been aware of the levels of consciousness in my mind. I’m very cognisant of the fact that I’m breaking down these things, while giving an accurate description of what I’m saying.”
Fife’s work, while from the perspective of a queer coloured woman, is not only for queer and/or coloured woman.
“I’m very aware of how to phrase things and how to bring them across – that’s part of the technical side, I would say, of being a writer,” explained Fife.
“When it comes to sentences like ‘the revelation of your pussy’ [a quote from Ougat], I was just being straightforward. The book is about how my vagina influenced my life. I feel sometimes something must sit uncomfortably if there’s a point to it,” said Fife.
No glitter, all the glory
Fife prides herself on the honesty of her book, describing it in previous interviews as “a story without glitter”. This is something that she has gotten a lot of acknowledgement for from both industry professionals and people in her personal life.
“Shana just gets it,” said Aimee Carelse, the agent who commissioned and published Fife’s memoir at Jonathan Ball Publishers. “She gets what it means to be young, to be Coloured, to be a woman in South Africa. She captures the experience of Coloured women with such poignancy and courage.”
“Herein lies the gift of Ougat and Shana’s story,” said Carelse. “It is a book that bravely and unapologetically unpacks the subtle (and not-so-subtle) nuances of the very problems that have subjugated Coloured women, and women of colour in general, for decades.”
Fife’s work is also admired by her husband, Riyaahd Fife. “Ougat is an extension of her soul, laid bare for the world to absorb and a must read for men, firstly, and woman. It blows open so many uncomfortable conversations that are necessary and confronts them fearlessly.”
Fife was also recognised as a 2019 fellow of the Jakes Gerwel Foundation, and was included in NB Publishers’ mentorship programme. She is currently in the process of writing new work as an extension of this partnership with NB publishers.
Shana Fife is currently working on her second book. While being an author may not always be in the cards for her, she knows what kind of perspective she wants to write from next, she told MatieMedia.
“I want to write from the perspective of a learned person – I want to now be able to speak of the ‘why’ people do things… from the background of a masters or PHD […] I can only speak so much of my own observations,” she said. PHOTO: Tamia Retief
The intersections of womanhood, motherhood and mental-health
Navigating womanhood and all of the nuances that come with it, is one of the biggest factors in her work. Fife also touches on the particulars of what it means to be a coloured woman and a mother, and how this can affect your mental health.
“Children and motherhood have always been portrayed as this beautiful thing that you must strive for and it gives you validation […] but it was never taken into consideration that being a mom, particularly a stay-at-home mom, doesn’t give you an escape.”
“A husband just goes to work, is allowed to be around grown-ups and express himself unapologetically while the wife is at home all day with the kids with no break,” Fife said as she reflected on marriage and motherhood. “You can lose your mind!”
She does, however, feel that more women have been sharing their stories. This she sees as a step in the right direction. “Do we have a long way to go in normalising the fact that mummies are human? Absolutely. But I believe that we’ve made strides.”
“In any sort of writing from new age mums, we are normalising the fact that we are having trouble.”
Ripping off the band-aid of equality
Feminism is a big part of Fife’s identity and this is evident through her work. While discussing her opinions on the current wave of feminism, Fife has said that only once current structures of feminism and patriarchy have been reconstructed and improved upon, will we have an equal society.
“Right now, we have a band-aid of equality. They’ve told us we’re the same and we can do all things but when it comes to being respected, we are not the same. […] Until a woman can have the exact same life as a man – as in no kids, wanting to be a bachelorette, only focused on her career, doesn’t want marriage – without stigma, then only will we have a start of what feminism actually wants.”
The SLS cluster at Stellenbosch University recently hosted a book discussion with Shana Fife (centre) where the topics within her memoir, Ougat, from a hoe to a housewife and then some, were discussed. These topics included gender-based violence, childhood trauma and motherhood. PHOTO: Tamia Retief