ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the life history of an elderly South African woman to demonstrate how the transformation from a semi-subsistence agricultural economy to a wage-based system changed the gendered shape of the life course in Namaqualand. It provides a brief historical overview and an explication of the unique features of Namaqualand's so-called 'coloured' population. The chapter examines the concepts of generation and cohort and argue that they provide strong methodological tools for understanding the interaction of selves with society. The historical and political economic context into which individuals are born can subsequently influence the construction of their life course and the timing of anticipated life events such as marriage, labour-force entry, and so on. The chapter addresses the dialectic between the individual and the larger social forces that developed in 20th-century Namaqualand after capital penetration whittled away at the farming economy and peasant social relations characteristic of that region.
