Finding Jess

Jesse Naidoo’s autobiographical account is a unique story set in a working-class Indian South African family in greater Durban and weaves in questions of gender, race, sexuality, illness and identity. It is a story of intersectionality.  Jess’s story shows the reader how her formative years were shaped by the racial marginalisation of apartheid South Africa, by the requirements of heteronormativity, by the narrow confines of gender performance, and by ideas of ableism, denying the validity of bodies which are different. However, it is not just a story of marginalisation; it is also a story of triumph and perseverance, of the power of love, of rootedness in a particular context, and of the importance of family, both biological and chosen.

Finding one’s place in life and feeling affirmed is immensely healing.