Ancestral Voices and Trans Identity

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For Dr Sizwesamajobe Sithole, a 42-year-old trans man from Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal, gender identity was never something that arrived neatly named.

It was first lived in silence, then in confusion, and eventually reclaimed through both scholarship and spirituality.

His doctoral study, ‘Being Transgender and Spiritual: An In-Depth Exploration into Nguni Indigenous Practices and Rituals that Contribute to Affirming the Spiritual Identities of Trans and Gender-Diverse People in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng Provinces’, supervised by Professor Maheshvari Naidu, grew directly out of that lived tension between exclusion and belonging.

“I grew up without the language for who I was. There was no one in my hood who reflected my experience of being trans. I struggled to articulate myself without shame, or without being seen as mentally disturbed,” Sithole said.

He was the first in his family to graduate, and later the first to complete a doctorate. His early work at the University’s Centre for Constructive Theology and the Gender and Religion programme brought him closer to research, but also to a turning point.

“That space changed everything. I realised I could actually write myself into research.”

The study was framed through African feminist, decolonial and queer theories, but Sithole did not see them as distant academic ideas. He used them as tools to make sense of lived experiences that had long gone unnamed.

“These theories helped dismantle colonial ideas, patriarchy, and rigid gender systems that shaped how trans people were excluded,” he explained.

A key focus of his work was Nguni indigenous spirituality and its role in affirming trans and gender-diverse identities - an area he said was often erased or misunderstood.

Growing up in a spiritually rooted family, he encountered contradiction early. Ancestors were described as guides, yet trans identity was often framed as a disruption.

“At some point, I was told maybe a ritual must be done so that I can be ‘corrected’ spiritually,” Sithole recalled. “Those things stay with you.”

During his doctoral journey, he described experiencing an ancestral calling, which he initially resisted.

“I didn’t think ancestors could choose someone like me. But when I eventually responded, I felt acceptance. I felt I belonged.”

Across interviews, participants repeatedly spoke about self-acceptance and dignity. Dumi said, “If you love and accept yourself, what people say won’t easily affect you.” Sgaqa emphasised pride and respect, while Muzi described indigenous spirituality as unrestricted and expansive. Another participant said, “Ancestral spirituality gives you respect regardless of sexuality.”

A phrase that stayed with Sithole was: “Abadala bayazazi lezinto esicabanga ukuthi abazazi”- ‘the ancestors know what we think they do not know’.

For him, this disrupted the idea that trans identities are spiritually disconnected. Instead, ancestral spirituality often became a source of grounding, reducing shame and restoring belonging.

“When someone is recognised as spiritually gifted or called, even socially, something shifts. There is dignity attached to that recognition.”

But he also showed how this recognition unsettled rigid gender binaries and exclusionary cultural readings, adding that by making “silence loud,” it becomes harder to erase people.

The research was not without difficulty. Older trans participants were often fearful of being identified, and some traditional healers withdrew from interviews.

On a personal level, he described the PhD as closer to initiation than academic training, with that reflection becoming central.

“It felt like being between worlds. I was seeing myself in other people’s stories. I realised I was not alone.”

For Sithole, completing the doctorate carried generational meaning. But he framed it as a collective affirmation, saying, “I was the first. That meant breaking something in my lineage. This work said to trans people: we exist, and we have always existed.”

His supervisor, Professor Naidu, described the work as both rigorous and deeply human and added that examiners commended its balance of scholarship and compassion.

“Sizwe’s PhD was both an intellectual work and an intensely personal journey that demanded reflection on himself as a researcher. He wanted it to contribute to the largely non-existent discourse on trans spirituality, and he accomplished this. I am immensely proud of him.”

Sithole said he hoped the work would move beyond academia into isiZulu translation and community engagement, to create safer spaces for dialogue. He also emphasised that trans identities were not copied, but expressed from within African experience.

Asked what the journey meant, he simply said: “Singamakhosi.” Which means ‘We are not erased’.

Words: Rakshika Sibran

Photograph: Sethu Dlamini