If home is where the heart is, where does it reside when one is unhoused?

The Western gaze restricts perceptions of Africa to vast grasslands, wild animals, and vibrant sunsets. Perhaps this is a direct consequence of limited access to premium streaming content, or a more general refusal in the first world to acknowledge that poverty is a global reality.

Set during a period indelibly marked by indentured servitude and apartheid, Cardboard Mansions serves as a powerful symbol of disruption and displacement. Featuring the elderly Dadi-Ma and her undernourished yet obedient grandson Choto, it is an adventurous tale of shattered expectations.

In most instances, grandparents are not legally obligated to provide financial support to their grandchildren. However, there are cultural obligations associated with grandparenting, especially if social constructs deliberately limit development and create cycles of migratory dependence.

Widowed, arthritic, colored, and illiterate are surmountable obstacles; nevertheless, poverty exacerbated by an irresponsible, drug-addicted son presents a limitation too significant for any woman to overcome. A looming eviction and the embarrassment of having given birth to her only surviving, abusive, and recently jailed heir are enough for Dadi-Ma and Choto to travel in search of a presumed haven from years past.

A layered narrative about how perceived privilege can never insulate against disease, desperation, and other wrinkles of hardship resulting from the denial of fundamental human rights, readers may wonder how the landlord, Mr. Naidoo, could resent a defenseless old woman.

Written by Farida Karoida, an Indian South African who emigrated to avoid forced internment, this is part Apartheid-primer, part travelogue, and a fictionalized representation of the psychological damage resulting from displacement/homelessness.

A symbolic reminder of the dramatic shifts in familial foundation when addiction and ethnicity limit access to financial resources, this emotional analysis of how social class and racial exclusion are further marred by age and gender is beautifully written and will not appeal to the pull yourself up by your bootstraps conservatives.

Rating: 5+ stars

Additional shorts with characters driven by social hierarchy:

The Farewell Party, by Anita Desai

Pablo’s Fandango, by Alfred Mendes

Photo by ariyan Dv on Unsplash