The language of Black women’s music: MmaAusi’s role in preserving Setswana heritage

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In this article, I examine MmaAusi’s music as a dynamic site of Setswana language preservation, cultural protest, and liberatory expression, situating her work within a broader transnational lineage of Black women’s musical storytelling as a form of resistance and cultural memory. Through a multidisciplinary analysis of three selected songs spanning her career from 2008 to 2022, I investigate how MmaAusi employs linguistic richness, deliberate cultural references, and sonic innovations to challenge the enduring forces of coloniality, cultural globalisation, and gendered marginalisation. Applying an intersectional feminist lens, I reveal her artistic oeuvre as a powerful feminist counter-narrative that actively reclaims and revitalises Setswana identity while simultaneously echoing broader Pan-African and diasporic struggles. I trace these musical connections, drawing parallels between her work and traditions as diverse as Zimbabwe’s mbira spiritual music and Afro-Cuban Yoruba ceremonial songs, demonstrating how her sound is both locally grounded and globally resonant. By forging what I term a mmino-wa-Setswana aesthetic—a distinctly Tswana musical sensibility—MmaAusi not only catalyses cultural sovereignty but also delivers a potent social critique of post-colonial and contemporary societal issues. Ultimately, I position her work as a vital model for sustaining indigenous epistemologies and linguistic heritage in an increasingly homogenising world, affirming the role of Black women artists as crucial guardians and innovators of cultural knowledge.

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