Before the interview, Giuseppe Guerandi asks if they (this is their preferred pronoun) can sit in for a bit of the year meeting at Eendrag. They are discussing the revision of Damestouch – a well-known Eendrag event and one that is “very dear to [their] heart”.
In the meeting, Guerandi speaks about the importance of this event for women who get to break down gender stereotypes, but emphasises that it is also okay to have events simply for the fun of it.
Guerandi mentions the coincidence that their room is right beneath the word “PRIDE”. “It’s perfect,” they laugh. PHOTO: Lia Snijman.
Guerandi (20) is a second year student in BA International Studies who recently became the first openly gay HK-member of Eendrag Men’s Residence. They claim that being openly gay and gender-fluid while in a leadership position is “such a privilege”. Mostly, they care about how affirming this can be for queer people within Eendrag and they hope to change their experience of Eendrag positively.
After encouragement from old-HK members and fellow Eendrag-students following their “grilling questions” at prim caucus, Guerandi made the decision to run for HK, despite ambivalence about how useful it would be to affect change.
“The networking is amazing. Working with great people is amazing as well. Especially with something like anti-GBV [Gender-Based Violence] now, it’s becoming so much more obvious to me that I’m really happy that I’m doing it at all, like working from a position of power now with […] a movement like this is so valuable and I get to be involved in such an intimate way with a cause that I care very deeply about,” they say of their experience thus far.
They point out that their HK-group is different from previous years. “They’re so aggressively willing to listen to me and, like, let me influence them as humans,” they say. They explain that while doing sessions with them about a range of topics (such as rape culture and queer theory) was very draining, the group was also “very accommodating”. However, they are still “the liberal one”. “That is sort of my res role at this point,” they say in a matter-of-fact tone.
Others seemed to think it was obvious that they would be a HK, but they were surprised “because half the time homophobia trumps quality”. “I’ve learnt the trade of accommodating problematic people, but not to say accommodating them in a way where my values end up being undermined or general values I want to promote are undermined, but […] allowing their problematic tendencies to at least be exposed without making people feel like they’re inherently wrong and they inherently need to subscribe to something. And you can call that selling out if you want to, but for me it’s been a ‘learning to work with what I have’ type of thing,” they say, explaining their approach.
The new prim Alten du Plessis (21), a third year BCom Law student, says that while he thinks it’s great to have an openly gay member on the team and that it will break down “barriers and stigmas”, he is also glad to have Guerandi on the team for his insight, “not just as a queer body”.
Guerandi is ready to make big changes at Eendrag. PHOTO: Lia Snijman.
Guerandi’s portfolios are critical engagement, staff appreciation, advisor to the female HK and they are the cluster student parliament representative. Before the interview can go any further, a member of Eendrag shouts from his room across the quad, simply to say hello to Guerandi who blows kisses their way. “You see what I mean by well-loved?” they quip.
They’re passionate about changing the culture at Eendrag. Firstly, they want to change everybody “willingly being ignorant”. Secondly, they want to have “them understand the importance of citizenry” and learn to participate in a positive manner in their communities.
“I want it to manifest in men holding men accountable,” they say of tangible benefits. They also want to tackle mental health and Eendrag as a “highly gendered space”. One of their other goals is to have critical engagement “subtly infiltrate your everyday life”.
They explain that they would like to change welcoming week “at face value but also in operation”, to make it more welcoming to everybody. Lastly, they mention the need for feminism in the residence with regards to the visiting hours needing to be evaluated and people’s social attitudes needing to change.