[6] Recurrent themes in Putuma's work are love, queerness, decolonial struggle and the legacy of apartheid,[7] as well as the intersection of patriarchy with those ideas and identities.

[19] Collective Amnesia has quickly become a key text to understanding postcolonial South Africa, particularly with its focus on black women's bodies and queer identities.

[20] Burger's critique places Putuma's use of the water as a literary device within the context of other South African poets, such as Ronelda S Kamfer.

Her play No Easter Sunday for Queers brought attention to the violent discrimination that lesbians in South Africa can face.

[25] Boehmer considers Putuma within a broader canon of postcolonial poetry and short-story writing, which can feel for the reader like a "call to action".