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AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD? POVERTY, DISABILITY AND DEPENDENCY DEMYSTIFIED: INTERROGATING THE SYSTEMATIC IMPOVERISHMENT, DISEMPOWERMENT AND PARALYSIS OF AFRICAN COMMUNITIES IN SELECTED FICTIONAL NARRATIVES ON EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
Get PDFUsing literary depictions of the African condition in the pre- and post-independence phases, the article examines what it views as the conundrum of the "triplets of poverty, disability and dependency‟ associated with, and characterising most post-independence African communities and societies. These creative works are: Charles Mungoshi's Waiting for the Rain (1975); Lauretta Ngcobo's And they didn't Die (1999); and Ngugi wa Thiongo's Petals of Blood (1977), Devil on the Cross (1982), and Mashingaidze Gomo's A Fine Madness (2010) respectively. The article argues that unlocking and unbundling the sociology of underdevelopment that underpins the negation of African human worth would be key to the preferred solutions towards reducing and eradicating disability, poverty and dependency in Africa today, contradictions notwithstanding
This is our land: Land and identity in selected Zimbabwean black- and white-authored fictional narratives in English published between 2000 and 2010
No full textThis article analyses post-2000 Zimbabwean black- and white-authored fictional narratives’ depictions of land and identity against the backdrop of the socio political and economic crises resulting from the post-2000 land occupations. The process and phase that provide the background to both fictional narratives and their criticism have been canonised as jambanja across the racial divide. Far removed in time and space, these Zimbabweanauthored fictional narratives form an essential socio-historical record of the post-2000 Zimbabwean land experiences. Critical attention appears to ignore the socio-cultural-historical contexts, issues that the selected fictional narratives partially address. The socio-economic and historical accounts of Zimbabwe’s embittered land experiences have also been mainly racial and exclusionary. This article interrogates whether writers’ trajectories suggest practicable systems, structures, approaches and practices that genuinely respect common humanity and the imperative to safeguard human dignity. Using Molefi Kete Asante’s Afrocentric ‘Location theory’ to situate texts as well as their criticism within the context in which they are generated and developed, the article analyses writers’ creativity—motifs, meaning, language, attitude, direction and vision—within the Zimbabwean socio-culturalhistorical experiences. This integrative approach is envisaged to establish common ground and humwe (‘oneness/ togetherness’) through literature so that Zimbabweans can hold constructive dialogues on the post-2000 land and identity issues
Land and identity in Zimbabwean fiction writings in English from 2000 to 2010 critical analysis
No full textIncludes bibliographical references.The major aim of this study is to analyse how Zimbabwean literary voices across the racial divide explore the land-identity conundrum that is hotly contested in the aftermath of Zimbabwe's post-2000 land occupations and other redistribution processes. It aims to interrogate how the selected fictional narratives depict both long-held views and emerging perspectives on Zimbabwe's land question. Further, the study examines the land realities that the writers depict with a view to promoting national dialogue. The latter aims to promote greater social cohesion, peace and oneness that are critical for more sustainable human development in post-independence Zimbabwe
Land and racial domination in Zimbabwe: An African-centred critical analysis of selected post-2000 Zimbabwean-authored novels
No full textThe article makes an African-centred analysis selected post-2000 Zimbabwean authored novels that narrativise the land experiences in the country. The African-led land occupations of white-owned commercial farms in Zimbabwe from the late 1990s have necessitated the study and revisiting of the land question in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). The process that has been defended by the Government as part of the necessary land redistribution exercise to rectify colonial land injustices shows that the land question is as potent now as it was at the inception of colonial settlements. Zimbabwe’s land history has remained consistently contentious because land is the life-blood of the people’s livelihoods, black and white. For this reason, the process and aftermath of the occupations have rocked racial relations in the country and internationally. The controversies arising from the land occupations have culminated in the socio-economic and political instability of the country, and threaten to spill into and destabilise the SADC countries as well. It is against this backdrop that the article makes an African-centred analysis of selected post-2000 Zimbabwean-authored novels that variously respond to Zimbabwean land issues characterising the tumultuous post-2000 period. The view presented here is that literature defines the epicentre of the struggle of ideas, that partially but significantly, define what Zimbabwe is, including how and where she wants to go. Tsitsi Dangarembga’s The Book of Not (2006); Eric Harrison’s Jambanja (2006); John Eppel’s Absent: The English Teacher (2009) and Mashingaidze Gomo’s A Fine Madness (2010) are analysed in this light. The African-centred approach utilised in this chapter is significant in locating both texts and authors within the background that informs their fictional representations. The extent to which texts successfully balance their explorations of land and racial identity and help to influence society to rise above parochial partisan approaches, and encourage people to confront some of Zimbabwe’s land challenges would be worth noting
What Has Culture Got to Do With It?: Girl-Women Marginalisation and Human Rights Violations – The Case of Zimbabwean Women as Depicted in Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region (2003)
No full textThe article takes an African-centred approach in its examination of women’s plight and strategies propagated by African women in pre- and post-independence Zimbabwe to create safe space and empower women with a view to building more stable families and sustainable social transformation for society’s greater good. Bringing indigenous Zimbabwean African ideals and values to the centre of analyses, against the backdrop of lived socio-historical experiences, the article interrogates selected short stories contributed by some Zimbabwean authors in Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region (2003). It focuses on pertinent issues raised concerning problematic existential conditions particularly affecting women, including their ripple effects on the socio-cultural, economic and material conditions of the respective female protagonists’ lives, families and communities. Because the contributors are themselves women, the assumption is that they know best where it pinches worst, including how best they envision strategies that can usher in sustainable transformation in their respective environments. The article argues that it is important that these issues be examined holistically within the women’s respective socio-cultural and material contexts in order to validate pragmatic approaches that would enable women to wade with ingenuity in their respective community waters. Placed within their familiar cultural environments, women can ingeniously wrestle for meaningful and sustainable transformative change where it is necessary. Yet, women alone cannot usher in sustainable social transformation outside their existential and material conditions, begs the article.
Opsomming
Hierdie artikel volg \u27n Afrosentriese benadering tot sy ondersoek na vroue se benarde posisie en die strategieë wat Afrikavroue vóór en ná onafhanklikwording in Zimbabwe gepropageer het om \u27n veilige ruimte te skep en om vroue te bemagtig om meer stabiele gesinne te vestig en volhoubare sosiale transformasie te bewerkstellig wat die hele samelewing tot voordeel strek. Inheemse Zimbabwiese Afrika-ideale en -waardes vorm die middelpunt van die ontleding teen die agtergrond van deurleefde sosiohistoriese ervarings, en die artikel ontleed uitgesoekte kortverhale deur Zimbabwiese outeurs wat in Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region (2003) gepubliseer is. Dit fokus op tersaaklike vraagstukke wat verband hou met bestaanstoestande, veral toestande wat vroue raak, en die uitkringeffek daarvan op die sosiokulturele, ekonomiese en materiële toestande van die onderskeie vroueprotagoniste se lewens, gesinne en gemeenskappe. Die medewerkers is self ook vroue, dus word daar aanvaar dat hulle die beste kan aandui waar hulle die swaarste kry; hulle weet wat hulle as die beste strategieë beskou om volhoubare transformasie in hulle onderskeie gemeenskappe in te lei. Die artikel voer aan dat dit belangrik is dat hierdie vraagstukke op \u27n holistiese wyse ondersoek moet word binne die vroue se onderskeie sosiokulturele en materiële kontekste sodat dit die pragmatiese benaderings wat vroue in staat stel om hulle gemeenskappe met vindingrykheid te betree, kan valideer. Binne hulle bekende kultuuromgewings kan vroue vernuftig veg vir betekenisvolle en volhoubare transformerende verandering indien dit nodig is. Die artikel voer egter aan dat vroue nie op hulle eie volhoubare sosiale transformasie buite hulle bestaans- en materiële toestande kan inlei nie
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
MATHIAS MHERE'S FUNCTIONAL USES OF GOSPEL MUSIC IN THE ZIMBABWEAN POST-2000 MALADIES
No full textThe article critiques Mathias Mhere’s gospel music from an Afrocentric perspective within the context of complexities and maladies that have impacted negatively on the majority’s livelihoods in Zimbabwe’s post-2000 period. The maladies have seen society marshalling different strategies and oral art forms to keep people’s spirits buoyant. Oral art forms have always been at the centre of African experience, constituting a repository of the philosophy of life as desired, imagined, and treasured among most indigenous families and communities. In the absence of the oral folklore and oral art forms of yesteryear that were used to inculcate communal values and skills to self-define and safeguard cultural spaces, gospel music has made inroads and carved an indelible niche that needs critical attention. This strategy is not novel to Zimbabwe. Music as an oral and performance art has always been deeply ingrained in most social activities to raise and censure conduct across all ages for society’s greater good, including cementing the social fabric, and fostering social cohesion and stability among most indigenous families and communities. In the recalcitrant environment, fraught with a myriad of maladies and many a family in dispersion, gospel music in the indigenous languages becomes critical in exhorting and censuring attitudes, conduct and desires in order to uphold treasured values. Family dispersions disrupted institutions and fractured relationships, further fanning insecurities and imbalances. It is from this angle that this article makes a critical analysis of Mathias Mhere’s gospel lyrics. Mhere is one of the most popular young gospel artists whose albums have been hits on the Zimbabwean music charts. The article therefore examines the forte behind Mhere’s gospel music in the Zimbabwean post-2000 maladies. It also interrogates Mhere’s artistic creativity, sensitivity and commitment to sustainable livelihoods and survival in post-2000 Zimbabwe’s fractious environment.</jats:p
Land and racial domination in Zimbabwe: An African-centred critical analysis of selected post-2000 Zimbabwean-authored novels
Get PDFThe article makes an African-centred analysis selected post-2000 Zimbabwean authored novels that narrativise the land experiences in the country. The African-led land occupations of white-owned commercial farms in Zimbabwe from the late 1990s have necessitated the study and revisiting of the land question in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). The process that has been defended by the Government as part of the necessary land redistribution exercise to rectify colonial land injustices shows that the land question is as potent now as it was at the inception of colonial settlements. Zimbabwe’s land history has remained consistently contentious because land is the life-blood of the people’s livelihoods, black and white. For this reason, the process and aftermath of the occupations have rocked racial relations in the country and internationally. The controversies arising from the land occupations have culminated in the socio-economic and political instability of the country, and threaten to spill into and destabilise the SADC countries as well. It is against this backdrop that the article makes an African-centred analysis of selected post-2000 Zimbabwean-authored novels that variously respond to Zimbabwean land issues characterising the tumultuous post-2000 period. The view presented here is that literature defines the epicentre of the struggle of ideas, that partially but significantly, define what Zimbabwe is, including how and where she wants to go. Tsitsi Dangarembga’s The Book of Not (2006); Eric Harrison’s Jambanja (2006); John Eppel’s Absent: The English Teacher (2009) and Mashingaidze Gomo’s A Fine Madness (2010) are analysed in this light. The African-centred approach utilised in this chapter is significant in locating both texts and authors within the background that informs their fictional representations. The extent to which texts successfully balance their explorations of land and racial identity and help to influence society to rise above parochial partisan approaches, and encourage people to confront some of Zimbabwe’s land challenges would be worth noting
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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