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Genocidal Action and Framing in Vera’s The Stone Virgins
No full textThe article is a literary analysis of Yvonne Vera’s The Stone Virgins tracing the effects of genocide on society as represented in the novel. Existing criticism of the novel either focuses on the poetry and lyricism of the novel or the terror and violence of the war. This article draws on genocide theories to unpack the stages of genocide and its aftermath as represented in the novel. It argues that without understanding the dynamics that led to the violence in Matabeleland, there is likely to be a repeat as people are unaware of what to avoid.
Opsomming
Die artikel is \u27n literere onleding van The Stone Virgins van Yvonne Vera wat die uitwerking van volksmoord op die gemeenskap soos wat dit in die roman uitgebeeld word, naspeur. Bestaande kritiek van die roman fokus of op die poesie of liriese aard van die roman of op die gruwels en geweld van die oorlog. Hierdie artikel gebruik volksmoordteoriee om die stadiums van volksmoord en die nadraai soos wat dit in die roman uitgebeeld word, te ontleed. Die artikel redeneer dat indien daar nie begrip is van die dinamika wat aanleiding gegee het tot die geweld in Matabeleland nie, daar \u27n herhaling kan wees aangesien mense nie bewus is van wat om te vermy nie
Justice or Injustice: An Analysis of Selected Stories in Petina Gappah’s Rotten Row
No full textTaking a purely literary analytic approach, this article explores use of the notion of justice in Petina Gappah’s collection of short stories entitled Rotten Row. Each story begins with a quotation from the Bible and reflects on the abortion of justice in the context of applied system; Roman-Dutch law, mob justice, karma or Ngozi (retributive spirit). The article explores the ironies represented in the stories with regard to the expectations of the execution of justice and what actually happens. Gappah seems to be calling on humanity to reflect on their actions in as much as they impact on other people no matter how insignificant they may seem. This serves to redefine the causes and effects of crime which in turn redefines victims, perpetrators and victors in various crime contexts
Shifting identities: representations of Shona women in selected Zimbabwean fiction
Get PDFBibliography: leaves 215-230This thesis uses a postcolonial framework to analyse the construction and representation of identities of Shona women in selected black and white Zimbabwean-authored fiction in English published between 1890 and 2015. The study traces meanings associated with Shona women’s identities as ascribed by dominant powers in every epoch to create narratives that reflect the power dynamics. The thesis argues that identities are complex, characterized by various intersections such as race, gender, class and ethnicity. Shona women have to negotiate their identities in various circumstances resulting in shifting multiple identities. The thesis focuses on how such identities are represented in the selected texts. Findings reveal that the colonial project sought to write the Shona women out of existence, and when they appeared negative images of dirt, slothfulness and immorality were ascribed to them. These images continued after independence to justify male dominance of women. However, the lived experience of women shows they have agency and tend to shift identities in relation to specific circumstances.
Shona women’s identities are dynamic and multifarious as they aim at relevance in their socioeconomic and political circumstances. Representations of Shona women’s identities are therefore influenced by the aim of the one representing them. All representations are therefore arbitrary and must be interrogated in order to deconstruct meaning and understand the power dynamics at play. The works analysed are Olive Schreiner’s Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland (1897), Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing (1950), Yvonne Vera’s Nehanda (1993), Cythia Marangwanda’s Shards (2014), Valerie Tagwira’s The Uncertainty of Hope (2006), Violet Masilo’s The African Tea Cosy (2010), Eric Harrison’s Jambanja (2006), Dangarembgwa’s The Book of Not (2006), Christopher Mlalazi’s Running with Mother (2012) and Brian Chikwava’s Harare North (2009).D. Litt. et Phil. (English)English Studie
We need new names: By NoViolet Bulawayo. London: Reagan Arthur Books, 2013; pp 290.
Get PDFThe novel captures the Diaspora experience of a young girl, Darling Nonkululeko Nkala, after experiencing hardships in the Zimbabwean economic meltdown. It is therefore a critique of moving to the Diaspora as a solution to challenges in one’s country. Darling constantly refers to the pain of missing home but stuck in the knowledge that she can never return because she has become an illegal immigrant in America. Once she visits ‘home’ she will not be allowed to come back as her papers are not in order. What intensifies the pain is the misunderstanding by those that remain in the troubled country that those in America are sitting pretty, with no worries at all. This pushes aunt Faustina and others to work double shifts so that they can send money home. The chapter “How they lived” fully captures the experience of those in the Diaspora from third world countries which gives the book a universal feel. Bulawayo writes: And the jobs we worked, Jesus- Jesus – Jesus, the jobs we worked. Low paying jobs. Back breaking jobs. Jobs that gnawed at the bones of our dignity, devoured the meat, tongued the marrow. We took scalding irons and ironed our pride fl at. We cleaned toilets. We picked tobacco and fruit under the boiling sun until we hung our tongues and panted like lost hounds. We butchered animals, slit throats, drained blood. We worked with dangerous machines, holding our breaths like crocodiles under water, our minds on the money and never on our lives. We swallowed every pain like a bitter pill, drank every fear like a love portion, and we worked and worked Every two weeks we got our paychecks and sent monies back home by Western Union and MoneyGram. We bought food and clothes for the families left behind; we paid school fees for the little ones. We got messages that said Hunger, that said Help, that said Kunzima, and we sent money. When we were asked, You guys work so hard, why do you work so hard? We smiled (We Need New Names, p. 244)
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
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
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LAND AND CULTURE IN SELECTED TEXTS BY CHENJERAI HOVE
No full textThis article explores the significance of land in Chenjerai Hove’s stories. The setting of the stories affects the choices of the protagonists, depending on their status on the land. Hove’s selected novels, Shadows and Ancestors, explore this phenomenon in the context of the Native Purchase lands of the then Rhodesia. The cultural disruption of moving to commercial land as opposed to the land of ancestors has an impact on identity of the characters, both personally and as perceived by others. At times, such perceptions contradict each other, but they also have implications for the characters’ economic and psychological well-being. This article therefore sets out to explore the relationship between land and culture as depicted in Hove’s novels. The main argument is that, while the Native Purchase areas accorded economic status to the Africans involved, it fractured their cultural identity as they had to live by the dictates of the colonial administration. Culture refers to a way of life and includes manner of dress, food, language, social interaction and many other aspects. This in turn adds insight to how the interface of administration of land affects Zimbabwean citizens as literature here holds up a mirror to real life. </jats:p
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