Representing gender violence and structural inequalities in Zimbabwe: studies in the postcolonial women novels of Zimbabwean literary ideologue

ABSTRACT

This article ostensibly underscores the interpretation of gender, structural inequalities and violent identity-interplay in selected novels in Zimbabwe. It vigorously examines the effects of the state of disaster on Zimbabwean’s post 2017 experience. A plethora of themes ranging from the entangled past, stunted memories of the present were exemplified in the article. The paper epitomises how trends in the novels emanate from African literature, with specific reference on the fictional writings in Zimbabwe delineating and it depicts social issues of both the past and present which have haunted Zimbabwean social constructs. After Zimbabwe’s independence on 18 April 1980, Zimbabweans anticipated euphoria that independence would usher in the desired peace. The political ruling class from the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) promised a strong political framework and commitment to the course of women’s liberation. The achieved independence did not bring about the anticipated freedom but promoted the dichotomy among women and men and also, that of Black and White that had earlier preoccupied the defunct Rhodesia. Relying mainly on female novel writers, the paper hinges on Tsitsi (1988) Nervous Conditions, Vera’s (2002) The Stone Virgins and other works in passing to delineate trends in the constructions of characters’ responses to identities created by masculine stereotypes. This article explores Butler’s theory of performativity to argue that there is an ambiguous link between the past and present, the depiction of gender violence and structural inequalities in the postcolonial Zimbabwean literary space which were largely demonstrated in Zimbabwean novels.

KEYWORDS:

• Zimbabwe
• gender
• sectarian violence
• feminism
• postcolonial literature and African literature

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Christopher Babatunde Ogunyemi

Christopher Babatunde Ogunyemi holds a PhD from the University of Sunderland in the United Kingdom. He researches in Gender and Feminist Studies, Postcolonial Literature in the University of South Africa in Pretoria. His articles have appeared in leading DHET, Scopus and MLA indexed journals.