Godwin Makaudze

Empowerment or Delusion?: The Shona Novel and Women Emancipation

Summary One of the topical debates in Zimbabwe today has been how to extricate and raise women from the disparaged image and marginalised position they have held and continue to hold in society. Women, church organisations, legislators and writers continue to push for the emancipation of the female gender. Using the Africana Womanist literary theory, this article examines Shona writers’ contribution to the efforts by analysing what they perceive as womens problems, the underlying causes and the possible solutions. It focuses on Makayis Makudo Ndomamwe (2004) and Mutasas Sekai: Minda Tave Nayo (2005). The article observes that whereas the writers identify the nature of womens problems, they unfortunately fail to examine the real underlying causes to those problems and hence, the solutions they suggest do not satisfactorily tally with reality. In light of this, the hoped-for emancipation largely remains a pipe-dream.

African traditional leadership and succession in the post-colonial Shona novel

ABSTRACT African institutions of leadership and succession have received vehement attacks from colonial and early Shona writers. African leadership was presented as tyrannical, egocentric, immoral, and barbaric; and was condemned as lacking normal checks and balances. Colonialism on the other hand was offered as the panacea for the purported political upheaval. Using the post-colonial literary theory, this paper examines the portrayal of Shona traditional leadership and succession by two post-colonial Shona writers. It examines how realistic their expositions are and how different they are from early and colonial fiction about the same. The paper concludes that recent portrayals by Shona writers approximate Shona practice and are quite different, if not an anti-thesis of colonial literature about the same.

Penyai’s Vision of the School and Education in Selected Poetry in Nhekwe Dziri Kanyi (2011)

Summary The Ndau and Manyika people are well known for their craving for education, commonly regarded as “school” among the speakers of the two dialects. They are also popular for their love for code-switching between Shona and English. In his anthology of Ndau and Manyika poetry, Nhekwe Dziri Kanyi (2011), Ishmael Penyai focuses on many issues, among them: love, the family and education. On education, the poet expresses his vision of the ideal learner, teacher, school head and school curriculum - a vision which the researchers believe is an epitome of the dialect speakers in question. This article is an examination of Penyais view of education in terms of the above-mentioned. It observes that the poet calls for learners to put first things first, by acquiring education before pursuing such things as sexual relationships and urges them, together with teachers and school heads, to be well behaved and cultured in a bid to facilitate knowledge and skills acquisition. In addition, he also widens learning to include such disciplines as music and sports and urges learners to pursue those disciplines they are good at and comfortable with. The article points out that whilst the poet is right in his call for remarkable behaviour among learners and the practitioners, his vision does not take into account why they fail to live in accordance with the ideals. It concludes that whilst Penyais vision is plausible and wider than previous perceptions of education, it still needs further sharpening for it to actualise peoples expectations.

LITERATURE AS CELEBRATION: THE ZULU (EMPEROR SHAKA) AND MANDINGO (SUNDIATA) EPIC

The relationship between literature and society has long been recognised. In light of this, African literature is viewed as partly a celebration and partly an expression of African values. Literature set in the past is to some degree seen as an attempt to unearth, convey and uphold socio-economic, political and religious values of the time. Using the Afrocentricity theory and epic texts, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali (Niane, 1965) and Emperor Shaka the Great: A Zulu Epic (Kunene, 1979), the article posits that a study of such epic texts indeed offers a glimpse of the peoples philosophy of life and their values.

BUDDING SHONA MUSI-POETS AND THEIR SOCIAL VISION: CHENJERAI MAZAMBANI

ABSTRACT Song has been one of Shona peoples faithful companions in life, and has been adapted and adopted to suit changing times. Traditional, colonial, liberation and post-independence eras have all given birth to singers who responded to socio-historical events of their time. Contemporary Zimbabwe has witnessed the birth of new musi-poets; artists who have consolidated the tradition of fusing poetry with melody, a trend borrowed from Shona tradition and revamped by early post-independent singers. Using the Afrocentricity theory and focusing on Mazambanis album, Svutugadzike (2012), the article discusses the social vision of budding singer-poets, examining their commitment to the roles expected of them by society.