Of dirt, disinfection and purgation: Discursive construction of state violence in selected contemporary Zimbabwean literature
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1 janvier 2018
- handle: 10670/1.n86zzc
Mots-clés
discursive construction dissenting voices filth and disease Gukurahundi massacres state violence Operation Murambatsvina politics of dirt power memory and belonging nationalism Zimbabwean literatureSujets proches
Violent behavior Political thought Government Political theory Civil government Commonwealth, The Science, Political Administration PoliticsCiter ce document
Gibson Ncube, « Of dirt, disinfection and purgation: Discursive construction of state violence in selected contemporary Zimbabwean literature », Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, ID : 10670/1.n86zzc
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Résumé
This paper examines post-independent Zimbabwean literary narratives which engage with how the ruling ZANU-PF government frames dissenting voices as constituting dirt, filth and undesirability. Making use of Achille Mbembe's postulations on the "vulgarity of power" and Kenneth W. Harrow's readings of the politics of dirt, the central thesis of this paper is that the troping of dirt and state sponsored violence are closely related to the themes of memory and belonging. Literary works by writers such as Chistopher Mlalazi, NoViolet Bulawayo and John Eppel become self-effacing speech acts that are involved in reimagining and revisioning our understanding of power dynamics and how this affects human and social experiences.