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"NARRATIVES of IDENTITY and NATION in ZIMBABWEAN THEATRE" Vibeke Glørstad Thesis Delivered for the Cand. Polit

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1 "NARRATIVES OF IDENTITY AND NATION IN ZIMBABWEAN THEATRE" Vibeke Glørstad Thesis delivered for the Cand. Polit. degree in Sociology. 1992 Study Programme. September 2005 University of Oslo Faculty of Social Science. Department of Sociology and Human Geography. 2 Summary In this thesis I analyse representations of identity and nation in two plays. The plays are satires in the "community theatre genre" from Zimbabwe. The background for this work is the understanding of cultural expressions and popular culture as a form of mass media; as such they are utterances which take part in hegemonic battles. The context is the political situation in Zimbabwe in 1999, when the opposition was gaining a foothold and there was a certain silent optimism concerning future development of democracy and strengthening of human rights. The plays I analyse criticise the regime. "The Members" (Amakhosi) criticises corrupt MPs and "Ivhu versus the State" (Rooftop) recounts the intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I am interested in how resistance in the plays is expressed and the differences in strategies between the plays which are from different geographical settings. My theoretical position and concepts derive from cultural studies, discourse theory and post- colonial studies. These theories and conceptual framework emphasise how the public sphere consists of conflicting discourses, and that political struggle is also a politics of discourse. A post-colonial reading strategy focuses on hybrid representations which avoid narratives told in polarisations and essential conceptions of identity. These theories are the background for my reading strategies. I analyse the plays in relation to how they recount/narrate actual conflicts in Zimbabwe - which lines of conflicts do they comment on? How is identity represented in the narratives of gender, class and race? How are the powerful/leaders recounted? How do they talk about inequality and the relationship between white and black? Do the plays offer multiple or stereotypical representations of identity? I analyse how they experience and narrate their nation - do they provide space for a multiplicity of national identities? How do they narrate strategies for political change? I demonstrate that both plays anticipate the political and socio-economic crisis which been developing in Zimbabwe since 2000. I also show that the plays’ strategies of resistance are the basis for the present opposition. Front page photo: Photo from video of "The Members" (MP Mjaji). Cont Mhlanga 1995. From video of the performance June 1999. TSCC. Copyright Amakhosi. Township Square Cultural Centre. Address: Amakhosi Cultural Center, Cont Mhlanga, Director P.O. Box 2370, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Tel./Fax: + 263-9-62 652 E-mail: [email protected] Use of excerpts from manuscripts or photos shall be approved by Amakhosi or Rooftop. 3 Foreword I would like to express my thanks to everyone who lent me their precious time in Zimbabwe in 1999, see appendix 3 for all; Cont Mhlanga, Daves Guzha and the other representatives from Amakhosi and Rooftop especially. Thanks to Fortune, Similo, Ntando and Melirn for a home in Zimbabwe. Norad at the embassy in Harare have been supportive generous with information and provided good working conditions. My supervisor, professor Lars Mjøset at University of Oslo, and co-supervisor, Mai Palmberg,coordinator of the researchproject "Cultural images in and of Africa" at the Nordic Africa Institute Sweden, have given me inspiration. Thanks to family and friends for support, especially Hanne and Eldrid. My employers have also been helpful. Oslo 15.09.2005, Vibeke Glørstad In this english version I have made some small formal improvements. March 2006 4 CONTENT PART 1 OPENING .............................................................................................................................. 8 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION - THEATRE AND RESISTANCE............................................. 8 1.1. Resistance in theatre .................................................................................................................. 8 1.2. Culture; development studies and constructivist theory ...................................................... 10 1.3. Postcolonial theory; reading of resistance in definitions of identity and nations ............... 12 1.4. Delimitation of case and research questions .......................................................................... 13 1.4.1. The plays: "The Members" and "Ivhu versus the State" ..................................................... 13 1.4.2. Main questions regarding the plays..................................................................................... 14 1.4.3. Delimitations - analysis of representations, not reception................................................... 15 1.4.4. Strategies in dominant discourses ....................................................................................... 15 1.5. Method; fieldwork, analysis and interviews .......................................................................... 16 1.5.1. The analysis of the plays and participating observation...................................................... 16 1.5.2. Choosing and conducting interviews................................................................................... 17 1.5.3. The fieldwork ...................................................................................................................... 17 1.6. The structure of the thesis ....................................................................................................... 17 PART 2. BACKGROUND................................................................................................................. 18 CHAPTER 2. CONTEXT. POLITICS AND THEATRE................................................................ 18 2.1. Politics and Society................................................................................................................... 18 2.1.1. History up to 1999............................................................................................................... 18 2.1.2. The system of government .................................................................................................. 19 2.1.3. Economic and social problems............................................................................................ 19 2.1.4. The opposition..................................................................................................................... 20 2.1.5. Lines of conflicts................................................................................................................. 21 2. 2. The Theatre.............................................................................................................................. 22 2.2.1. The counterculture............................................................................................................... 22 2.2.2. The institutionalisation and ideology of the early theatre ................................................... 24 2.2.3. Themes in radical criticism ................................................................................................. 24 2.2.4. Supporting Structures.......................................................................................................... 25 CHAPTER 3. PRESENTATION OF AMAKHOSI COMMUNITY THEATRE GROUP AND ROOFTOP PROMOTION................................................................................................................. 26 3.1. Amakhosi - "the kings" ........................................................................................................... 26 3.1.1. Background – production and distribution of own culture.................................................. 26 3.1.2. Productions; from "Nansi" to "Attitudes" ........................................................................... 27 3.2. Rooftop Promotion................................................................................................................... 28 3.2.1. Background – building bridges ........................................................................................... 28 3.2.2. Productions - from "Waiters" and "Citizen Chi" to "Ivhu versus the State" ....................... 29 CHAPTER 4. CONCEPTS AND THEORY; NATION, IDENTITY, RESISTANCE AND POSTCOLONIAL THEORY ............................................................................................................ 30 4.1. Introduction – antagonisms in theatre and politics..................................................................... 30 4.2. Nation as cultural power............................................................................................................. 32 4.3. Identity as subject positions in discourses.................................................................................. 33 4.4. Subject recognizers as discursive positions; race, ethnicity, gender, class ................................ 34 4.5. Postcolonial theory and politics of representation...................................................................... 36 4.6. Postcolonial theatre and "politics of location" ........................................................................... 37 4.7. Theories of discourse and politics of representation .................................................................. 38 5 4.8. Resistance as widening of democracy through re-articulation of identity ................................. 38 4.9. My
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