Representations of Women, Identity and Education in the Novels of Tsitsi Dangarembga and Kopano Matlwa

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Representations of Women, Identity and Education in the Novels of Tsitsi Dangarembga and Kopano Matlwa Representations of Women, Identity and Education in the Novels of Tsitsi Dangarembga and Kopano Matlwa by Randi Jean Rodgers Thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of English in the Faculty of English at Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Dr Tina Steiner December 2013 Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za DECLARATION By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. Date: December 2013 Copyright ©2013 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved ii Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to give my utmost thanks and appreciation to Dr Tina Steiner for her support, knowledge and patience throughout this long process. This project would have never come together if it were not for her expertise and her encouragement. In addition, I owe a debt of gratitude to Wamuwi Mbao for all of his support in academics and in friendship. The English department community at Stellenbosch has been wonderfully interesting and supportive and I would like to extend a special thank you to Shaun Viljoen, Riaan Oppelt, Jolette Roodt, Martina Muller and Nikita Hector. Finally, to my parents, who gave me nothing but their full support even though their only child was on the other side of the world. iii Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za ABSTRACT This thesis explores the representation of women, identity and education in the works of Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions (1989) and The Book of Not (2006), and Kopano Matlwa, Coconut (2007) and Spilt Milk (2010), through the lens of postcolonial studies. The arguments presented deal with the complicated factors associated with the formation of new identities in independent Zimbabwe and post-apartheid South Africa. I focus on how African women are represented in the texts taking place at particular socio-historical moments, including implications and interpretations of the literal and cultural shift from the indigenous, rural or segregated environments to Western, urban and racially mixed ones. My argument outlines the ways in which the stories are allegorically the stories of the fledgling democracies from which they emerge. I explore the texts in terms of symbolics of food, language, accents, family, academic settings, and the liberating and limiting elements associated with each. The authors present a complicated reality for the women of the novels, one where education is prioritized although somewhat to the detriment of traditional values and norms. The representation of women in the novels varies, leaving few successful role models for navigating workable identities for the characters as mothers, wives, and autonomous individuals. The novels offer interesting imaginaries for the future of their respective countries. The texts promote education tempered with a respect for home cultures and racial reconciliation. iv Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za OPSOMMING Hierdie tesis ondersoek die uitbeelding van vroue, identiteit en opvoeding in die werke van Tsitsi Dangarembga en Kopano Matlwa vanuit die oogpunt van postkoloniale studies. Die voorgestelde argument hou verband met die ingewikkelde faktore van identiteit-vorming in 'n onhafhanklike Zimbabwe en 'n post-Apartheid Suid-Afrika. Ek fokus op die uitbeelding van swart vroue in hierdie tekste wat gedurende spesifiek sosio-historiese oomblikke plaas vind. Dit sluit in die gevolge en interpretasies van letterlike en kulterele verskuiwings vanaf inheemse, landelike en gesegregeerde omgewings tot Westerse, stedelike en veelrassige omgewings. My argument sit uit een hoe hierdie vroue se stories as allegorieë vir die jong demokratiese lande waaruit hul na vore kom, beskou kan word. Ek verken die tekste ook in terme van die simboliek van voedsel, taal, aksent, familie en opvoeding, en fokus verder op die bevrydende en beperkende elemente van elk. Die skrywers bied 'n ingewikkelde werkliheid vir vrouens in die romans aan, een waar opvoeding 'n prioriteit is, maar ietwat tot die nadeel van tradisionele waardes en norme. Die uitbeelding van vrouens in die romans wissel en bied min suksesvolle rolmodelle aan waarvolgens die karakters identiteite soos moeder, vrou en selfstandige individue kan vorm. Die tekste bevorder wel die verkryging van 'n volledige opvoeding, maar nie tot nadeel van tradisionele kulture, of die moontlikheid van rasseversoening nie. Beide die romans bied 'n interessante blik op die toekomste vir die onderskeie lande dur hierdie uibeelding van die vroulike karakters. v Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za Table of Contents DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iv OPSOMMING ................................................................................................................................ v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: PLACING TEXTS IN CONTEXT........................................................................ 11 CHAPTER 3: REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN, IDENTITY AND EDUCATION IN THE NOVELS OF TSITSI DANGAREMBGA ................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 4: REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN, IDENTITY AND EDUCATION IN THE NOVELS OF KOPANO MATLWA ............................................................................................ 56 CHAPTER 5: HYBRID IDENTITIES, POWER, MORALITY AND NATIONAL ALLEGORIES IN DANGAREMBGA AND MATLWA ........................................................... 87 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 104 vi Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This thesis aims to explore the complex position that African women face in light of the detrimental effects of colonization and its impact and legacy as it assimilates with traditional patriarchal structures. Education and identity are the two aspects that my thesis analyses in the works from Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga and South African author Kopano Matlwa. The authors each deal with the unique circumstances of girls and women in southern African countries in the heights as well as the aftermaths of their freedom struggles, using the struggles of black women as an exceptional metaphor for the evolving identities of these freshly independent nations. I examine how these struggles are represented in the selected novels primarily through inter-cultural relations and the role of education for young African women. The novels offer insight into the struggles of the women moving from traditional indigenous environments or dealing with the detrimental racial segregation of Apartheid to Westernised metropolitan spaces, particularly in academic and domestic settings. The stories are particularly relevant to the problems women face in these countries today as gender roles are being redefined and cultural assimilation and cohesion continue to pose difficult problems. I would like to begin my discussion of the issues taken up by the novels with a contemporary political anecdote because it sheds light on the problematized and complicated identity formation black women today experience and how it is reinforced through discrediting their cultural authenticity or allegiance to their race. During early 2011in the South African parliament, an outburst occurred between Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande (ANC) and DA national spokeswoman Lindiwe Mazibuko. The statement from Nzimande reads: ―If the matric results are bad, this serves as proof that this government of darkies is incapable. If the pass rate goes up, it means the results have been manipulated by these darkies" (Majavu). To which Mazibuko then commented that the word, ―darkie‖ was derogatory and should not be used in parliament. Nzimande then muttered in Zulu: "Kuyahlupha ukungakhuleli elokshini (That's the problem with not having grown up in a township)." The press carried the story and columnists soon stepped up to the debate. Headlines on news sites read: ―'Darkies' and 'coconuts' trends in Parliament‖ and ―'Darkies' is dangerous for MPs‖. My focus on this is not about the use of the term ‗darkies‘ but, rather, on the responses to 1 Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za the objection of its use. In his article, ―Shedding light on us darkies‖ (Times LIVE 20 February 2011) Fred Khumalo noted: My own children, though they can speak Zulu, did not grow up in a township, which is why they do get lost when we elders venture into township lingo. But that does not make them coconuts. Had Nzimande called Mazibuko a coconut, it would have been an insult. A coconut refers to a self-loathing black person who looks up to white people to validate his or her self-worth. Mazibuko
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