O ROMANCE DE FORMAÇÃO NERVOSO EM TSITSI DANGAREMBGA

Este artigo apresenta um estudo teórico-crítico do arco de desenvolvimento da personagem Tambudzai, protagonista do romance Nervous Conditions (1988), de autoria da escritora zimbabuana Tsitsi Dangarembga. O recorte reunido parte da ideia de subversão, por parte da autora, do romance de formação tradicional com bases em fundações romanescas europeias. Por fim, discutem-se as formas com que Dangarembga narra as tensões de uma história de amadurecimento e o que ela entrega a seu público leitor, em livro que amarra as contradições da experiência literária pós-colonial com a obra de estudiosos como Franco Moretti, Simon Hay e Frantz Fanon.

Women’s Virtue: Engendering Shame

A focus on shame and the feminine, considering how female characters and shame are linked in order to address both explicitly female concerns as well as how those concerns can stand in for larger societal issues. The chapter revisits elements from Le vieux nègre et la médaille and Les Bouts de bois de Dieu but concentrates much more on Une si longue lettre by Mariama Bâ, A River Between by Ngugi wa Thiong’o, The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta, Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga, short stories by Ama Ata Aidoo, and Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adichie.

The Intersectional Madwoman Outside the Attic

The novels Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga break the silence surrounding Africana women’s intersectional experiences through the representation of madness that viscerally rejects the patriarchal, colonial and even literary burdens in the novels by unapologetically asserting hybridised identities.

Who is the author of Neria (1992) – and is it a Zimbabwean masterpiece or a neo-colonial enterprise?

This article focuses on the Zimbabwean film Neria (1992), arguably one of the most important films in the history of sub-Saharan Africa. Directed by the Black Zimbabwean Godwin Mawuru, it was the first feminist film in Zimbabwe and in the region, highlighting the plight of women who become the property of their brothers-in-law after their husbands die. The article addresses the issues of the origins of the story and the authorship of the screenplay. On the final reel of the film, the story credit names the accomplished Zimbabwean female novelist, Tsitsi Dangarembga; while the screenplay credit names Louise Riber. Riber served as the film’s White American editor and co-producer who, with her husband John Riber, managed the Media for Development Fund in Zimbabwe. The key question of this article is simple: who wrote the screenplay for Neria? Through the physical and metaphorical journey of this research, we discover that the story is based on the personal experiences of Anna Mawuru, the director’s mother. This is the first time that this fact has surfaced. As such, this article also offers some reflections on issues of adaption/translation, particularly in the context of postcolonial collaborations.

Ideal vs. prejudiced womanhood: The concept of decent woman in reference to Nervous Condition of Tsitsi Dangarembga

Womanhood has been a complex concept as compared to woman. As human being we have been a part society, community where we have been stratified as per our roles. The hitch between female and male based upon their roles has been common and along with the external fights this internal fight of sexes has been a matter of everyday. Feminism as a movement has been originated long ago and simultaneously successful in rendering woman her position. When Tsitsi Dangarembga speaks of the condition of Zimbabwean women, she makes Tambu as the mouth-piece, who sees her mother and many other women who have been crushed under the burden of womanhood. The male members with their own ideas have shown their unwarranted biasness in the disguise of a husband, father and son. In Tambu's house, the family patriarch Babamukuru controls everything. His wife Magiuru though seldom resents his influence and power but goes through the internal anguish while his daughter Nyasha as a person is filled with contradictions who feels resentment as the only means. In Nervous Condition, these women are trapped because they are born as woman. Their sex determines their roles, behavior, what profession they should go for, which school they should opt and even whether they should be allowed to go to school. Tambu is allowed to go to school only after the death of her brother. In case of Nyasha, her father Babamukuru is a misogynist, who has a lot of contempt and prejudice for women. He is exposed to foreign culture as he has been to England but he still adheres to his own traditionalist ideas. Though his wife has a master degree, but he feels a woman is incomplete without her domestic chores, loyalty and obedience towards her husband. The condition is apprehensive where the women witness the reluctance of the society to see them in a new position. Those who are trapped like Tambu’s mother and Maiguru believe that their status is predetermined. But when it comes to the free-willed Nyasha, Tambu and Lucia they have different opinions. They choose their own paths to keep themselves away from the trap of womanhood. These assumptions of womanhood are more gender biased than being related to biology. So, these are less predestined and more designed.

Ideal vs. prejudiced womanhood: The concept of decent woman in reference to Nervous Condition of Tsitsi Dangarembga

Womanhood has been a complex concept as compared to woman. As human being we have been a part society, community where we have been stratified as per our roles. The hitch between female and male based upon their roles has been common and along with the external fights this internal fight of sexes has been a matter of everyday. Feminism as a movement has been originated long ago and simultaneously successful in rendering woman her position. When Tsitsi Dangarembga speaks of the condition of Zimbabwean women, she makes Tambu as the mouth-piece, who sees her mother and many other women who have been crushed under the burden of womanhood. The male members with their own ideas have shown their unwarranted biasness in the disguise of a husband, father and son. In Tambu's house, the family patriarch Babamukuru controls everything. His wife Magiuru though seldom resents his influence and power but goes through the internal anguish while his daughter Nyasha as a person is filled with contradictions who feels resentment as the only means. In Nervous Condition, these women are trapped because they are born as woman. Their sex determines their roles, behavior, what profession they should go for, which school they should opt and even whether they should be allowed to go to school. Tambu is allowed to go to school only after the death of her brother. In case of Nyasha, her father Babamukuru is a misogynist, who has a lot of contempt and prejudice for women. He is exposed to foreign culture as he has been to England but he still adheres to his own traditionalist ideas. Though his wife has a master degree, but he feels a woman is incomplete without her domestic chores, loyalty and obedience towards her husband. The condition is apprehensive where the women witness the reluctance of the society to see them in a new position. Those who are trapped like Tambu’s mother and Maiguru believe that their status is predetermined. But when it comes to the free-willed Nyasha, Tambu and Lucia they have different opinions. They choose their own paths to keep themselves away from the trap of womanhood. These assumptions of womanhood are more gender biased than being related to biology. So, these are less predestined and more designed.