Gukurahundi as a Cultural Event: Cultural Politics and the Culture of Violence in Matabeleland
- Authors: Sibanda, Nkululeko
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/469623 , vital:77273 , https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8040147
- Description: The desire of Gukurahundi survivors for cultural platforms that enable them to discuss, mourn, and commemorate their loved ones is now very loud in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland and Midlands provinces. While community-based organisations have provided platforms for Gukurahundi survivors, the children of survivors, and academics to interface and interact, the government’s gatekeeping processes remain a challenge for the community-wide memorialisation and documentation of the genocide. In this conceptual paper, I frame Gukurahundi as a meteorological event within a general Zimbabwean cultural context, foregrounding the desecration of the Ndebele people’s cultural practices, rituals, and ceremonies. Drawing from the documented legacies of this cultural violence within Matabeleland and south-western parts of the Midlands, through videos and the literature, I argue that this cultural violence resulted in the silencing of the remembrance of Gukurahundi, which remains critical to the resolution of the stand-off between the ZANU-PF government and the communities. In this paper, I further argue that this ecological symbolism provided a justification and legitimated direct brutal violence on presumed ZAPU and ex-ZPRA veterans who were largely Ndebele-speaking or of ethnic descent. Finally, I argue that it is not that the absence of alternative narratives but the sociopolitical and cultural environment that constrains these from being available and implemented.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Sibanda, Nkululeko
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/469623 , vital:77273 , https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8040147
- Description: The desire of Gukurahundi survivors for cultural platforms that enable them to discuss, mourn, and commemorate their loved ones is now very loud in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland and Midlands provinces. While community-based organisations have provided platforms for Gukurahundi survivors, the children of survivors, and academics to interface and interact, the government’s gatekeeping processes remain a challenge for the community-wide memorialisation and documentation of the genocide. In this conceptual paper, I frame Gukurahundi as a meteorological event within a general Zimbabwean cultural context, foregrounding the desecration of the Ndebele people’s cultural practices, rituals, and ceremonies. Drawing from the documented legacies of this cultural violence within Matabeleland and south-western parts of the Midlands, through videos and the literature, I argue that this cultural violence resulted in the silencing of the remembrance of Gukurahundi, which remains critical to the resolution of the stand-off between the ZANU-PF government and the communities. In this paper, I further argue that this ecological symbolism provided a justification and legitimated direct brutal violence on presumed ZAPU and ex-ZPRA veterans who were largely Ndebele-speaking or of ethnic descent. Finally, I argue that it is not that the absence of alternative narratives but the sociopolitical and cultural environment that constrains these from being available and implemented.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Standing on the shoulders of Giants (Part 1)
- Authors: Sibanda, Nkululeko
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/469634 , vital:77274 , https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2024.2425122
- Description: Welcome to RiDELs final edition of 2024 and the first edition we have had the pleasure and privilege of co-editing. We are intensely aware of the rigorous and diligent work and care that has been given to this Journal by past open edition edi-tors and are grateful to them for establishing, developing, and strengthening the Journal. We are also deeply grateful for the commitment of the Board, reviewers and of the au-thors who have contributed to the journal as a whole and to this edition in particular. The publication of any journal edition is a collective act, and we acknowledge the support and guidance of all those who have contributed to this process. Special thanks are due to Gabriel Vivas Martinez, whose work behind the scenes is so vital and often invisible. This is the first open edition to be published since our community learnt of the death of John Somers, the founding editor of RiDE. This has given us cause to reflect on the JournalLs lineage, the legacies which the current editorial team holds, and to think about the JournalLs future trajectory. This Jour-nalLs continued existence is the result of the careful stew-ardship of John Somers, Helen Nicholson, Joe Winston, Co-lette Conroy, James Thompson, and Molly Mullen (the cur-rent Themed Editions Editor) and the Boards they worked with. We continue to value their contributions and mentorship of RiDE and the wider field. We are humbled by the size of the shoes we are now stepping into and are thankful to be working together in this role, so that maybe we have to fill just one shoe each.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Sibanda, Nkululeko
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/469634 , vital:77274 , https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2024.2425122
- Description: Welcome to RiDELs final edition of 2024 and the first edition we have had the pleasure and privilege of co-editing. We are intensely aware of the rigorous and diligent work and care that has been given to this Journal by past open edition edi-tors and are grateful to them for establishing, developing, and strengthening the Journal. We are also deeply grateful for the commitment of the Board, reviewers and of the au-thors who have contributed to the journal as a whole and to this edition in particular. The publication of any journal edition is a collective act, and we acknowledge the support and guidance of all those who have contributed to this process. Special thanks are due to Gabriel Vivas Martinez, whose work behind the scenes is so vital and often invisible. This is the first open edition to be published since our community learnt of the death of John Somers, the founding editor of RiDE. This has given us cause to reflect on the JournalLs lineage, the legacies which the current editorial team holds, and to think about the JournalLs future trajectory. This Jour-nalLs continued existence is the result of the careful stew-ardship of John Somers, Helen Nicholson, Joe Winston, Co-lette Conroy, James Thompson, and Molly Mullen (the cur-rent Themed Editions Editor) and the Boards they worked with. We continue to value their contributions and mentorship of RiDE and the wider field. We are humbled by the size of the shoes we are now stepping into and are thankful to be working together in this role, so that maybe we have to fill just one shoe each.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
The Public Intellectualism of Stephen Chifunyise: Crafting an African-Inspired Theatre Praxis
- Authors: Sibanda, Nkululeko
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/469645 , vital:77275 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10137548.2024.2428589
- Description: This paper deploys Brouwer and Squires’ (2003) [Public intellectuals, public life, and the university. Argumentation and Advocacy, 39 (3), 201–213] concepts of ‘breadth’, ‘site/ location’ and ‘legitimacy’ as conceptual categories to frame and examine Stephen Chifunyise’s artistic and cultural practice of public intellectualism. Stephen Chifunyise’s artistic and cultural work spanned decades, working in Zimbabwe and Zambia, the academy and industry, and taking up consultancy and administration positions in government. This paper explores how this work by Chifunyise positions him as a public intellectual who shaped policy, ideological, epistemological and ontological foundations for cultural work, artistic training and development at the tertiary level, and policy formulation at a regional and continental level. This paper draws from several plays and theatre scripts, published research papers and policy documents to highlight the breadth, location and legitimacy of Chifunyise’s public intellectualism in Zimbabwe and Africa. This paper further submits that Chifunyise’s public intellectualism is located in how he uses his experiences in telling stories that speak to his environment and that of his publics’ lived existence, ways of experiencing and seeing and locatedness in the ‘village’.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
- Authors: Sibanda, Nkululeko
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/469645 , vital:77275 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10137548.2024.2428589
- Description: This paper deploys Brouwer and Squires’ (2003) [Public intellectuals, public life, and the university. Argumentation and Advocacy, 39 (3), 201–213] concepts of ‘breadth’, ‘site/ location’ and ‘legitimacy’ as conceptual categories to frame and examine Stephen Chifunyise’s artistic and cultural practice of public intellectualism. Stephen Chifunyise’s artistic and cultural work spanned decades, working in Zimbabwe and Zambia, the academy and industry, and taking up consultancy and administration positions in government. This paper explores how this work by Chifunyise positions him as a public intellectual who shaped policy, ideological, epistemological and ontological foundations for cultural work, artistic training and development at the tertiary level, and policy formulation at a regional and continental level. This paper draws from several plays and theatre scripts, published research papers and policy documents to highlight the breadth, location and legitimacy of Chifunyise’s public intellectualism in Zimbabwe and Africa. This paper further submits that Chifunyise’s public intellectualism is located in how he uses his experiences in telling stories that speak to his environment and that of his publics’ lived existence, ways of experiencing and seeing and locatedness in the ‘village’.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
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