Mothers, madonnas and musicians: A writing of Africa's women as symbols and agents of change in the novels of Zakes Mda
Abstract My dissertation interrogates the ways in which Zakes Mda has made women central to his novels. I argue that the women characters in Mda's novels are key to the idea of the rebirth of Africa (and the simultaneous birth of a (South) African identity) a rebirth made necessary by ye...
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ndltd-netd.ac.za-oai-union.ndltd.org-wits-oai-wiredspace.wits.ac.za-10539-47252019-05-11T03:41:08Z Mothers, madonnas and musicians: A writing of Africa's women as symbols and agents of change in the novels of Zakes Mda Mazibuko, Nokuthula Mda South African literature feminism Abstract My dissertation interrogates the ways in which Zakes Mda has made women central to his novels. I argue that the women characters in Mda's novels are key to the idea of the rebirth of Africa (and the simultaneous birth of a (South) African identity) a rebirth made necessary by years of dispossession through colonialism and apartheid. I will explore how on one level Mda, through magical realism, represents women as symbols of both destruction and construction; and how on another level he represents them as complex characters existing as agents of history. Mda’s novels: Ways of Dying (1995), She Plays With the Darkness (1995), The Heart of Redness (2000) and The Madonna of Excelsior (2002) critique the topdown approach of the postapartheid, postcolonial discourse of African Renaissance a discourse which aims to reverse the damage done to the lives of Africans who have been brutalised by history. Mda writes an African renaissance (with a lower case “r”), which acknowledges and explores the ways in which people on the margins of power, recreate and transform their lives, without necessarily waiting for politicians to come up with policies and solutions. The renaissance of ordinary people privileges the spirit of ubuntu, whereby the individual strives to work with the collective to achieve a more humane world. Mda’s female characters are central to the debate on renaissance and reconstruction in that he questions existing gender roles by ii highlighting strongly the rights still denied African women his challenge to the discourse is whether a renaissance is possible if the humanity of women (and others marginalised by class, age, location, ethnicity, and other categories) continues to be denied. I ask the question whether Mda, goes further, and envisions women participating as leaders in traditionally male spaces. 2008-03-31T09:11:00Z 2008-03-31T09:11:00Z 2008-03-31T09:11:00Z Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10539/4725 es 1528667 bytes 426093 bytes application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf |
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Mda South African literature feminism Mazibuko, Nokuthula Mothers, madonnas and musicians: A writing of Africa's women as symbols and agents of change in the novels of Zakes Mda |
description |
Abstract
My dissertation interrogates the ways in which Zakes Mda has made women
central to his novels. I argue that the women characters in Mda's novels are key to
the idea of the rebirth
of Africa (and the simultaneous birth of a (South) African
identity) a
rebirth
made necessary by years of dispossession through colonialism
and apartheid. I will explore how on one level Mda, through magical realism,
represents women as symbols of both destruction and construction; and how on
another level he represents them as complex characters existing as agents of
history. Mda’s novels: Ways of Dying (1995), She Plays With the Darkness (1995),
The Heart of Redness (2000) and The Madonna of Excelsior (2002) critique the
topdown
approach of the postapartheid,
postcolonial
discourse of African
Renaissance a
discourse which aims to reverse the damage done to the lives of
Africans who have been brutalised by history. Mda writes an African renaissance
(with a lower case “r”), which acknowledges and explores the ways in which people
on the margins of power, recreate and transform their lives, without necessarily
waiting for politicians to come up with policies and solutions. The renaissance of
ordinary people privileges the spirit of ubuntu, whereby the individual strives to
work with the collective to achieve a more humane world. Mda’s female characters
are central to the debate on renaissance and reconstruction in that he questions
existing gender roles by
ii
highlighting strongly the rights still denied African women his
challenge to the
discourse is whether a renaissance is possible if the humanity of women (and
others marginalised by class, age, location, ethnicity, and other categories)
continues to be denied. I ask the question whether Mda, goes further, and
envisions women participating as leaders in traditionally male spaces. |
author |
Mazibuko, Nokuthula |
author_facet |
Mazibuko, Nokuthula |
author_sort |
Mazibuko, Nokuthula |
title |
Mothers, madonnas and musicians: A writing of Africa's women as symbols and agents of change in the novels of Zakes Mda |
title_short |
Mothers, madonnas and musicians: A writing of Africa's women as symbols and agents of change in the novels of Zakes Mda |
title_full |
Mothers, madonnas and musicians: A writing of Africa's women as symbols and agents of change in the novels of Zakes Mda |
title_fullStr |
Mothers, madonnas and musicians: A writing of Africa's women as symbols and agents of change in the novels of Zakes Mda |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mothers, madonnas and musicians: A writing of Africa's women as symbols and agents of change in the novels of Zakes Mda |
title_sort |
mothers, madonnas and musicians: a writing of africa's women as symbols and agents of change in the novels of zakes mda |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10539/4725 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT mazibukonokuthula mothersmadonnasandmusiciansawritingofafricaswomenassymbolsandagentsofchangeinthenovelsofzakesmda |
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1719083240822669312 |