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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Main Author: Mazibuko, Nokuthula
Format: Others
Language:es
Published: 2008
Subjects:
Mda
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10539/4725
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spelling 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
collection NDLTD
language es
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic Mda
South African literature
feminism
spellingShingle 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
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