https://hdl.handle.net/10646/199 Thu, 09 Apr 2026 21:26:33 GMT 2026-04-09T21:26:33Z https://hdl.handle.net/10646/1133 Title: Contesting Constructions of Cultural Production in & through Urban Theatre in Rhodesia, c. 1890–1950 Authors: RAVENGAI, SAMUEL Abstract: In this article I attempt to analyse three urban African performances; Nyawo, the tea party, and Beni. I employ the socio-historical analysis model which attempts to understand the relationship between the field of cultural production and the field of power. Historically the ascendancy to power of the bourgeoisie in Western Europe facilitated the assimilation of its culture and taste by virtually all of Western civil society. Colonisation in Rhodesia (in its blue print form) intended to use the same principle of extending English rulership and influence with the goal of transforming Rhodesia to be like the metropolitan state in manifesting the nature and will of the English in lifestyle, actions, activities and culture.1 As evidenced by the nature of these urban African performances, domination does not necessarily result in absolute collaboration. Rhodesian discourse was both collaborated with and resisted by African cultural producers. I look at this element of collaboration and resistance through Ranajit Guha’s (1997) frame of the articulation of power where domination implies subordination. In the case of colonial administrations, coercion seems to outweigh persuasion in the articulation of domination thereby denying absolute assimilation of colonial culture by Africans as was the case of civil society in Western Europe. Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10646/1133 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10646/1107 Title: An Investigation into the Practice of Directing and Theatre Making in Post-Independence Zimbabwe up to 1990: Some Urban Theatre Directors and/or Theatre Makers as Case Studies Authors: RAVENGAI, SAMUEL Abstract: This article examines the theatre making and directing styles inherent in urban Zimbabwean theatre in the first ten years after independence. It does so by scrutinising the works of selected urban theatre makers and/or directors in order to access the general modifications that they have made to the theatre of the period. The objective is to appreciate the characteristics of such theatre for purposes of delineating the theatrical style of the period. In addition, the article also discusses the manner in which the socio-historical environment influenced a whole array of the creative processes involved in a production. The article further argues that the theatrical style of the period both collaborated with and resisted Western illusionistic theatre aesthetics as practised by the historically dominant white mainstream theatre. Description: Publisher's version Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10646/1107 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10646/1106 Title: Issues and Implications in Staging Mungoshi's Inongova Njakenjake (Each Does his Own Thing) Authors: RAVENGAI, SAMUEL Abstract: Charles Mungoshi is one of the most prolific writers Zimbabwe has produced. As with any attempt at categorisation, it proves futile to bunch Mungoshi with most Zimbabwean writers in the same cauldron of realism, as some of his works operate beyond that realm. His Shona novel, Kunyarara Hakusi Kutaura (1983), for example, employs multiple narrators who rely on the stream of consciousness technique to tell their stories. The spaces explored are psychic as opposed to the real, tangible and concrete spaces that form the hallmark of realism. These techniques employed by Mungoshi are predominantly used in avant-garde writing. However, the bulk of his work, including the playtext under study in this chapter, Inongova Njakenjake (Each Does His Own Thing) (1980), uses realism as a creative method. This chapter testifies to the ethical sublime in Mungoshi's Inongova Njakenjake (Each Does His Own Thing) (1980) by way of thematic interpretation including a discussion of the quality and validity of ideas expressed in the playtext. This chapter will dissect and analyse the playtext, attempting to give insight into Mungoshi's writing technique highlighting the creative talent, craftsmanship and those constituent elements that are worthy of special consideration. As Pushkin succinctly puts it 'criticism is the science of discovering the beauties and shortcomings in works of art and literature' (cited in Chiwome 2002: vii). The real crux of the matter is how the above issues relate to the visualisation or staging of the play, Inongova Njakenjake (Each Does His Own Thing) (1980). The argument presented is that Mungoshi has always taken recourse to poetry, the short story and/or the novel as channels to unload his obsessions and his experiment with a play, which is a different genre, has been unfortunately characterised by the domination of the word at the expense of the visual dimension creating serious technical problems for the prospective director and performer. This diagnosed problem is traceable to, among other things, Mungoshi's ‘panic’ without the narrator (a tool he uses in novel writing) and textual structural fragility. Description: Book chapter in Vambe M. T and Chirere, M., eds. 2006. Charles Mungoshi: A Critical Reader. Harare: Prestige Books, pp. 223-236. ISBN 0-7974-3087-3. Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10646/1106 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10646/472 Title: Transculturalism in Post-independence Zimbabwean Drama: Projections of Zimbabwean Theatre at the Onset of a New Millennium. Authors: Seda, Owen.S Abstract: This article examines transculturalism in Zimbabwean theatre in the postindependence era. It begins with a historical background to the socio-cultural forces that shaped attitudes to cultural life, first in the colony, and later in the postindependence period. The article argues that prejudice, ignorance, fear and mutual suspicion lead to theatre and performing arts emerging out of decades of colonialism largely segregated and highly confrontational, along lines of race and class. While acknowledging collaborative work done immediately after independence, the article then argues that it is only a decade or so after independence in 1980 that theatre practitioners from the two competing traditions i.e. former white theatre and community-based or people’s theatre in the townships, come out of their cultural straitjacket and begin to produce collaborative work in earnest. Realizing the tremendous potentialities that could be realized through cross-cultural co-operation in the arts, confrontational attitudes between black and white gradually wane after 1990, leading to cross-cultural interaction that has produced plays of outstanding cultural and artistic merit. Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/10646/472 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z