Auxillia Mnangagwa's “Amaihood” and the cultural politics of the Zimbabwean first lady in the “New Dispensation”

Grace Mugabe’s Amaihood (mother of the nation) was despised in hegemonic discourses of (il)legitimacy in the last days of Robert Mugabe’s rule. Her political ascension in ZANU PF and national leadership was supported by ZANU PF’s Youth and Women’s Leagues which, among other things, recommended and a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Saidi, Umali
Format: Book chapter
Language:English
Published: Routledge 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003190271-18/auxillia-mnangagwa-amaihood-cultural-politics-zimbabwean-first-lady-new-dispensation-umali-saidi
http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4699
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1779905207092641792
author Saidi, Umali
author_facet Saidi, Umali
author_sort Saidi, Umali
collection DSpace
description Grace Mugabe’s Amaihood (mother of the nation) was despised in hegemonic discourses of (il)legitimacy in the last days of Robert Mugabe’s rule. Her political ascension in ZANU PF and national leadership was supported by ZANU PF’s Youth and Women’s Leagues which, among other things, recommended and advocated for her candidacy to succeed her now late husband. The two vice presidents, Joice Mujuru and later the embattled Emmerson Mnangagwa, were accused by Grace Mugabe and her supporters of harbouring presidential ambitions and her active role resulted in the two (Joice Mujuru in 2014; Emmerson Mnangagwa in 2017) being fired from the party. Emmerson Mnangagwa replaced Joice Mujuru only to be fired from the same post in 2017. Grace Mugabe’s behaviour and speeches, viewed in patriarchal political circles as vulgar and disconnected from the nation, also questioned core ethical and traditional values. The 2017 military intervention, premised on the call to ‘restore legacy’, further exposed the direct involvement of the military in ZANU PF and Zimbabwean politics. However, ‘disgraced’ by her husband’s forced resignation in November 2017, Grace Mugabe’s role as ‘mother of the nation’ was, as it were, replaced by Auxillia Mnangagwa following elevation of Emmerson Mnangagwa to lead the ‘new’ dispensation. Drawing from semiotics and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), therefore, this chapter uses Auxillia Mnangagwa’s politico-cultural performance of Amaihood to examine cultural politics of her re-invention of ‘Amaihood’ in the ‘Second Republic’.
format Book chapter
id ir-11408-4699
institution My University
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Routledge
record_format dspace
spelling ir-11408-46992022-06-27T13:49:05Z Auxillia Mnangagwa's “Amaihood” and the cultural politics of the Zimbabwean first lady in the “New Dispensation” Saidi, Umali Culture Women's league Grace Mugabe’s Amaihood (mother of the nation) was despised in hegemonic discourses of (il)legitimacy in the last days of Robert Mugabe’s rule. Her political ascension in ZANU PF and national leadership was supported by ZANU PF’s Youth and Women’s Leagues which, among other things, recommended and advocated for her candidacy to succeed her now late husband. The two vice presidents, Joice Mujuru and later the embattled Emmerson Mnangagwa, were accused by Grace Mugabe and her supporters of harbouring presidential ambitions and her active role resulted in the two (Joice Mujuru in 2014; Emmerson Mnangagwa in 2017) being fired from the party. Emmerson Mnangagwa replaced Joice Mujuru only to be fired from the same post in 2017. Grace Mugabe’s behaviour and speeches, viewed in patriarchal political circles as vulgar and disconnected from the nation, also questioned core ethical and traditional values. The 2017 military intervention, premised on the call to ‘restore legacy’, further exposed the direct involvement of the military in ZANU PF and Zimbabwean politics. However, ‘disgraced’ by her husband’s forced resignation in November 2017, Grace Mugabe’s role as ‘mother of the nation’ was, as it were, replaced by Auxillia Mnangagwa following elevation of Emmerson Mnangagwa to lead the ‘new’ dispensation. Drawing from semiotics and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), therefore, this chapter uses Auxillia Mnangagwa’s politico-cultural performance of Amaihood to examine cultural politics of her re-invention of ‘Amaihood’ in the ‘Second Republic’. 2022-03-15T13:29:34Z 2022-03-15T13:29:34Z 2021 Book chapter 9781003190271 https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003190271-18/auxillia-mnangagwa-amaihood-cultural-politics-zimbabwean-first-lady-new-dispensation-umali-saidi http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4699 en Cultures of Change in Contemporary Zimbabwe;Chapter open Routledge
spellingShingle Culture
Women's league
Saidi, Umali
Auxillia Mnangagwa's “Amaihood” and the cultural politics of the Zimbabwean first lady in the “New Dispensation”
title Auxillia Mnangagwa's “Amaihood” and the cultural politics of the Zimbabwean first lady in the “New Dispensation”
title_full Auxillia Mnangagwa's “Amaihood” and the cultural politics of the Zimbabwean first lady in the “New Dispensation”
title_fullStr Auxillia Mnangagwa's “Amaihood” and the cultural politics of the Zimbabwean first lady in the “New Dispensation”
title_full_unstemmed Auxillia Mnangagwa's “Amaihood” and the cultural politics of the Zimbabwean first lady in the “New Dispensation”
title_short Auxillia Mnangagwa's “Amaihood” and the cultural politics of the Zimbabwean first lady in the “New Dispensation”
title_sort auxillia mnangagwa's “amaihood” and the cultural politics of the zimbabwean first lady in the “new dispensation”
topic Culture
Women's league
url https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003190271-18/auxillia-mnangagwa-amaihood-cultural-politics-zimbabwean-first-lady-new-dispensation-umali-saidi
http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4699
work_keys_str_mv AT saidiumali auxilliamnangagwasamaihoodandtheculturalpoliticsofthezimbabweanfirstladyinthenewdispensation