Life-affirmation in Chirikure Chirikure’s ‘Europe Vakomana!’ and Greater Mhondera’s ‘Usatye Kani Africa!’
Art that does not affirm life is invalid. Life-affirmation continues to be an urgent matter among peoples of Africa against the life-negating prison that European domination has located them in. The inspiration, impetus and ambition for African development require a consciousness of African history...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Routledge
2022
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2019.1618000 http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4825 |
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| author | Tembo, Charles Mutasa, Dave |
| author_facet | Tembo, Charles Mutasa, Dave |
| author_sort | Tembo, Charles |
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| description | Art that does not affirm life is invalid. Life-affirmation continues to be an urgent matter among peoples of Africa against the life-negating prison that European domination has located them in. The inspiration, impetus and ambition for African development require a consciousness of African history as centred people capable of unleashing their creative potential. In that regard, African literature is an indispensable tool to re-centre Africa. Against that background, this effort is a pursuit of the expression of ‘life-affirmation’ in selected Shona poetry in which indomitable determination towards reconstructing a new story about Africa and giving agency to African people are striking. That is, the poetry is redolent with a sharp sense of telling the African story against the long-standing and life-denying Eurocentric conceptualisations of Africa. The two poetic voices explicated in this article add to the many voices that are concerned with the critical need for Africa’s ‘mental bath’ in the context of Euro-cultural imperialism. The voices are in concert with many other voices on the growing consciousness about Africa which is critical for self-transcendence. In the search for liberation from European resentment, self-knowledge and courage are presented as life-furthering and non-negotiable. The two poems, it is argued, are exemplars of African literature in search of renaissance. |
| format | Article |
| id | ir-11408-4825 |
| institution | My University |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ir-11408-48252022-06-27T13:49:06Z Life-affirmation in Chirikure Chirikure’s ‘Europe Vakomana!’ and Greater Mhondera’s ‘Usatye Kani Africa!’ Tembo, Charles Mutasa, Dave Life affirmation Art that does not affirm life is invalid. Life-affirmation continues to be an urgent matter among peoples of Africa against the life-negating prison that European domination has located them in. The inspiration, impetus and ambition for African development require a consciousness of African history as centred people capable of unleashing their creative potential. In that regard, African literature is an indispensable tool to re-centre Africa. Against that background, this effort is a pursuit of the expression of ‘life-affirmation’ in selected Shona poetry in which indomitable determination towards reconstructing a new story about Africa and giving agency to African people are striking. That is, the poetry is redolent with a sharp sense of telling the African story against the long-standing and life-denying Eurocentric conceptualisations of Africa. The two poetic voices explicated in this article add to the many voices that are concerned with the critical need for Africa’s ‘mental bath’ in the context of Euro-cultural imperialism. The voices are in concert with many other voices on the growing consciousness about Africa which is critical for self-transcendence. In the search for liberation from European resentment, self-knowledge and courage are presented as life-furthering and non-negotiable. The two poems, it is argued, are exemplars of African literature in search of renaissance. 2022-04-14T11:57:56Z 2022-04-14T11:57:56Z 2019 Article 0257-2117 2305-1159 https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2019.1618000 http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4825 en South African Journal of African Languages;Vol. 39; No. 2: p. 126-134 open Routledge |
| spellingShingle | Life affirmation Tembo, Charles Mutasa, Dave Life-affirmation in Chirikure Chirikure’s ‘Europe Vakomana!’ and Greater Mhondera’s ‘Usatye Kani Africa!’ |
| title | Life-affirmation in Chirikure Chirikure’s ‘Europe Vakomana!’ and Greater Mhondera’s ‘Usatye Kani Africa!’ |
| title_full | Life-affirmation in Chirikure Chirikure’s ‘Europe Vakomana!’ and Greater Mhondera’s ‘Usatye Kani Africa!’ |
| title_fullStr | Life-affirmation in Chirikure Chirikure’s ‘Europe Vakomana!’ and Greater Mhondera’s ‘Usatye Kani Africa!’ |
| title_full_unstemmed | Life-affirmation in Chirikure Chirikure’s ‘Europe Vakomana!’ and Greater Mhondera’s ‘Usatye Kani Africa!’ |
| title_short | Life-affirmation in Chirikure Chirikure’s ‘Europe Vakomana!’ and Greater Mhondera’s ‘Usatye Kani Africa!’ |
| title_sort | life-affirmation in chirikure chirikure’s ‘europe vakomana!’ and greater mhondera’s ‘usatye kani africa!’ |
| topic | Life affirmation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2019.1618000 http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4825 |
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