Manning the Nation

Father Figures in Zimbabwean Literature & Society

Kizito Muchemwa & Robert Muponde

 

Synopsis

Gender studies in Zimbabwe have tended to focus on women and their comparative disadvantages and under-privilege. Assuming a broader perspective is necessary at a time when society has grown used to arguments rooted in binaries: colonised and coloniser, race and class, sex and gender, poverty and wealth, patriotism and terrorism, etc. The editors of Manning the Nation recognise that concepts of manhood can be used to repress or liberate, and will depend on historical and political imperatives; they seek to introduce a more nuanced perspective to the interconnectivity of patriarchy, masculinity, the nation, and its image.

Review

Manning the Nation is an exciting if dark addition to the literature on Zimbabwe. [It] delivers a somber critique of the nature of patriarchy and power. - African Book Publishing Record

Authors

Kizito Muchemwa is a poet and a lecturer in English, literature and media studies at the Great Zimbabwe University.

Robert Muponde is Professor of English in the School of Languages, Literature and Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.