LITERARY PORTRAYALS OF THE ZIMBABWEAN TOWNSHIPS
Perspectives on City and Humanity in Christopher Mlalazi
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12957/periferia.2024.86309Keywords:
African literature, Urban periphery, Township, Representation, ExclusionAbstract
This paper aims to explore literary representations of the city, particularly within the spatial domain of the periphery, also referred to as township or favela. This exploration will be conducted through the analysis of three short stories from the work Dancing with Life: Tales from the Township (2008) by Zimbabwean writer Christopher Mlalazi. As a theoretical-methodological framework, we draw on Cultural Studies, particularly the concepts of representation and culture proposed by Stuart Hall (1997) and Du Gay (1997), among others. The debates and analyses undertaken throughout the exploration of the selected texts allow us to suggest that the architecture and urban culture in the periphery of large cities in Zimbabwe, similar to other countries in the Global South such as Brazil, both shape and promote the production and experience of hostile psychosocial feelings and experiences, which are often opposite to dignity, comfort, and social well-being of their inhabitants. At the same time, the deep socioeconomic asymmetries, as constituents of the culture of violence and socioemotional oppression in the townships, are also reflected in the material construction of these urban spaces. This represents a dual movement where the geoconstruction of the Zimbabwean favela not only refracts the conditions of its residents but also affects their psyche, culture, modes of organization, and existence.
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