HomeOld_PostsAn Africa-centred analysis of Uncertainty of Hope — Part Three.....Tagwira turned...

An Africa-centred analysis of Uncertainty of Hope — Part Three…..Tagwira turned devil’s advocate

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UNCERTAINTY of Hope is set in Mbare in the turbulent times of economic meltdown ushered in by harsh economic sanctions, which point I have stressed in the preceding submissions.
I reiterate it here because in the novel, there is neither direct nor indirect reference to that monstrous causality; hence the need to nudge the reader to situate the suffering of the female characters in the correct global historical context rather than blindly follow the direction dictated by both editorial and authorial conditioning.
Remember the author publicly acknowledges her appreciation and admiration for Irene Staunton, the editor and publisher, whom we already know as an active promoter of imperialist deconstructionist discourse in Zimbabwe.
All she cares to expose and promote in Africa are themes such as women’s rights, child abuse, patriarchal oppression, individual suffering, lack of political will, corruption and poor governance, all depicted as local deficiencies requiring external interventions for sympathy and possible remedy.
Those who have read No More Plastic Balls, Writing Still and Writing Now, just to mention a few, will agree that here is an editor who celebrates the decay of the African social fabric with effusive abandon.
All woes are calculated to give the wrong impressions that they are manifestations of local ‘nervous conditions’.
There is no story that she publishes that allows the cultivation of unity, of patriotism or nationalism.
Where these feature, they do so as subjects of interrogation. And yet our author says of this unrepentant predatory deconstructionist: “I heard about Weaver Press from my cousin and I rang them to ask about manuscript submission. I was very fortunate to have my manuscript accepted, and to have Irene Staunton as my editor. She is very supportive and serious about the work she does”.
Supportive?
And serious?
Does Tagwira understand the politics of publishing? Has she ever heard of the ‘the power of ideology and the ideology of power’?
Ever heard of hegemony?
Of soft power?
It does not seem likely.
Asked what her next book would be about, Tagwira innocently replies: “I recently came across some disturbing UN statistics on child abuse in Zimbabwe. I would like to find out more about this sometime in the future and see if I can write a book which looks at that theme”.
As I have indicated earlier, you can confirm that she has been recruited to play the devil’s advocate for forces she may not be aware of.
This is typical of sponsored writing. Many like her have fallen into this trap before; to participate in their own auto-deconstruction before the gazing world without knowing.
Such themes as expressed by her new ambition deriving authority from the duplicitous UN resonate with such themes as ‘climate change’, ‘gender’ and recently, ‘security sector reform in Africa’, all calculated to place at the centre, Africa’s self-annihilation with the Western sponsors cheering along.
This unsuspecting innocence should be understood as typical of most writers who fail to realise that writing is not just a calling but also a service to society; which service demands a great deal of both sacrifice and responsibility.
Tagwira is either an innocent victim of the dissembling wiles of post-colonial deconstructionist discourses of modern imperialist strategies or alternatively an active participator in the processes of auto-destruction.
Look at how Tagwira begins her novel:
Onai Moyo awakened unwillingly from her slumber to the irritating sound of a dog barking continuously in the distance. The racket escalated to an agitated pitch that seemed to grow closer as it grew louder. More dogs in the neighbourhood joined in: barking, yelping and growling. The noise was raucous and broke the stillness of night. Onai felt a spasm of apprehension. This sort of commotion often meant that gangs of matsotsi eHarare were out prowling through the ramshackle labyrinth of Jo’burg Lines where she lived with her family.
Her right arm felt like a dead-weight beneath her despite a spasm of sharp pins and needles. She turned over with drowsy indolence and wiggled her fingers to ease her discomfort. Circulation returned in a rush and for a moment the prickling sensation intensified. She opened her eyes. Thin shafts of orange light from the tower light filtered effortlessly through the leaves of the mango tree just outside her window and through the frayed curtain of her bedroom, throwing peculiar shapes on the wall that seemed to cavort in a synchronised manner. Mimvuri, happy shadows … she thought sleepily, closing her eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep. She failed.
As with most creative writers, this opening whisks our hearts away. Immediately and impulsively our sympathies go to our heroine who is under siege from dark forces of the Zimbabwean squalor and the prohibiting Zimbabwean nights.
So vivid is the description of the setting that we are confined to Zimbabwe and denied the bigger picture which authors this penury and insecurity.
There is no hint as to the role of colonialism to the urbanisation process which created squalid living conditions for the Africans irking a living on the fringes of an economy that saved the interests of a minority white ruling class, which condition created ‘the ramshackle labyrinth of Jo’burg Lines’ which begets the vicious cycle Tagwira describes.
This colonial background is critical for any serious student of this novel. When you understand this, you have a fuller appreciation of the portrayal of characters and events in the novel.
Uncertainty of Hope becomes a way of exploring the challenges that underprivileged women face in their day-to-day lives and the obstacles that they encounter in trying to make life better for their families.
When you grasp this background, you can then appreciate why the novel, through Onai and her best friend Katy, examines domestic violence, poverty, homelessness and lack of control that disadvantaged women have over their sexuality, which among other things, makes them more vulnerable to HIV and AIDS.
It is also a book about surviving against the odds, and the value of true friendship. Onai and Katy’s interactions with other characters from a different social class reveal the intricacies of modern day Zimbabwe.
The point I wish to hammer home is that you need to situate what happens in the novel in the bigger global imperialist agenda.

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