- Title
- Gukurahundi as a Cultural Event: Cultural Politics and the Culture of Violence in Matabeleland
- Creator
- Sibanda, Nkululeko
- Subject
- To be catalogued
- Date Issued
- 2024
- Date
- 2024
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/469623
- Identifier
- vital:77273
- Identifier
- https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy8040147
- Description
- The desire of Gukurahundi survivors for cultural platforms that enable them to discuss, mourn, and commemorate their loved ones is now very loud in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland and Midlands provinces. While community-based organisations have provided platforms for Gukurahundi survivors, the children of survivors, and academics to interface and interact, the government’s gatekeeping processes remain a challenge for the community-wide memorialisation and documentation of the genocide. In this conceptual paper, I frame Gukurahundi as a meteorological event within a general Zimbabwean cultural context, foregrounding the desecration of the Ndebele people’s cultural practices, rituals, and ceremonies. Drawing from the documented legacies of this cultural violence within Matabeleland and south-western parts of the Midlands, through videos and the literature, I argue that this cultural violence resulted in the silencing of the remembrance of Gukurahundi, which remains critical to the resolution of the stand-off between the ZANU-PF government and the communities. In this paper, I further argue that this ecological symbolism provided a justification and legitimated direct brutal violence on presumed ZAPU and ex-ZPRA veterans who were largely Ndebele-speaking or of ethnic descent. Finally, I argue that it is not that the absence of alternative narratives but the sociopolitical and cultural environment that constrains these from being available and implemented.
- Format
- 11 pages
- Format
- Language
- English
- Relation
- Genealogy
- Relation
- Sibanda, N., 2024. Gukurahundi as a Cultural Event: Cultural Politics and the Culture of Violence in Matabeleland. Genealogy, 8(4), p.147
- Relation
- Genealogy volume 8 number 4 1 11 2024 2313-5778
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the MDPI Open Access Statement (https://www.int-res.com/journals/terms-of-use/)
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Sibanda, Nkululeko (Dr)
RU Department of Drama
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Gukurahundi as a Cultural Event.pdf | 240 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |