The Image of Absence and the Politics of Naming in Shona War fiction/Die Beeld Van Afwesigheid En Die Politiek Van Naamgewing in Shona-Oorlogsfiksie

During Zimbabwe's liberation war thousands of young people crossed into neighbouring countries to take up arms to fight and end colonialism. There is sufficient evidence that many of these young people were women. Political rhetoric also maintains that women fought alongside their male counterparts. However, in the Shona literature that depicts Zimbabwe's guerrilla war there is a glaring absence of female characters who play the roles of guerrilla fighters. This article is an attempt to discuss this absence and to explain why there are very few guerrilla girls in Shona war fiction. The article argues that female guerrillas are not given much space in Shona war novels because the writers of these novels continue the oral folktale tradition in which women are rarely made heroines. It is further argued that in the actual guerrilla war of the 1970s female guerrillas were rarely seen fighting at the war front, that the pioneer guerrillas were men and that the masculine discourse about the war excluded women. Moreover, only men have written Shona war novels. Tydens Zimbabwe se bevrydingsoorlog het duisende jong mense die grense van buurlande oorgesteek om wapens op te neem teen kolonialisme. Daar bestaan voldoende getuienis dat baie van hierdie jong mense vroulik was. Politieke retoriek het dit dan ook duidelik gemaak dat vroue saam met hul manlike ewekniee geveg het. In die Shona-literatuur wat Zimbabwe se guerrilla-oorlog uitbeeld is daar egter 'n skreiende afwesigheid van vroulike karakters wat die rolle van die guerrilla vegters uitbeeld. Hierdie artikel is 'n poging om hierdie beeld van afwesigheid te ontleed en te verduidelik waarom daar so min vroulike guerrillavegters in Shona-oorlogsfiksie voorkom. Die artikel argumenteer dat die skrywers van Shona-oorlogsromans dikwels die mondelinge volksverhaal waarin seide vroulike heldinne voorkom, voortgesit het. Daar word verder aangevoer dat in die werklike guerrilla-oorlog ran die 1970's vroulike guerrillavegters seide gesien is waar hulle voor in die oorlog geveg het; dat die pionier guerrillavegters mans was; en dat die manlike diskoers oor die oorlog vroue uitgesluit het. Bowendien het slegs mans Shona-oorlogsromans geskryf. Introduction Zimbabwe's guerrilla war of the 1970s attracted a lot of attention from writers of fiction in the Shona language. Shona war fiction derives its material from this guerrilla war, a historical event in which almost the entire population alive at the time was involved in one way or another and an event on which so much was, has been, and continues to be said. The entire population referred to here includes women. There was a time during the earlier phases of the armed struggle in Zimbabwe when crossing the borders to go and join the liberation war was largely 'voluntary' and done by men. However, there came a time, especially in the middle phase of the war, that young people were abducted from schools without discrimination between sexes. These school children included young girls. In fact, in the 1970s there were deliberate efforts by guerrillas to recruit women as well. During the liberation war and after, politicians gave speeches in which they claimed that women fought and died alongside their male counterparts. On the surface of things therefore this was a guerrilla war that involved both male and female guerrillas. Yet a careful analysis of the fiction that talks about Zimbabwe's liberation war shows that female characters that play the role of guerrillas are conspicuous by their paucity or even absence. The purpose of this article is to discuss the possible reasons that explain why female guerrillas are very rare in fiction about a guerrilla war in which women are said to have played a prominent role. This question has not been answered before. Students of literature would need to explain why Shona liberation war fiction fails to present women as prominent guerrilla fighters. The debate on the portrayal of women in literature seems never to end and this article contributes significantly to that discourse. …