The marginalised in post-independence Zimbabwe in selected stories in Memory Chirere’s short story anthology Somewhere in this country
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Date
2013
Authors
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Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
Memory Chirere is one of the contemporary Zimbabwean writers who uses the
short story genre as a mode of expression. In his fi rst collection of short stories
in English under one book, Somewhere in this Country (2006), Chirere focuses
on the marginalised members of society in their day-to-day struggles for survival
in post-independence Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s masses leading miserable lives,
years after independence which was obtained in 1980, refl ects that the black
leaders failed to fulfi ll their erstwhile promises of better days to the majority.
At the centre of each of the stories selected to be studied in this article,
“Suburb”, “An Old Man”, “Maize” and “Sitting Carelessly” is the writer’s
touching compassion for the underprivileged members of society such as
squatters, street kids, land-hungry peasants and displaced farm workers
respectively. However, in “Maize” the black government is applauded for
alleviating the situation of peasants by giving them land under the recent
land reform programme. Hence, notable in Chirere’s criticism of society and
its institutions is his objectivity.
Description
Keywords
Post-independence
Citation
Mupondi, A. (2013). The marginalised in post-independence Zimbabwe in selected stories in Memory Chirere’s short story anthology Somewhere in this country. Journal for Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, 2(2): 94-102.