Apartheid, Patriarchal Domination and the Female Search for Self in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions

Abstract

Early Europeans stumbled on the South African landscape, and due to the temperate climate, mineral deposits and agricultural potentials started buying off lands, gradually displacing blacks and dispossessing them of their fertile land, as in the case of East Africa and other areas. Apartheid was enthroned as Black were discriminated against, and segregation was introduced. This ignited rebellion, leading to the agitation for independence and human rights, which was the birth of the African and journalists who opposed the system were killed or jailed or forced into exile. They include Dennis Brutus, Peter Abraham, Nadine Gordimer, Bessie Head among others. Writing creative work of art became difficult, especially as it faced rigorous censorship. This paper seeks to explain the correlation between apartheid and patriarchal domination in the affairs of women in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions using the feminist/womanism approaches among others. The paper advocates the recognition of women’s rights in the Zimbabwean milieu and seeks to liberate women from patriarchal bottlenecks.