Abstract
ABSTRACT Tsitsi Dangarembga’s exploration of education takes on distinct forms in her literary works. The Book of Not (2006) focuses on traditional education encompassing classes, assessments and discipline. This article presents an analysis of Dangarembga’s second literary work, interrogating the tension between the promises of educational liberation and the entrapment of black female students within the confines of Young Ladies’ College of the Sacred Heart, an educational institution that replicates colonial practices. The concept of education is read within the framework of Paulo Freire’s critique of the banking model, where practices of colonial education are shown to manifest neuroses in colonial subjects, exposing the hypocrisies and ironies within the colonial education model. Through this lens, we observe the profound alienation Tambudzai (Tambu) experiences with liberatory education. To succeed within the system, Tambu is pressured to abandon her cultural identity under the misguided belief that doing so will lead to acceptance. This forced renunciation causes psychological breakdowns, highlighting how the school exhibits institutional traits akin to asylums. Instead of fostering independence and collective thought, the school’s true aim is to enforce dependence by compelling students to discard themselves.
Published Version
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