The Discourse of Secession in Novuyo Rosa Tshuma’s House of Stone

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the depiction of the discourse of secession in Novuyo Rosa Tshuma’s House of Stone (2018). Borrowing insights on secession from international law and drawing on postcolonial concepts of identity formation and the theory of ethnicity as entry points, the article highlights the elusive nature of nation in Zimbabwe and affirms that the secessionist calls are a manifestation of the Ndebele people’s struggles against the dialectics of otherness. The central argument advanced in this article is that the secession addressed in Tshuma’s novel is a particular instance of an ethnic group’s re-imagination of its identity that is given form and impetus by a past legacy that includes historical imaginations and memories of experiences in post-independence Zimbabwe. In addition, the article argues that this ethnic exclusiveness that is rendered under the political rubric of secession is in stark contrast to the common and shared imaginings of a single nation that is built upon the tenets of basic unity and the existence of a single set of shared principles as postulated by postcolonial theorists. Thus, the article concludes by highlighting the contested and paradoxical nature of secession since it can be viewed on the one hand as a negative rebellion against the status quo or, on the other hand, a positive affirmation of concepts, models and even blueprints for new societies. The article is significant in that it contributes to debates on national identity and contemporary discourses on justice and the accepted frameworks of human rights.