Uprooted identity: appropriating and rubricating Psalm 137 to explore the rukuvute longings of diasporic Zimbabweans

Abstract

ABSTRACT As the yoke of Babylon weighed on the exiled Judeans, music became one of the ways to let off their tension. Although they could not sing the joyful songs of the LORD, they composed lyrics about the depressing condition of being uprooted from their land of identity, Zion. Using the hermeneutics of identification, this article equates the experience of Judeans with the experience of many Zimbabweans in the diaspora, due to the worsening economy spanning from the Mugabe era up to the so-called ‘new dispensation’ under Mnangagwa. Just like the Judeans, some exiled Zimbabwean singers have also composed lyrics which express their pain in the diaspora and their longing to return to Zimbabwe. Despite having developed multiple roots in the diaspora, some still identify themselves with their rukuvute ‘umbilical cord’ back in their motherland, Zimbabwe. It is the argument of this paper that the loss of a structured, consistent and dependable world where cherished symbols of meaning are ridiculed and rejected and where value systems are diminished provides an important point of contact between the ancient texts (Psalm 137) and contemporary experience of diasporic Zimbabweans.