The Sunday News
Nokukhanya Moyo, Sunday Life Reporter
LEADERS for Africa Network (LAN) held its third edition of Reading Pan-Africa Symposium last Thursday in Bulawayo aimed at unpacking African literature under the theme Re-thinking Patriotic Writing.
The Reading Pan-Africa Symposium (REPS) is an interaction platform for both writers and readers in Zimbabwe who happen to be key stakeholders. This follows a rich history of literature’s contribution in mapping the contours of the country’s political and socio-economic outlook. Due to that, REPS seeks to merge various literature production stakeholders in framing sustainability techniques for the literary sector in Zimbabwe.
On the other hand, the platform expresses use of Pan-Africanism as a philosophical anchor-sheet of the organisation in promoting literature production.
Dr Samukele Hadebe who was the guest speaker said, “The role of literature in nation-building or more appropriately in state building in Africa has been assumed as a given. The very notion of the nation as an ‘imagined community’ is even perceived to be the creative genius of men and women of letter writing on the relationship between literature and the nation.”
He said that writers play a role that confirmed the nation as a political or cultural entity, its uniqueness and the right that is in its own state.
Mr Pathisa Nyathi who was part of the delegation said literature was easily explained when one was using their own language because there were some terms that could not be translated in English.
Dr Hadebe said Zimbabwean literature was a site of contest over liberation history, memory, national identity and the post independence trajectory of the country that should not be surprising but expected.
“Unfortunately, the contestations and accompanying internal contradictions have not been motivated or grounded in Pan Africanism and class consciousness to result in either the reconnecting to the ideals of liberation or a revolution in a Marxist sense,” he said.
He said literature served as a corrective mirror in which members of the society can look at themselves and find the need for positive change, study of literature proves very useful to understanding the socio-economic situations, political issues, the world view and creativity of the writers.
Dr Hadebe added, “The Zimbabwean writer cannot afford to be neutral or indifferent in the face of this contestation over issues of national identity and the country’s future trajectory. The writer cannot be blind to economic inequalities. Neither can writers afford to pay lip service to gender oppression and the feminisation of poverty and HIV/Aids.”
He said all Zimbabwean writers must not give up nor betray their liberating role and anti-imperialist struggle and that neo-colonialism, inequality, disease, ignorance, division and poverty were still the greatest threats in Zimbabwe.
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