Rooted and winged, keeping traditions without being traditional : Zimbabwean women's ancestral, historical and contemporary agency in Afrocentric development

Abstract

This thesis weaves literal, interpretive and metaphoric threads to give a glimpse into African women's ancestral, historical and contemporary agency as lived and experienced in Zimbabwe. Utilizing Afrocentric and feminist literature and African orature, it historicizes and contextualizes the legacy of the ancestor and spirit-medium Mbuya Nehanda who was lynched by the British for co-leading resistance against colonization. African women's agency and participation is traced in pre-colonial and colonial societies, particularly during the second Chimurenga --liberation struggle. Three case studies investigate post-independence women's agency: (1) the new government's Ministry of Cooperatives, Community Development and Women's Affairs; (2) the Zimbabwe Women's Resource Center and Network; (3) the development and feminist yardsticks used to measure rural African women. The study concludes by theorizing the legacy of the ancestor, exploring possibilities of developing bodies of scholarly African indigenous feminist knowledge from legendary ancestors like Mbuya Nehanda and African women's everyday experiences.