TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2010
A heated debate exploded today during one of my lectures- it was sparked by a fellow Zimbabwean who stood up and proclaimed, 'Mugabe is one of the greatest leaders that ever lived.' Now, you can imagine the protests this invoked. It turns out there are different criteria for branding one 'A great leader'- according to my fellow Zimbabwean, despite leading Zimbabwe to economic, political and social demise, His excellency is a 'great leader' because he has 'won' against the odds, braved the storms and managed every ingenious method possible to stay in power. The question he was asked was, 'If Mugabe is so great and you're one hundred per cent behind him, what are you doing here in a university in South Africa? Why don't you go to one of the 'great' universities in Zim?' This led to a general debate about Zimbabwe- these are always difficult, since people have all sorts of theories about Zimbabwe. I have heard all sorts of things about my country from curious interrogators, 'We hear girls are prostituting themselves for five rands in Zimbabwe', 'You're from Zimbabwe, you poor thing!' etc etc... Of course perhaps this is said in all innocence and in good faith and concern, but it is pretty irritating, trying to convince people that you do lead a 'relatively normal' life even in Zim, yes things have been bad but you are fine, you are not one of those who are purported to be prostituting themselves for five rands and you are coping with life and yes they CAN visit Zimbabwe, we are, after all, a peace loving nation with a just few rogues, who have refined the contents of crime from the cold-blooded gun-slinging style they may be used to, to the more organised halls of corruption, the effects of which are subtle, devastating and precipitate over a long period. They will find the streets of Zimbabwe to be safer than Soweto any day! But again this is another stereotype, Soweto is a big big area, and does not only consist of shanty houses with a gun under every pillow. There are posh parts of Soweto, real posh and top-of-the-range. Well, we forever battle with stereotypes and we will always be victims or victimisers of it at some unconscious level- I remember during a Youth Summit, there was a fellow from Sudan who kept on emphasizing that he was not from the war torn part, because people were so fascinated and kept on bombarding him about his war-stricken life.And again there are all those cruel jokes made about Somalia- 'You're so thin you look like you're from Somalia' etc etc. So there are all these stereotypes all around us, which we must battle with, in order to go beneath the surface of a person and really understand them for who they really are, in order for us to see more than just what it is we think we already know. 'Selective Perception' they call it, this stereotyping, this categorising of people based on what we think we know, and most times what we know is less than what we think we know.
Which brings me to this interesting issue of identity, I suppose a person has multiple identities, which serve to function in the different roles he/she plays during the course of his/ her life. You know there's always this talk about identity and culture and 'authenticity', the embracing of one's culture. I think culture is something the 'purist Africans' will battle with very much in the future, with so much dilution thanks to the Diaspora. In the spirit of globalisation, can the intense dilution of cultures be deemed as a good thing? This dilution of course has not been deliberate, it has not been a goal but rather a consequence, due to economic, political and social (sound like a commentator) hardships faced in certain regions of the world. And of course there will not be a balance in this dilution, the scales seem to me to be tipped, in favour of the regions where the migrators choose to settle in. The BP of 'purist Africans' is set to go up. I'm thinking of my aunts and uncles who are in the Diaspora as well as their kids, my cousins. For my aunts and uncles, the dilution will not be as intense. For my cousins, it is a whole other matter, especially the young ones. The general idea is that conditions in the Diaspora are not so rosy for the average Diasporan, wiping old shrivelled buttocks is not exactly the ideal job especially with a degree from the University of Zimbabwe when it was still the Univeristy-of-Zimbabwe-creme-de-la-creme-top-notch-par-excellence. The general idea is that when things get better in beloved Zim, they ought to come back. After all, there's no place like home right? But what about their off spring? You can imagine, for them, Zim is home only on a theoretical level. They have grown up in the Diaspora and acclimatised to the Diasporan culture- they have all these intriguing accents (which are just a surface indication of the difference in culture inspite of sharing kinship) and when you speak over the phone you have to speak slowly in order to understand what the other is saying. They have gone to schools in the Diaspora, made friends there, become accustomed to the weather, trends etc. Were it time to 'come back home', do you think they would be keen to come back? There has always been this idea that the Diaspora is temporary, particularly for those who left Zimbabwe not for academic reasons or to see the big wide world, but for economic-political-and-social reasons. 'Until things get better in Zim'. But things have been slow in getting better, elections did not solve the issue when we thought they would and just when we thought things couldn't get worse they did. And so on and so on. And so in the process there have been intercultural relationships and mixed-race offspring and even offspring of a single African race will have identity issues to deal with. Of course it may seem unique to Zimbabwe because our demise is a recent phenomena- there are those countries whose 'problems' have spanned over decades and this 'brain-drain' issue began for them a long, long time ago. So, when it is time for 'true nation building' in dear old-but-not-so-old Zimbabwe, how many good ol' Zimbos will be willing to tear themselves from the sometimes-warm-sometimes-cold arms of the Diaspora? Is it practical to expect them to do so? The Diaspora does have its conveniences and comforts, no ZESA power cuts, top-of-the-range technology... certain other things Diasporans take forgranted but will certainly miss should they come back home.
Yet, Diasporans do love their homelands, in fact I think there is no greater way of really connecting with and embracing your 'identity' (being Zimbabwean etc) than being thrown out into the big wide world (well for some that is just the opportunity to annihilate the past and totally embrace new societies). As the saying goes, the grass is always greener on the other side...until you get there. Of course embracing or shunning one's 'nationality' is also a function of circumstance. You see it here in South Africa all the time. I know of people who have 'acquired' South African IDs, as being a foreigner does not offer as many opportunities. You meet someone you know from back home on the street and they are trying their damnedest to speak even to you in their contrived Zulu accent and you're tempted to say 'Hey! It's me! You don't have to pretend!' I bet if you asked them they'd profess to have never heard of Zimbabwe lol. The other day I was in a taxi ( that's a khombi for those from home, they call them taxis here and then a taxi is a cab- a taxi is a khombi is public transport) and the driver was Shona (you can always tell Zimbabweans, Shona or Ndebele, from their accents). So he was a chatty fellow, telling the passengers not to look down upon him just because he was a taxi driver, for-your-own-information he was educated (which he was, you could tell from his conversation), where he comes from in 'Prietermaritzburg' ( Prietermaritzburg is in South Africa) people have great respect for him. In fact, he used to work as an executive for Old Mutual in 'Prietermaritzburg' but he left and bought a fleet of taxis and decided to be a taxi driver because he enjoys it very much. You can substitute 'Prietermaritzburg' with Zimbabwe and put together some hazy picture of his story. Again, those who are in South Africa illegally will do their damnedest to assimilate as much as possible into the culture. This brings to mind Noviolet Mkha Bulawayo's piece 'The droves (for my peoples)', which is a touching piece about crossing borders and its many circumstances. If you are here with your papers and happen to be an irrationally passionate fellow then you can preach about nationhood and wear a banner saying 'I'm proudly Zimbabwean' and tell everybody how excellent Zimbabweans are and South Africa's economy is the way it is largely thanks to Zimbabweans and you can even reel off a few names of some top-executives in various disciplines who are Zimbabweans and compare Zim education before all the teachers ran away to matric and all that and forget to mention those Zimbos who are fuelling the underground economy of South Africa and what not. Of course expect disaster; you never make the mistake of pointing out to your host his shortcomings and your longcomings while you are seeking shelter in his house from the fire in yours. You cannot play host to your host in his house (especially with the World Cup Coming)... are you crazy?
Again, I have written so much I have lost the plot within the plot within the plot, but I'm sure some sense ought to be found somewhere in this wordy dialogue!
Which brings me to this interesting issue of identity, I suppose a person has multiple identities, which serve to function in the different roles he/she plays during the course of his/ her life. You know there's always this talk about identity and culture and 'authenticity', the embracing of one's culture. I think culture is something the 'purist Africans' will battle with very much in the future, with so much dilution thanks to the Diaspora. In the spirit of globalisation, can the intense dilution of cultures be deemed as a good thing? This dilution of course has not been deliberate, it has not been a goal but rather a consequence, due to economic, political and social (sound like a commentator) hardships faced in certain regions of the world. And of course there will not be a balance in this dilution, the scales seem to me to be tipped, in favour of the regions where the migrators choose to settle in. The BP of 'purist Africans' is set to go up. I'm thinking of my aunts and uncles who are in the Diaspora as well as their kids, my cousins. For my aunts and uncles, the dilution will not be as intense. For my cousins, it is a whole other matter, especially the young ones. The general idea is that conditions in the Diaspora are not so rosy for the average Diasporan, wiping old shrivelled buttocks is not exactly the ideal job especially with a degree from the University of Zimbabwe when it was still the Univeristy-of-Zimbabwe-creme-de-la-creme-top-notch-par-excellence. The general idea is that when things get better in beloved Zim, they ought to come back. After all, there's no place like home right? But what about their off spring? You can imagine, for them, Zim is home only on a theoretical level. They have grown up in the Diaspora and acclimatised to the Diasporan culture- they have all these intriguing accents (which are just a surface indication of the difference in culture inspite of sharing kinship) and when you speak over the phone you have to speak slowly in order to understand what the other is saying. They have gone to schools in the Diaspora, made friends there, become accustomed to the weather, trends etc. Were it time to 'come back home', do you think they would be keen to come back? There has always been this idea that the Diaspora is temporary, particularly for those who left Zimbabwe not for academic reasons or to see the big wide world, but for economic-political-and-social reasons. 'Until things get better in Zim'. But things have been slow in getting better, elections did not solve the issue when we thought they would and just when we thought things couldn't get worse they did. And so on and so on. And so in the process there have been intercultural relationships and mixed-race offspring and even offspring of a single African race will have identity issues to deal with. Of course it may seem unique to Zimbabwe because our demise is a recent phenomena- there are those countries whose 'problems' have spanned over decades and this 'brain-drain' issue began for them a long, long time ago. So, when it is time for 'true nation building' in dear old-but-not-so-old Zimbabwe, how many good ol' Zimbos will be willing to tear themselves from the sometimes-warm-sometimes-cold arms of the Diaspora? Is it practical to expect them to do so? The Diaspora does have its conveniences and comforts, no ZESA power cuts, top-of-the-range technology... certain other things Diasporans take forgranted but will certainly miss should they come back home.
Yet, Diasporans do love their homelands, in fact I think there is no greater way of really connecting with and embracing your 'identity' (being Zimbabwean etc) than being thrown out into the big wide world (well for some that is just the opportunity to annihilate the past and totally embrace new societies). As the saying goes, the grass is always greener on the other side...until you get there. Of course embracing or shunning one's 'nationality' is also a function of circumstance. You see it here in South Africa all the time. I know of people who have 'acquired' South African IDs, as being a foreigner does not offer as many opportunities. You meet someone you know from back home on the street and they are trying their damnedest to speak even to you in their contrived Zulu accent and you're tempted to say 'Hey! It's me! You don't have to pretend!' I bet if you asked them they'd profess to have never heard of Zimbabwe lol. The other day I was in a taxi ( that's a khombi for those from home, they call them taxis here and then a taxi is a cab- a taxi is a khombi is public transport) and the driver was Shona (you can always tell Zimbabweans, Shona or Ndebele, from their accents). So he was a chatty fellow, telling the passengers not to look down upon him just because he was a taxi driver, for-your-own-information he was educated (which he was, you could tell from his conversation), where he comes from in 'Prietermaritzburg' ( Prietermaritzburg is in South Africa) people have great respect for him. In fact, he used to work as an executive for Old Mutual in 'Prietermaritzburg' but he left and bought a fleet of taxis and decided to be a taxi driver because he enjoys it very much. You can substitute 'Prietermaritzburg' with Zimbabwe and put together some hazy picture of his story. Again, those who are in South Africa illegally will do their damnedest to assimilate as much as possible into the culture. This brings to mind Noviolet Mkha Bulawayo's piece 'The droves (for my peoples)', which is a touching piece about crossing borders and its many circumstances. If you are here with your papers and happen to be an irrationally passionate fellow then you can preach about nationhood and wear a banner saying 'I'm proudly Zimbabwean' and tell everybody how excellent Zimbabweans are and South Africa's economy is the way it is largely thanks to Zimbabweans and you can even reel off a few names of some top-executives in various disciplines who are Zimbabweans and compare Zim education before all the teachers ran away to matric and all that and forget to mention those Zimbos who are fuelling the underground economy of South Africa and what not. Of course expect disaster; you never make the mistake of pointing out to your host his shortcomings and your longcomings while you are seeking shelter in his house from the fire in yours. You cannot play host to your host in his house (especially with the World Cup Coming)... are you crazy?
Again, I have written so much I have lost the plot within the plot within the plot, but I'm sure some sense ought to be found somewhere in this wordy dialogue!