20th Annual Student Research Conference
Language & Literature
Race, Class, and Gender in Southern Rhodesia: A Comparison of Lessing's The Grass is Singing and Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions
Tiffany D. Caesar
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
The novels The Grass is Singing (1950) by Doris Lessing and Nervous Conditions (1989) by Tsitsi Dangarembga, both set in ex-Southern Rhodesia, focus on women's struggles from distinct perspectives. The Grass is Singing explores a white woman's battle against the social responsibilities of married life and her own desire to be independent during the colonial period in the 1930's and 1940's. Nervous Conditions, on the other hand, highlights a black woman's alienation from her traditional culture and her adaptation to colonial British education during the 1960's and early 1970's. This paper will look at the ways in which race defines their different experiences despite their class and gender similarities.
Keywords: race, class, gender, Southern Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, colonial education
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 23-1
Location: OP 2117
Time: 9:45 am