27th Annual Student Research Conference
The Curious Hybrid Girl: Post-Colonial Literary Theory and Cultural Hybridity in Nervous Conditions
Jennifer Riley
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions (1988) chronicles the life of Tambu, a young Rhodesian woman with a keenness for observing the vast world outside of her less fortunate immediate family. Main character Tambu tries to make sense of her cousin Nyasha's reactions to patriarchal Rhodesia, as her response is most telling of her previous years in England and her resultant hybridized African-British perception. Despite the resilience with which Tambu deals with similar feelings of oppression in Rhodesia, she cannot shake the fright that comes when her idolized cousin develops a condition that is in essence a result of her hybridization. In addition to the theme of African-British cultural hybridity, this essay will address how in patriarchal 1960s Rhodesia Nyasha's and Tambu's colonial western education creates in both characters the unrest that is referenced with the title of this work.
Keywords: culture, hybridity, Rhodesia, patriarchy, England, post-colonial, education, perception
Topic(s):English
Sociology
Communication
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 107-5
Location: VH 1320
Time: 9:00