Abstract:
This article analyzes representations of the Zimbabwean jikinya dance myth
by Geoffrey Ndhlala in the novel Jikinya and Musaemura Zimunya in the
poetry anthology Kingfisher, Jikinya and other poems. It examines the different
social and historical settings considered in Ndhlala’s Jikinya (pre-colonial
Zimbabwe) and Zimunya’s “Jikinya” (Dancer) and “Jikinya” (An African
Passion) (the colonial period of the 1970s Zimbabwean anti-colonial war),
and discusses how both texts attempt at describing the aesthetics of the
jikinya dance and reinterpret Zimbabwe’s pre-colonial and colonial culture
and politics. Of significance, however, is that, being aware of the fact that the
nature and significance of dance representations in these texts has received
less attention, we analyze the way both writers handle Zimbabwean jikinya
in colonial contexts. As a result, we argue in this article that although both
authors struggle to portray a clear picture of what the dance really is to
the reader, they are able to portray the significance of the jikinya myth and dance in the construction of the nation’s memories and the mapping of the
ongoing social experiences and political contestations encountered during
Zimbabwe’s colonial history
