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Subaltern Voices/Interests in Contemporary Protest Theatre in Zimbabwe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2022

Kelvin Chikonzo
Kelvin Chikonzo*
Affiliation:
University of Zimbabwe
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Extract

Critics contend that Zimbabwe plunged into a political and economic crisis between 1999 and 2009. This decade in crisis witnessed a boom in a form of theatre that questions the authority and legitimacy of the state (Zenenga 2010). This theatre is highly adversarial and oppositional to state hegemony (Chivandikwa 2012). This brand of theatre, known as protest theatre, refers to a theatre that directs its efforts towards the subversion of an existing dominant ideology. In Zimbabwe, as elsewhere, protest theatre develops as an alternative platform through which citizens challenge and engage the state on issues of democratic reforms. Protest theatre, thus, aims to provide alternative democratic space (public sphere) where voices that the state-controlled media silenced can deliberate on issues of social and political transformation. Hence, from its inception, protest theatre predicates its practice upon democratic ‘ intentions.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Research and Documentation , Volume 131: Papers from SCOLMA Conference 2017: Document to Digital: How does digitalisation aid African research?, National Library of Scotland, 11 September, 2017 , 2017 , pp. 60 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2017

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