Rethinking Missionary Colonization in Tsitsi Dangarembga's Nervous Conditions

Abstract

Dangaremgba’s Nervous Conditions is a fictional re-narration ... to show the lasting negative effects of colonization and missionization on indigenous peoples in Zimbabwe. While the collusion between colonizers and missionaries has been addressed by historians ..., Dangaremgba re-presents it ironically through Tambu’s and her grandmother’s unofficial “histories” of Zimbabwe (Nervous Conditions 17). Early in the novel, Grandmother Mbuya tells the story of the “Holy and White Wizards,” white colonizers and white missionaries, who form an unholy alliance in the pacification and domination of Zimbabweans. By portraying the missionization of the indigenous peoples as an indoctrination of the mind, which left the “natives” as token representatives of the “holy” beings, Dangaremgba shows that the missionaries lulled the Africans into a false sense of belonging, making them ripe for European domination. Through critical evaluation, Tambu goes on to show the longterm adverse effects of missionization on “natives.” Based on a close reading of Grandmother’s and Tambu’s tales, this article argues that the Holy Wizards/missionaries actively participated in colonizing the “native” in Zimbabwe. Indeed, Dangaremgba’s metaphorical use of white and holy wizardry arouses a feeling of incredulity at the way in which those colonizers jointly inveigled authority over Zimbabweans as though by magic. By “rearticulating” her story and the stories of others in her community, Tambu re-addresses, criticizes, and subverts the effects of missionary colonization in Zimbabwe.