Leslei Kahari

Spiritual Challenges in Waiting for the Rain and Ancestors: a Case Study of Zimbabwean Fiction in English Leslei Kahari

This text is a shona cultural reading into the spiritual issues in Charles Mungoshi's Waiting for the Rain and Chenjerai Hove's Ancestors. Shona cultural concepts such as Ngozi, Nhodzerwa, Mamhepo, Vadzimu and Munyama are explored and linked to the material being of Africans who are suffering under the yoke of colonialism. Mungoshi's handling of colonialism as a form of Ngozi which has manifested itself as a huge superstition and historical monster is shown to bring out contradictory African narratives one of resistance and one of collaboration. Hove is shown to experiment with spirit possession, magic realism, hallucination and hybridism to create a female centred narrative of resistance. Waiting for the Rain is shown to be successful in showing the effects of colonialism in alienating the African individual from his society resulting in the degeneration of social relations but failing to arm the reader with weapons to end the disillusionment. Ancestors is shown to give women a voice and taking it back through Mucha thereby failing to put up an alternative vision.