By Takura Zhangazha*
Trying to explain or analyze contemporary urban culture in
Zimbabwe is not an easy task. Mainly
because it is the sum total of a number of issues. Be they historical (colonialism), ideological
(globalised neoliberalism) and/or as the relate to expectations of what I would
refer to as raw individual materialism/consumerism that can be considered a
direct result of the aforementioned.
In Zimbabwe, the primary genesis of what we would want to
refer to as ‘urban cultural history’ is essentially colonial. This is mainly because the ‘city’ in its
current physical/geographical and cultural format is decidedly a creation of colonialism. And by
cultural import here I am referring to how the majority of our urban lives are shaped
to a greater extent. From the politics through to the sport, education,
religion, music and attitudes toward modern ‘work’. And by ‘work’ here I mean it as it applies to
both bosses/business-capital owners and employees/workers.
Within this framework we also know that in our own Zimbabwean
context urban culture is pretty much fluid.
It tends to follow modernist and consumerist winds. As determined by
what happens in global metropolises of global superpowers and what either
history thrusts upon us or in the current, what we most admire about these
historically powerful cities and their urban culture. Even while turning a blind eye to their mistakes
or even in some cases poverty inducing ideological frameworks.
So we are burdened by the history of the colonial city and
our aspirations within it. Even in the
contemporary. Arrival and material success in the urban remains a critical
national measurement of individual (material) progress or at least arrival at
success. Which in part reflects our contradictory
admiration and/or mimicry of the lifestyle of our former colonial ‘other’.
There are many economic historians that have outlined how
our cities, towns and peri-urban centres legally came into existence. A few other cultural historians have written
on the changing cultures that these urban settlements brought to our music, religion,
literature and sporting competitiveness.
But I am certain none would have anticipated what we have
had to experience in the contemporary around an emerging urban culture.
I will start with the political. We have always assumed that the enlightened
African requires the urban experience. Historically and in the
contemporary. And in this experience,
there must be a demonstration of material and educational success. This is as historical an attitude if there
was any when we consider Zimbabwe in 2021.
Very few of our national politicians, even those that are still serving
after having fought in the liberation struggle, do not subscribe to assumptions
of material success as residing in the urban.
Even though they may have grown further by coming into organic national consciousness via the
rural. Hence in part when we discuss
what we consider a progressive national consciousness, its expansive populist
origins were the nascent cities (at home and in apartheid South Africa). This
not only in terms of initially borderline celebrity politics but also on a
desire for recognition by the urban based political powers that be. Even though eventually it was the rural consciousness
that came to be the bedrock of successful liberation struggles we again in our
post independent/colonial times have reverted to the urban as being the source
of consciousness.
Also when we then crosscheck traditional religion and
attendant spirit mediums roles in our society, in the contemporary we remain
enamoured to ‘prophets’ and their attendant gospel of prosperity. Mianly because it fits snugly into our current
populist urban culture. And it also
stubbornly insists that individualism is the best sort of lifestyle at a time
when we should be trying to find collective solutions to common problems.
In music, again our urban popular culture fell into the trap
of mimicry. Even though it had in the early years of independence had sought
to reflect our local context. And where we tried to push local music and its original
composition to greater heights. With the
onset of economic structural adjustment in the 1990s and escalating urban
poverty our tastes for music became more globalized and less local. Except for
language. Hence the phenomenal rise of ‘urban grooves’ and more recently ‘Zimdancehall’. These genres have both been a reflection of
our lived realities as they have also engendered a mimicry celebrity culture in
young Zimbabweans. Whether we think of
the hip hop culture in the United States of America or the dancehall culture in
Jamaica. And in most cases, these are
tidal waves of emotive and entertainment consciousness that reflect more our contemporary
political economy and feelings toward it in the immediate. As it does in many other countries including
those the origins of these genres.
In our literature/movies we have to regain the ability to
write as broadly as we possibly can of our global experiences. And allow
various voices to emerge beyond those recognized only by awards determined by
the global north. While remaining cognizant
of the fact that our life stories in their creativity are not designed for
poverty exhibitionism to others but where it occurs it must be to
ourselves. Hence the need to allow free
expression to continually flourish to enable us to imagine our society and experiences
therein to be appreciated in posterity.
Not only by Zimbabweans but also others who would seek to learn from
us.
In sport as a key component of urban culture we again
reflect the former colonial center. And
that is all understandable. Our sports
leagues are designed that way because sport is now a global phenomenon and
industry. It cannot be wished away for
identity alone. Though it is still plagued
with racism and the ‘beastifying of the black body’, it represents an important
counter-narrative to false assumptions of superiority and in part humanizes us
all by common performance standards and competition. And the emerging hopes of many a parent this
side of the world that they have the next Serena Williams or Usain Bolt under
their wings.
We probably need to
take our popular urban culture much more seriously. Not just by way of promoting it in its various
forms but more by querying its relevance to our own context. But not as a form of censorship. Instead as a form of a renewal of collective
self-discovery that transcends the immediate.
Or the popularly felt. Where we
do this, it means we will reflect our lives, our history and our controversies
in the same much better for future generations.
And then we may possibly be less casual with who we are.
*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
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