Colonialism In Nervous Conditions

Many countries have been colonized throughout history, including Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Canada and the United States. The British colonized Rhodesia in the 1890s. In the 1980s, Tsitsi Dangarembga wrote Nervous Conditions, a story about a 14-year-old girl named Tambu living in 1960s Rhodesia and experiencing a desire to attend school. She lives in poverty with her parents and older brother Nhamo. Her parents could not afford tuition for both children, so they pay only for Nhamo's since he is the eldest son. Not giving up hope for an education, Tambu decides to grow and sell vegetables in order to raise money for her education. However, after Nhamo's sudden death, Tambu is selected take his place in the mission school. Tambu is awed by her new environment and life She learns English and begins to feel a pull between her Shona roots and her western schooling. Her dilemma intensifies after she wins a scholarship to a convent school where she further questions her world and the influences on her life. The British had a big presence in Rhodesia, spreading their western ideology, culture and language. How does colonialism affect the identities of the colonized throughout the story? Colonialism shapes the lives of many in

Tambu prevents herself from being completely overcome by western culture. Babamukuru is a successful school headmaster that has granted many opportunities to his kids, seemingly without concern. Nyasha received a world-class education in England only to realize that it uprooted her from her culture. Regardless of who benefits and who becomes victims of colonialism, it pushes aside the native languages, culture and ideas and replaces them with the those of the colonizers. The characters and readers share the same fate. We are all either victims or perpetrators of colonialism. To her credit, in Nervous Conditions, Dangarembga brings the issue out into the