Browsing by Author "Ncube, Gibson"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Constructions et representations litteraires de la sexualite « marginale » sur les deux rives de la Mediterranee : Rachid O., Eyet-Chekib Djaziri, Abdellah Taia et Ilmann Bel
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) Ncube, Gibson; Leveel, Eric; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Modern Foreign Languages.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: “Marginal” sexualities continue to be veiled by a cloud of silence and taboo in the Arab-Muslim societies. This study puts into conversation literary narratives by four writers of Maghrebian descent who have dared to break the intolerably irksome silence surrounding homosexuality. The novels of Rachid O., Abdellah Taïa, Eyet-Chékib Djaziri and Ilmann Bel are synchronous with the growing interest in the potential common points between literary production and queer sexualities in the Maghreb (and indeed other Arab/Muslim regions). Drawing on hermeneutic perspectives as well as diverse readings in gender and queer studies, this literary analysis deconstructs the problematic figure of the homosexual which is at once contentious as well as the locus of manifold discourses that are concerned with questioning the status quo whilst unveiling the unutterable. The literary construction and representation of “marginal” sexuality certainly plays a pivotal role in destabilising and challenging the simplistic conceptions of identity and value systems that underlie the designations of “correct and incorrect” sexual orientations and identities. Elaborating a comprehensive interpretative paradigm, this study attempts to fill the yawning gap in scholarship on the relationship between francophone literary production from the Maghreb and homosexuality. Adopting a tri-sequential approach, the study begins with an explanatory phase which contextualises queer sexuality as well as queer literary studies in the Maghreb and in France. An encounter phase follows offering a hermeneutic reading of the selected novels of the four writers, concentrating particularly on the definition, characterisation and general tonality of the literary works. The ultimate stage, the interpretive/theorisation phase, encompasses a re-reading of primary and secondary texts alongside each other so as to construct an original appraisal of the novels as well as develop a theoretically sound consideration of the construction of “marginal” sexualities in the selected novels. In addition to the above-enumerated tri-sequential approach, the argumentative flow of the study equally follows a three-pronged progression: production-text-reception. The first phase scrutinises the sociocultural, political and historical context in which the literary texts under consideration are created. The “text” phase analyses the novels in question in order to elaborate a theorisation of the construction and representation of “marginal” sexuality in the autofictional works of the aforementioned writers. The “reception” phase goes beyond the purely textual and delves into the possible impact of these literary texts on the everyday world of Arab-Muslim societies, in France as in the Maghreb.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Gender and naming practices, and the creation of a taxonomy of masculinities in the South African soap opera The Queen
    (Names Society of Southern Africa, 2019-07-01) Ncube, Gibson
    The field of scholarly inquiry lying at the intersection of onomastics and gender studies is one that is under-researched. Seeking to contribute to emerging debates on how names and naming practices shape the construction and perception of gender identities, this article examines the naming practices in the soap opera The Queen, and how these help to understand different forms of masculinities. By bringing onomastic and gender perspectives into the conversation, this article contends that naming practices in The Queen are important signifying constructs that possess an elocutionary force of validating and invalidating different expressions of masculinity. The taxonomy of masculinities that The Queen proposes makes it possible to examine how certain masculinities are deemed more masculine than others. The names of the characters, together with their corporeal deployment, allow for a rethinking of what it means to be male or a man in post-apartheid South Africa.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Of dirt, disinfection and purgation : discursive construction of state violence in selected contemporary Zimbabwean literature
    (Tydskrif vir Letterkunde Association, 2018) Ncube, Gibson
    This paper examines post-independent Zimbabwean literary narratives which engage with how the ruling ZANU-PF government frames dissenting voices as constituting dirt, filth and undesirability. Making use of Achille Mbembe's postulations on the "vulgarity of power" and Kenneth W. Harrow's readings of the politics of dirt, the central thesis of this paper is that the troping of dirt and state sponsored violence are closely related to the themes of memory and belonging. Literary works by writers such as Chistopher Mlalazi, NoViolet Bulawayo and John Eppel become self-effacing speech acts that are involved in reimagining and revisioning our understanding of power dynamics and how this affects human and social experiences.