Laughter in darkness: humour in selected contemporary Zimbabwean short stories

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorJoseph, Confidence
dc.date.accessioned2019-01-30T09:24:08Z
dc.date.available2019-01-30T09:24:08Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.descriptionA research paper submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and the Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts. Johannesburg 2018en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAmidst the ongoing socio-economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe, it has long been dangerous to publicly criticize or condemn the situation in ways that put the government in a bad light. However, humorous stories have provided a platform through which such issues may be engaged outside the censoring regime. In this research report I use humour theory and James Scott’s concepts of ‘hidden transcripts’ and ‘everyday forms of resistance’ to unpack how writers engage with the political and socio-economic crisis in Zimbabwe through the genre of the short story. The research paper shows that humour has been deployed as both a conscious strategy of subversion and an emancipatory tool at the same time. In the course of this endeavour, the research report also sheds light on how humour is coded as a coping mechanism in stressful or overwhelming situations allowing some respite amidst life challenges. The primary texts examined in the paper are An Elegy for Easterly (2009) by Petina Gappah and Laughing Now: Short Stories from Zimbabwe (2007) edited by Irene Staunton. The study comes to the conclusion that in as much as protest literature does not necessarily send people out in the streets in protest, the use of humour in these stories allows for certain modes of thinking and being which resist official narratives and other manifestations of power.en_ZA
dc.description.librarianMT 2019en_ZA
dc.format.extentOnline resource (82 leaves)
dc.identifier.citationJoseph, Confidence Mshakarara (2018) Laughter in darkness:Humour in selected contemporary Zimbabwean short stories, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/26349>
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/26349
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshShort stories, Zimbabwean (English)
dc.subject.lcshZimbabwean literature (English)
dc.subject.lcshHarare (Zimbabwe)--Fiction
dc.titleLaughter in darkness: humour in selected contemporary Zimbabwean short storiesen_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
Confidence Joseph MA 2018 Abstract.pdf
Size:
145.22 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
Confidence Joseph MA 2018.pdf
Size:
653.39 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.71 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
ETD Collection