时间：2024年5月15日8：30

地点：仓前校区行政楼424

主讲内容：

In this lecture, the speaker takes a critical tour of trends in Zimbabwean writing and politics that urge the cautious reader to be critical and vigilant at all the times. Taking examples from a variety of sources such as the curriculum, film, indigenous folktales, and emerging postcolonial writing and political changes, he argues that Africanisation and decolonisation projects have often lacked honest tensions necessary for the creation and imagination of a more, productively complex world. The speaker demonstrates how the questions around narrative of change and change of narrative are then mired in the business of othering and narrowing spaces for imaginative aspiration. In the end he offers some ways of adopting ‘other worlds’ closed off by the colonial encounter and the uncritical Africanisation and decolonisation projects.

主讲人简介：

Robert Muponde is full professor of Literature in the School of Languages, Literature and Media Studies, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa. Previous positions at the University of the Witwatersrand involved serving as an Assistant Dean of International Affairs and Partnerships in the Faculty of Humanities as well as being a former Wits Director of Postgraduate Affairs, and one-time Head of Postgraduate Liaison for the University. His intellectual and research interests cut across African and Zimbabwean Literatures, Politics and Culture. His book publications include: The Scandalous Times of a Book Louse: A Memoir of a Childhood (Penguin, 2021); Some Kinds of Childhood: Images of History and Resistance in Zimbabwean Literature (Africa World Press: 2015); While the Harvest Rots: Possessing Worlds of Kudzanai Chiurai’s Art (co-edited with Emma Laurence. Goodman Gallery: Johannesburg, 2017); Versions of Zimbabwe: New Approaches to Literature and Culture (co-edited with Ranka Primorac. Weaver Press, 2005); Manning the Nation: Father Figures in Zimbabwean Literature and Society (co-edited with Kizito Muchemwa. Weaver Press & Jacana, 2007); Sign and Taboo: Perspectives on the Poetic Fiction of Yvonne Vera (co-ed with Mandi Taruvinga). Weaver Press & James Currey, 2002); and No More Plastic Balls: New Voices in the Zimbabwean Short Story (co-ed with C. Chihota), College Press, Harare, 2000). Robert now spends his time teaching, researching, and facilitating writing workshops for emerging scholars. The Lost Tales of Papati Papati Hiyayi is his current research/writing project which he hopes to be his resounding swansong.