Creaked Citizenship, (Un) grievable Bodies and a Cul-de-sac in NoViolet Bulawayo’s Glory

Abstract

The notion of citizenship is a socio-political construct and how it is conceived has consequences for society. It is informed by deep yearnings for belonging and feelings of homeliness, generated from the interlocking of socio-economic and political circumstances that define existential experiences within national spaces. Understanding citizenship assumes different forms and novel directions through existential experiences. There is a need to reassess citizenship in the context of contemporary conditions and demands to avoid the simplistic and narrow scope of the subject. Using NoViolet Bulawayo’s Glory, I revisit Mbembe’s theorisation and provocative constructs of a postcolony to examine how postcolonial subjects and ruler/s are depicted and accentuated in Bulawayo’s fictive society and its referent, post-colonial Zimbabwe. The reading of the novel is done vis-à-vis the fundamental tropes and motifs of historiography, subversion, grotesque, obscene culture, and buffoonery of those in power. The paper focuses on the focalisation of troubled national spaces and “(un)grievable bodies,” metaphorically trapped in manifold problematics of becoming and being. Challenges encountered by the citizenry speak about anxious virility of repressive leadership that deploys violence to impose its legitimacy. I argue about the perilous existential conditions of postcolonial subjects, troubled conceptions of citizenship, and nationhood in the fictionalised referent, postcolonial Zimbabwe.