ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 turns to the conceptual framework for the literary analyses and focusses on the narrative of the Third Chimurenga and on the ‘frantic stasis’ motif. The first subchapter entitled “The Chronotope of the Third Chimurenga” deals with the ways in which a state-sanctioned ‘master fiction’ and nationalist retellings of history have been used as instruments of state power since the ruling party ZANU-PF came into government. Building on work by Muponde, Muchemwa, and in particular Primorac, this chapter examines the spatio-temporal orders of the Third Chimurenga. One of two major focal points concerns the ways in which this discourse has been used to map out national space and define what forms of movement are acceptable. The second relates to the Third Chimurenga’s temporal paradox which results from one of its core premises: as the third anti-colonial uprising, the Third Chimurenga has to be imagined as enduring. Hence, the present can only be conceived of as a state of suspension. The second subchapter “The Interplay between Mobility and Stasis” relates this to the concurrence of movement and stasis frequently encountered in Zimbabwe’s recent fiction. By looking at the Zimbabwe Crisis from a chronotope angle this chapter argues that the spacetime of the Zimbabwe Crisis and the spatio-temporal order of the Third Chimurenga narrative share parallels.
