Shona Writers’ Vision of the Liberation Struggle: A Name-Centred Approach

The liberation struggle is such an historic event in Zimbabwean history to an extent that even today, constant reference is made to it in a bid to remind and challenge the whole nation to safeguard its cause. Efforts have also been made to enlighten the new generation on the rationale, experiences and gains of this struggle, with intent to make them appreciate the sacrifices made by the gallant fighters who made such possible. As such, many history books, novels, poems and drama texts have been published, all conveying this significant aspect in history. Although a lot of analyses have been devoted to how Shona literature captures this significant event, focus has been on the truthfulness of lack of it as conveyed through the experiences in the given texts. Interestingly, Shona novelists, in this case Choto, have explored the Shona tradition of capturing and conveying historical events through naming. Shona people have, since time immemorial, used the technique of naming to document and to remind society of significant events in the past. In Vavariro (1990), Choto exploits this Shona tradition by giving his characters names that illuminate the experiences, pain, joys and aspiration of the participants in the second Chimurenga which ultimately brought independence to Zimbabwe. The paper is therefore an examination of how successful the author uses the naming technique in telling the Zimbabwean story during and after the war of liberation. It uses the socio-historical approach as its theoretical grounding.