Abstract
This article argues that in the last fifteen years Zimbabwean performance has created counter-public spheres. The “moments of countering” are not only directed against political censorship and the lobbying of the western world. Moreover, theatre in Zimbabwe questions the structure of Habermas’s construction of public sphere. Festivals—such as the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA)—and theatre venues—such as Theatre-in-the-Park in Harare or Amakhosi Theatre in Bulawayo—often provide a structural framework for constructing protected spheres in which to question the public domain and to cast a critical eye upon international arts funding. In alienating, questioning and counteracting these discourses, artistic examination generates the voices of a counter-public sphere to ask: What kind of free space and artistic tools and traditions are used on these stages?
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Notes
- 1.
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ERC grant agreement No. 295759.
- 2.
Robert Mugabe was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and President of Zimbabwe from 1987 to November 2017.
- 3.
Operation Murambatsvina (Shona for ‘garbage removal’), also known as Operation Restore Order, refers to the destruction of illegally constructed houses and market stalls carried out by the Zimbabwean government on 25 September 2005 in the cities of Harare and Bulawayo. Entire townships in which the number of supporters of the political opposition was particularly high were demolished with excavators and bulldozers. Tens of thousands lost their homes and were forcibly driven into the rural areas.
- 4.
Some of the following paragraphs are published in German in Warstat et al. (2015).
- 5.
Chifunyise, Stephen: Waiting for Constitution, Premiere 2010 Theatre in the Park, Harare. Director: Daves Guzha.
- 6.
Rooftop Promotions (2010).
- 7.
The Zimbabwean (2010).
- 8.
Veit-Wild (2006, p. 26).
- 9.
Dixon (2007).
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Heinicke, J. (2021). Creating Counter-Public Sphere(s): Performance in Zimbabwe Between the Influence of Mugabe and Western NGOs. In: Ravengai, S., Seda, O. (eds) Theatre from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. Contemporary Performance InterActions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74594-3_7
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