The Effect of the Englishness in [De]Constructing the Identity in Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions

Abstract

This qualitative research paper investigated Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions (1988) in relation to Foucault's (1990) concept of circulating power relations. The researcher explored the destruction and construction of some of the characters' identities due to the impact of the 'superior' English colonial language. It shed light on the resurrection of some of the females' identities due to their exposure to colonial education that came as a result of their resistance to different forms of power, which is reflected in their speaking styles. The first section highlighted the unequal power relations and the effect of education inside the Rhodesian community. The second section highlighted the change in the power relations due to the 'Englishness' that resulted in helping some characters to retrieve their own identities after their productive resistance against patriarchal and colonial powers. In the end, the results of this study confirmed the circulating nature of power relations.