Title:
RURALISATION OF URBAN LIFE AND THE LOSS OF ubuntu IN MABASA'S Mapenzi (1999)

Authors:
Evans Mandova

Volume - 2 Issue - 8, Pages - 4296-4305

Abstract:
This article critically analyses how Ignatius Mabasa depicts the ruralisation of urban life and the resultant loss of ubuntu in his novel Mapenzi. The study relies on content analysis of the novel, critical reviews from various scholars, journals and theses. The theoretical framework is guided by Afrocentricity which is fundamental to the illumination of meaning. The research contends that Mabasa engages the ruralisation of urban life in Chitungwiza to highlight the degrading and dehumanising living conditions which have stripped people of their ubuntu as they strive to survive under a dysfunctional society of lunatics characterised by poverty, unhappiness, diseases and deaths. The economic decline which has impoverished people leading to the ruralisation of urban life is squarely a result of failed policies and lack of leadership which exudes ubuntu ethos of accountability, transparency, honesty and integrity. Mabasa's Mapenzi which demonstrates the nexus between Shona fiction, accommodation crisis and ubuntu is compatible with the promotion of Shona fiction which is utilitarian as it challenges leaders to embrace ubuntu as their guiding precept in formulating and implementing policies which are people oriented and which promote collective unity, equality, happiness, caring and group solidarity which are ubuntu virtues.

Cite this Article:

[Mandova, Evans. "RURALISATION OF URBAN LIFE AND THE LOSS OF Ubuntu IN MABASA'S Mapenzi (1999)." International Journal of Social Science and Economic Research, vol. 2, no. 8, 2017, pp. 4296-4305. August.]