Rodwell Makombe
Biographic Data
| ID | 3584177 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rodwell Makombe |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rodwell |
| FAMILY NAME | Makombe |
| SIGNATURE | MAKOMBE R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Free State |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3442-611X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
An Allegory of the Zimbabwean Revolution
After the demise of British colonialism in 1980, Zimbabwe adopted and espoused a conciliatory and inclusive approach to nation building which sought to reconcile former enemies – whites and blacks – and create a new Zimbabwe. However, in the early 2000s, the government of Robert Mugabe abandoned the earlier approach in favour of a radical decolonial paradigm characterized by railings of victimhood against the West and violence against those perce…
The Politics of Incongruities in Official Discourse
Although Zimbabwe has been experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis characterised by high inflation, unemployment, shortages of basic commodities, and rampant corruption, government officials have at different times insisted that there was no crisis in Zimbabwe. If they happened to acknowledge it, they often insisted that the crisis was caused by enemies of the state both at home and away. When President Emmerson Mnangagwa came to power in N…
White Liberalism and Black Consciousness in Rosie Motene's Reclaiming the Soil (2018)
White liberal gestures of kindness such as interventions to alleviate poverty in black communities are often seen as altruistic initiatives with noble intentions. However, in recent years, these interventions have come under greater scrutiny as scholars question the 'white savior mentality' that often frames and propels such initiatives. In fact, contemporary neo-liberal interventions bear resemblance with the colonial civilizing mission because …
Virtual Disclosures and Self-emancipations
Online social sites have become popular platforms for reimagining the self and (re)constructing identities. In a consumer-orientated neoliberal global order where bodies have become products to be branded, packaged and marketed, social networks have become ideal platforms for the representation and identification of bodies. Although some studies have examined the discursive construction of identities online, few have focused on the representation…
Nationhood and Ethnic Ideology
The paper interrogates the role of cartoons in the discursive construction of nationhood and national identity with a specific focus on cartoons published in a Kenyan literary magazine named Kwani? between 2007 and 2008. Kwani? employs cartoons to archive specific events in Kenyan history and articulate a particular view of 'Kenyanness'. Cartoons act as a disruptive art form that guides the process of making meaning out of a text. This function a…
Cultural Texts of Resistance in Zimbabwe
Cultural Texts of Resistance in Zimbabwe explores how ordinary citizens appropriate and deploy cultural texts such as internet memes, songs, political cartoons and social media discussions as vehicles to contest hegemonic narratives of the state and insert alternative ways of imagining the future of the nation. This book is a timely attempt to examine the multiple and complex dimensions of resistance in post-millennial Zimbabwe through analysing …
The Afromontane Research Unit
Research to inform a sustainable future for southern African mountains as social–ecological systems requires major investment. This is needed to strengthen existing relationships, build new relationships among academia, policy, and practice, and drive a robust research capacity program. This is particularly important in disciplines where there is currently limited capacity for mountain-related research in the region. For many pertinent issues in …
Rooting routes to trans-Atlantic African identities
The making and continuous shifts of African identities outside Africa have attracted interest from across critical disciplines. Imaginative literature has achieved a considerable status as a site and optic for critical engagement with evolving dynamics of the diasporization of African identities. This article sets out to extend what is known about this ‘function’ of literature by looking at how representations of female experiences of forced tran…
Online images and imaginings of home
Migration, be it national or transnational, is often a disruptive and traumatising experience that brings with it loneliness and homesickness. This article investigates how migrants from QwaQwa in the Eastern Free State Province in South Africa (re)imagine and (re)visualize the homeland away from home through social networking. QwaQwa is a remote mountanous area located in the Eastern Free State Province of South Africa. Like most remote areas ar…
Literary narrativisation of ‘patriotic history
In post- Zimbabwe, the ruling Zimbabwe African Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) regime has appropriated liberation-war history and deployed it as a weapon to consolidate power and assert political legitimacy. The version of Zimbabwean history promoted by the Mugabe regime was narrow in perspective and commandeered by the governing party. While some scholars discuss patriotic history from a historical-political perspective, this article critically …
Women and the national agenda in Mashingaidze Gomo’s A fine madness (2010)
This article interrogates the representation of women in Mashingaidze Gomo’s A fine madness through the prism of feminist postcolonial theory. Feminist postcolonial theorists such as Gayatri Chakrobarty Spivak have identified points of intersection between imperialism, patriarchy and nationalism in what has come to be known as ‘the double/triple oppression of women’. Mashingaidze Gomo’s A fine madness appropriates the anti-imperialist ideology of…
Images of woman and the search for happiness in Cynthia Jele's Happiness is a four letter word
Over the years, African ‘feminist’ scholars have expressed reservations about embracing feminism as an analytical framework for theorizing issues that affect African women. This is particularly because in many African societies, feminism has been perceived as a negative influence that seeks to tear the cultural fabric and value systems of African communities. Some scholars such as Clenora Hudson-Weems, Chikenje Ogunyemi, Tiamoyo Karenga and Chimb…
Literature as an instrument for developing critical citizenship
Literature as a discipline provides learners with opportunities to grow intellectually, learn a language, develop self-awareness, and ultimately transform the way they perceive the world around the
Cultural nationalism in Mashingaidze Gomo's A Fine Madness
For many years, African countries have struggled to develop an ideological framework that suits the dynamics of the African context. From the writings of literary artists to those of political figures such as Kwame Nkrumah, the call has remained consistent: Africa needs to formulate its own path of development and disentangle from the tentacles of colonialism and neocolonialism. While négritude, as a cultural movement, was a direct response to th…
Literature as a Medium for Social and Political Activism
Over the years, literary scholars have engaged in heated debates on the role literary artists should play in society. In the African context, this debate has been championed by scholars such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Chinua Achebe, and Okot p' Bitek, among others. The central bone of contention has always been the question of self-narration. How should African writers narrate the African story (-ies) against the backdrop of slavery, colonialism, and …
The Mediation of Learning through English in Africa and Asia
Apartheid, Crime, and Interracial Violence in Black Boy
This article critically interrogates the interplay of compatibility among crime, violence, and racial discrimination in Wright’s biographical novel Black Boy ( BB). It exploits parallels between selected postcolonial and criminological theories to conceptualize crime and violence as a way of negotiating and translating hegemony in the third space of cultural enunciation. The objective of every oppressive system is to have an absolute monopoly on …
Rooting routes to trans-Atlantic African identities
The making and continuous shifts of African identities outside Africa have attracted interest from across critical disciplines. Imaginative literature has achieved a considerable status as a site and optic for critical engagement with evolving dynamics of the diasporization of African identities. This article sets out to extend what is known about this ‘function’ of literature by looking at how representations of female experiences of forced tran…
Cultural nationalism in Mashingaidze Gomo's A Fine Madness
For many years, African countries have struggled to develop an ideological framework that suits the dynamics of the African context. From the writings of literary artists to those of political figures such as Kwame Nkrumah, the call has remained consistent: Africa needs to formulate its own path of development and disentangle from the tentacles of colonialism and neocolonialism. While négritude, as a cultural movement, was a direct response to th…
Nationhood and Ethnic Ideology
The paper interrogates the role of cartoons in the discursive construction of nationhood and national identity with a specific focus on cartoons published in a Kenyan literary magazine named Kwani? between 2007 and 2008. Kwani? employs cartoons to archive specific events in Kenyan history and articulate a particular view of 'Kenyanness'. Cartoons act as a disruptive art form that guides the process of making meaning out of a text. This function a…
Images of woman and the search for happiness in Cynthia Jele's Happiness is a four letter word
Over the years, African ‘feminist’ scholars have expressed reservations about embracing feminism as an analytical framework for theorizing issues that affect African women. This is particularly because in many African societies, feminism has been perceived as a negative influence that seeks to tear the cultural fabric and value systems of African communities. Some scholars such as Clenora Hudson-Weems, Chikenje Ogunyemi, Tiamoyo Karenga and Chimb…
Literature as an instrument for developing critical citizenship
Literature as a discipline provides learners with opportunities to grow intellectually, learn a language, develop self-awareness, and ultimately transform the way they perceive the world around the
Apartheid, Crime, and Interracial Violence in Black Boy
This article critically interrogates the interplay of compatibility among crime, violence, and racial discrimination in Wright’s biographical novel Black Boy ( BB). It exploits parallels between selected postcolonial and criminological theories to conceptualize crime and violence as a way of negotiating and translating hegemony in the third space of cultural enunciation. The objective of every oppressive system is to have an absolute monopoly on …
The Mediation of Learning through English in Africa and Asia
Literature as an instrument for developing critical citizenship
Literature as a discipline provides learners with opportunities to grow intellectually, learn a language, develop self-awareness, and ultimately transform the way they perceive the world around the
Cultural nationalism in Mashingaidze Gomo's A Fine Madness
For many years, African countries have struggled to develop an ideological framework that suits the dynamics of the African context. From the writings of literary artists to those of political figures such as Kwame Nkrumah, the call has remained consistent: Africa needs to formulate its own path of development and disentangle from the tentacles of colonialism and neocolonialism. While négritude, as a cultural movement, was a direct response to th…
Literature as a Medium for Social and Political Activism
Over the years, literary scholars have engaged in heated debates on the role literary artists should play in society. In the African context, this debate has been championed by scholars such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Chinua Achebe, and Okot p' Bitek, among others. The central bone of contention has always been the question of self-narration. How should African writers narrate the African story (-ies) against the backdrop of slavery, colonialism, and …
Images of woman and the search for happiness in Cynthia Jele's Happiness is a four letter word
Over the years, African ‘feminist’ scholars have expressed reservations about embracing feminism as an analytical framework for theorizing issues that affect African women. This is particularly because in many African societies, feminism has been perceived as a negative influence that seeks to tear the cultural fabric and value systems of African communities. Some scholars such as Clenora Hudson-Weems, Chikenje Ogunyemi, Tiamoyo Karenga and Chimb…
Literary narrativisation of ‘patriotic history
In post- Zimbabwe, the ruling Zimbabwe African Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) regime has appropriated liberation-war history and deployed it as a weapon to consolidate power and assert political legitimacy. The version of Zimbabwean history promoted by the Mugabe regime was narrow in perspective and commandeered by the governing party. While some scholars discuss patriotic history from a historical-political perspective, this article critically …
Women and the national agenda in Mashingaidze Gomo’s A fine madness (2010)
This article interrogates the representation of women in Mashingaidze Gomo’s A fine madness through the prism of feminist postcolonial theory. Feminist postcolonial theorists such as Gayatri Chakrobarty Spivak have identified points of intersection between imperialism, patriarchy and nationalism in what has come to be known as ‘the double/triple oppression of women’. Mashingaidze Gomo’s A fine madness appropriates the anti-imperialist ideology of…
Online images and imaginings of home
Migration, be it national or transnational, is often a disruptive and traumatising experience that brings with it loneliness and homesickness. This article investigates how migrants from QwaQwa in the Eastern Free State Province in South Africa (re)imagine and (re)visualize the homeland away from home through social networking. QwaQwa is a remote mountanous area located in the Eastern Free State Province of South Africa. Like most remote areas ar…
Cultural Texts of Resistance in Zimbabwe
Cultural Texts of Resistance in Zimbabwe explores how ordinary citizens appropriate and deploy cultural texts such as internet memes, songs, political cartoons and social media discussions as vehicles to contest hegemonic narratives of the state and insert alternative ways of imagining the future of the nation. This book is a timely attempt to examine the multiple and complex dimensions of resistance in post-millennial Zimbabwe through analysing …
The Afromontane Research Unit
Research to inform a sustainable future for southern African mountains as social–ecological systems requires major investment. This is needed to strengthen existing relationships, build new relationships among academia, policy, and practice, and drive a robust research capacity program. This is particularly important in disciplines where there is currently limited capacity for mountain-related research in the region. For many pertinent issues in …
Rooting routes to trans-Atlantic African identities
The making and continuous shifts of African identities outside Africa have attracted interest from across critical disciplines. Imaginative literature has achieved a considerable status as a site and optic for critical engagement with evolving dynamics of the diasporization of African identities. This article sets out to extend what is known about this ‘function’ of literature by looking at how representations of female experiences of forced tran…
Nationhood and Ethnic Ideology
The paper interrogates the role of cartoons in the discursive construction of nationhood and national identity with a specific focus on cartoons published in a Kenyan literary magazine named Kwani? between 2007 and 2008. Kwani? employs cartoons to archive specific events in Kenyan history and articulate a particular view of 'Kenyanness'. Cartoons act as a disruptive art form that guides the process of making meaning out of a text. This function a…
Virtual Disclosures and Self-emancipations
Online social sites have become popular platforms for reimagining the self and (re)constructing identities. In a consumer-orientated neoliberal global order where bodies have become products to be branded, packaged and marketed, social networks have become ideal platforms for the representation and identification of bodies. Although some studies have examined the discursive construction of identities online, few have focused on the representation…
White Liberalism and Black Consciousness in Rosie Motene's Reclaiming the Soil (2018)
White liberal gestures of kindness such as interventions to alleviate poverty in black communities are often seen as altruistic initiatives with noble intentions. However, in recent years, these interventions have come under greater scrutiny as scholars question the 'white savior mentality' that often frames and propels such initiatives. In fact, contemporary neo-liberal interventions bear resemblance with the colonial civilizing mission because …
An Allegory of the Zimbabwean Revolution
After the demise of British colonialism in 1980, Zimbabwe adopted and espoused a conciliatory and inclusive approach to nation building which sought to reconcile former enemies – whites and blacks – and create a new Zimbabwe. However, in the early 2000s, the government of Robert Mugabe abandoned the earlier approach in favour of a radical decolonial paradigm characterized by railings of victimhood against the West and violence against those perce…
The Politics of Incongruities in Official Discourse
Although Zimbabwe has been experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis characterised by high inflation, unemployment, shortages of basic commodities, and rampant corruption, government officials have at different times insisted that there was no crisis in Zimbabwe. If they happened to acknowledge it, they often insisted that the crisis was caused by enemies of the state both at home and away. When President Emmerson Mnangagwa came to power in N…
Sociology (13 works) · Political science (12 works) · Politics (10 works) · Gender Studies (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies (9 works) · History (8 works) · Art (7 works) · Aesthetics (6 works) · African history and culture studies (6 works)