Panashe Chigumadzi Explained

Panashe Chigumadzi
Birth Place:Harare, Zimbabwe
Education:Harvard University - doctoral student
Alma Mater:University of the Witwatersrand
Notable Works:Sweet Medicine (2015)
These Bones Will Rise Again (2017)
Awards:K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award

Panashe Chigumadzi (born 1991) is a Zimbabwean-born journalist, essayist and novelist, who was raised in South Africa.

Background

Born in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1991, Chigumadzi grew up in South Africa.[1]

She has published her writing in a variety of media. She has been a columnist for The Guardian,[2] Die Zeit, The New York Times,[3] The Washington Post,[4] New York Review of Books[5] [6] and Chimurenga.[7] She was a founder of VANGUARD, a magazine designed to give space to young, black South African women interested in how queer identities, pan-Africanism and Black Consciousness intersect.[8] At the start of her career, Chigumadzi worked as a reporter for CNBC Africa.[9]

Chigumadzi draws on the history of Zimbabwe in her work, by exploring national and personal histories and identities. Her first novel, Sweet Medicine, was published in 2015, winning the K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award.[10] Her 2017 narrative essay These Bones Will Rise Again drew on Shona perspectives to explore the concept of the "Mothers of the Nation" and interrogating perceptions of Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana in Zimbabwe.

While studying and writing on the legacies of Zimbabwe's struggle for independence, Chigumadzi also writes about modern identities for southern Africans. She has written on the complexities of identity dismantling the notion of a colourblind, post-Apartheid South Africa, through a reclamation of the term "coconut".[11] She is outspoken about the need for decolonisation at national and at personal levels.[12] Her 2019 essay "Why I'm No Longer Talking to Nigerians About Race" discussed her experience at the Aké Arts and Book Festival on a panel discussing whether Black Lives Matter has relevance in Africa. Chigumadzi argued that, yes, in a continent with such different experiences of racialisation under colonialism, it did.[13]

In 2015, Chigumadzi was Programme Curator of the first Abantu Book Festival.[14] In addition to her writing on literature and literary criticism, she regularly appears on BBC World Service radio.[15] She is also a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.[16]

In late2021, Chigumadzi wrote on the concept of the Ubuntu philosophy for The Guardian and how restoration is a necessary part of reconciliation in postcolonial societies such as South Africa.[17] Indeed:

Writings

Books

Acknowledgements

Awards

Reception

Chigumadzi's work has been studied widely, particularly within post-colonial studies. Her writing on the use of charms in Sweet Medicine led to further studies on healthcare and traditional practices in Zimbabwe.[24] Her focus on strong female characters living in economic precarity has been explored in terms of their religious beliefs and the reflection they may give to contemporary life.[25]

Education

Chigumadzi grew up in South Africa. She studied at the University of the Witwatersrand; while there she was part of the "Transform Wits Movement", which called for significant changes to southern Africa's universities.[26] As part of her doctoral study at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University,[27] she has written about the Rhodes Must Fall protests she witnessed at the University of the Witwatersrand.[28]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Novuyo Rosa Tshuma and Panashe Chigumadzi in conversation—Meditations on the traumas and triumphs of Zimbabwe's histories. The Johannesburg Review of Books. en-US. 2018-08-06. 2019-12-02.
  2. News: Panashe Chigumadzi picks the best books about Zimbabwe. Chigumadzi. Panashe. 2018-07-29. The Guardian. 2019-12-02. en-GB. 0261-3077.
  3. News: Opinion: In Zimbabwe, the Enduring Fear of Single Women. Panashe. Chigumadzi. The New York Times. 2 July 2018.
  4. News: Opinion: In Zimbabwe, two political prisoners are a symbol of a repressive. Panashe. Chigumadzi. Washington Post. 18 August 2020.
  5. Web site: Soap and South Africa's 'Fatal Intimacy'. Chigumadzi. Panashe. 2017-11-09. The New York Review of Books. en. 2019-12-03.
  6. Web site: Panashe Chigumadzi. The New York Review of Books. en-US. 2020-04-01.
  7. Web site: Panashe Chigumadzi. @GI_weltweit. en. 2019-12-02.
  8. Web site: VANGUARD. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20190925171414/http://vanguardmagazine.co.za/about/. 2019-09-25. 2020-04-01.
  9. Web site: A new self-identity for Africans Panashe Chigumadzi TEDxJohannesburg. TEDx Talks. en. YouTube. 2013-09-18. 2019-12-02.
  10. Web site: South African Literary Awards 2016 winners announced. James Murua. James. Murua. Writing Africa. 2016-11-08. 2024-05-11.
  11. News: Why I call myself a 'coconut' to claim my place in post-apartheid South Africa. Chigumadzi. Panashe. 2015-08-24. The Guardian. 2019-12-02. en-GB. 0261-3077.
  12. Web site: 'Unholy Trinity' and 'Transformation' in Post-1994 South Africa: Refocusing 'Transformation' in Higher Education for Social and Economic Empowerment. Oladele. Ayorinde. Centre for African Studies (LUCAS). lucas.leeds.ac.uk. 2019-05-01. 2019-12-02.
  13. Web site: Why I'm no longer talking to Nigerians about race.. Panashe. Chigumadzi. africasacountry.com. en-US. April 2019. 2019-12-03.
  14. Web site: Everything you need to know about the Abantu Book Festival. Sunday Times Books LIVE . en. Jennifer . 2016-08-18. 2019-12-02.
  15. Web site: BBC World Service - The Cultural Frontline, African writers now: Panashe Chigumadzi and Chigozie Obioma. BBC. en-GB. 2019-07-07. 2019-12-03.
  16. Web site: Magwood. Michele . 5 July 2019. 'New Daughters of Africa' Is a Powerful Collection of Writing by Women from the Continent. Wanted.
  17. News: Chigumadzi . Panashe . Can white South Africa live up to Ubuntu, the African philosophy Tutu globalised? . 2021-12-31 . The Guardian . London, United Kingdom . 0261-3077 . 2021-12-31.
  18. Web site: Read An Excerpt from Panashe Chigumadzi’s Debut Novel. 2015-10-19. AfriPop! - What's New and Whats Next in Global African Culture. en-US. Yolanda. Sangweni. 2019-12-02.
  19. Book: Chigumadzi . Panashe . These Bones Will Rise Again . 2018-10-25 . The Indigo Press . London, United Kingdom . 978-1-9996833-0-6. Paperback edition.
  20. https://www.theindigopress.com/panashe-chigumadzi "Panashe Chigumadzi"
  21. Web site: CHIGUMADZI, Panashe The International Writing Program. iwp.uiowa.edu. 2019-12-02.
  22. Web site: Remembering K Sello Duiker, Great Writer of South Africa's Post-Apartheid Generation, Who Would Have Been 45 This Month. Otosirieze. Obi-Young. Otosirieze Obi-Young. 2019-04-19. Brittle Paper. 2019-11-30.
  23. Web site: A racy topic for Ruth First. Dzonzi. Thembisile. 2015-08-14. Wits Vuvuzela. en-US. 2019-12-02.
  24. Stobie. Cheryl. 2018-07-03. Charms, Blessings and Compromises: Black Women's Bodies and Decolonization in Panashe Chigumadzi's Sweet Medicine. English Academy Review. 35. 2. 37–53. 10.1080/10131752.2018.1523983. 1013-1752.
  25. Ndlovu. Isaac. 2016-07-02. Politically induced economic precarity, syncretism and female representations in Chigumadzi's Sweet Medicine. Agenda. 30. 3. 96–103. 10.1080/10130950.2016.1251227. 1013-0950.
  26. Web site: Transform Wits: lower tuition fees, change of curriculum and better treatment of workers. Pilane. Pontsho. 2015-04-13. The Daily Vox. en-US. 2019-12-02.
  27. Web site: Symposium: Writing Beyond 'Mugabe's Zimbabwe'. africa.harvard.edu. en. 2018-11-20. 2019-12-03.
  28. Panashe. Chigumadzi. 2016. Small Deaths. Transition. 121. 148–163. 10.2979/transition.121.1.26. 10.2979/transition.121.1.26.

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