Alexander Kanengoni

Ranka Primorac (University of Southampton)

Ed. by John Thieme, University of East Anglia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 7.2.3.03: South Africa and other Southern Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester)

Dates

Born 17 Sep 1951
Died 12 Apr 2016
Activity 1983-2016

Places

Born in Zimbabwe
Active in Zimbabwe

Activities

Primary

Journalist
Novelist
Story-writer

Resources

Kanengoni's Works

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The Zimbabwean author Alexander Kanengoni was a writer of war: almost everything he wrote may be directly related to the Zimbabwean war of liberation and its causes, direct consequences, or lateral outcomes. Kanengoni learned about this war by participating in it: in 1974, he joined ZANLA (an African nationalist guerrilla force) and he was an armed combatant until independence with majority rule came to Zimbabwe in 1980. Because they thematise the armed anti-colonial struggle, Kanengoni’s texts may be said to be contributing to the Zimbabwean “political imaginary” – a repository of key images and representations which participate in the re/production of socially constructed identities. In contemporary Zimbabwe, the images of man as warrior, war veteran and war-time hero are…

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1837 words

Citation: Primorac, Ranka. "Alexander Kanengoni". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 January 2005; last revised 22 July 2022. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5878, accessed 21 November 2024.]