Nervous Conditions - History and Culture

History and Culture

Nervous Conditions takes place during a time of postcolonialism around the 1960s for many countries in Africa, including the novel's setting, Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe). Rhodesia finally got their independence in 1964 after years of being under British rule since 1923. However, Rhodesia still had some British influences and post-colonization effects for many years after. In the story, the English had built a mission school for the natives African children to study. This obviously implies that this was during a time when race relations were improving among the English and Rhodesians, but that the English were still very much involved with Rhodesia. A problem of becoming "white washed" (natives thinking and acting like the English instead of representing their own culture) developed in the book as a result of the English mission and continued influence on Rhodesia. This was evident in characters such as Nyasha, Nhamo, and Babamukuru throughout the book. As a matter of fact, this was occurring throughout the country the first year that the Africans declared themselves independent due to post colonial influences of the English. The English influence and school mission in the book were foreshadowing what would come in the near future. In 1965, the British government and two nationalist African organizations started a civil war in the country, which resulted in the British regaining control of the country after the long war. This reign would not last however, since Britain would then turn over the country to the Africans granting their complete independence.

Robert Mugabe, the new president of Rhodesia, in 1980 was still very concerned about having a repeat of the civil war of 1965. This caused him to institute a policy of "Africanization", in which all of the remaining English influences would be extinguished from the country. This includes all remaining traces of English rule, English laws, and style of government. As a matter of fact, Mugabe changed the name of the country to Zimbabwe in 1980 as well, in effort to completely rid the country of its past and any chance that the English would have continued influence on the country.

In the duration of the book, there were many cultural issues which effected the Rhodesians in a negative way. The continued English influence took a negative toll on the Rhodesians, making it hard for them to maintain their African identity and culture. As stated before, this was evident in Nyasha, Babamukuru, Nhamo, and even Tambu at times. This is another reason why President Robert Mugabe felt the need to institutionalize Africanization throughout the country, because of the negative perspectives of the English cultural influences.

Another negative effect of English influence throughout Rhodesia was a phenomenon called brain drain. This is when people from poor countries go study in a different venue than their traditional one, and end up forgetting or ignoring where they came from. Tsitsi Dengarembga provided examples of this phenomenon in the text through Tambu's brother and uncle. This was not unique to Rhodesia however, since many of the countries in Africa experience this even today. This creates a problem for the African countries since many of the educated people who are able to rebuild and improve their countries are leaving. Thus if you were to get rid of the English schools in Rhodesia (such as the mission school in the novel) like President Mugabe did, there would be less temptation for African's to leave their country to live in others.

Another cultural significance which was represented in the book were the gender relations.This is also evident in the beginning of the book when Tambu claims to be a better student than her brother ever was, but that he was chosen to get the "better" English schooling simply because he was a man and she was a girl. This is representative of the country and obviously most of the world at this time since women movements in Africa were not prominent at the time. The Africans had to worry about their general independence first instead of the rights of women, which is the main reason why there were not as many women movements towards rights until after independence. This makes sense since it would be unethical to have African men and women treated equally while still under the negative influence of the English. This explains why women movements in Zimbabwe were formed in the years after independence and still are in effect to this day.