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Storying disillusionment : a decolonial reading of selected plays by Cheela Chilala, Blessing Hungwe, and Dunduzu Chisiza Jr

Thesis (PhD (Drama))--University of Pretoria, 2026.

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Other Authors: Coetzee, Marie-Heleen
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2026
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Coetzee, Marie-Heleen
author_browse Coetzee, Marie-Heleen
author_facet Coetzee, Marie-Heleen
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD (Drama))--University of Pretoria, 2026.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/108328
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-07-01T04:03:37.146Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/108328 Storying disillusionment : a decolonial reading of selected plays by Cheela Chilala, Blessing Hungwe, and Dunduzu Chisiza Jr Coetzee, Marie-Heleen u20814993@tuks.co.za Sibanda, Nkululeko Jama Likongwe, Smith UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Cheela Chilala (Zambia) Blessing Hungwe (Zimbabwe) Dunduzu Chisiza Jr. (Malawi) Decolonial reading Story disillusionment Thesis (PhD (Drama))--University of Pretoria, 2026. This study offers a retroactive decolonial reading of two selected plays from each of the countries of Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, previously governed by the British under the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. With the independence of the two countries in 1964 and Zimbabwe in 1980, I considered a duration of at least ten years of post- independence to bring these contexts to bear on the selected plays. Therefore, the study examines play texts written or performed between 1990 and 2019. I chose the playwrights Cheela Chilala (Zambia), Blessing Hungwe (Zimbabwe), and Dunduzu Chisiza Jr. (Malawi) for their significant contributions to contemporary playwriting due to critical acclaim and cultural relevance in their respective countries. A central thread that connects all these texts is that of disillusionment with post- independence, postcolonial contexts. Using a constructivist research paradigm, critical discourse analysis as a methodological approach, and script analysis as a method, the study seeks possible traces of colonial patterns of power that continued to shape post-independence regimes and cultural production, and maps how the plays expose various typologies of postcolonial disillusionment manifested through political betrayal, cultural alienation, and socio-economic inequalities. The study demonstrates that, despite not intentionally writing with decoloniality in mind, the play texts, arguably shaped by comparable historical, cultural, and socio-political conditions in their respective countries, reveal decolonial resonances, positioning the play texts as a space for epistemic resistance and cultural reclamation. The study expands the scope of decolonial literary discourse in Southern Africa and makes an original contribution to existing knowledge by means of its retroactive decolonial reading of the plays. Moreover, it contributes to global discussions on the lasting effects of colonial legacies in the Global South. Drama PhD (Drama) Unrestricted Faculty of Humanities None 2026-02-17T12:31:02Z 2026-02-17T12:31:02Z 2026-05 2026-02 Thesis * A2026 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/108328 N/A en © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Cheela Chilala (Zambia)
Blessing Hungwe (Zimbabwe)
Dunduzu Chisiza Jr. (Malawi)
Decolonial reading
Story disillusionment
Storying disillusionment : a decolonial reading of selected plays by Cheela Chilala, Blessing Hungwe, and Dunduzu Chisiza Jr
title Storying disillusionment : a decolonial reading of selected plays by Cheela Chilala, Blessing Hungwe, and Dunduzu Chisiza Jr
title_full Storying disillusionment : a decolonial reading of selected plays by Cheela Chilala, Blessing Hungwe, and Dunduzu Chisiza Jr
title_fullStr Storying disillusionment : a decolonial reading of selected plays by Cheela Chilala, Blessing Hungwe, and Dunduzu Chisiza Jr
title_full_unstemmed Storying disillusionment : a decolonial reading of selected plays by Cheela Chilala, Blessing Hungwe, and Dunduzu Chisiza Jr
title_short Storying disillusionment : a decolonial reading of selected plays by Cheela Chilala, Blessing Hungwe, and Dunduzu Chisiza Jr
title_sort storying disillusionment a decolonial reading of selected plays by cheela chilala blessing hungwe and dunduzu chisiza jr
topic UCTD
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Cheela Chilala (Zambia)
Blessing Hungwe (Zimbabwe)
Dunduzu Chisiza Jr. (Malawi)
Decolonial reading
Story disillusionment
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/108328