Zakes mda’s social vision for post-apartheid South Africa: an examination of fools, bells and the habit of eating.

Abstract

This thesis seeks to establish how Zakes Mda crafts his social vision for post-apartheid South Africa through his three plays: The Mother of All Eating, You Fool How Can the Sky Fall? and The Bells of Amersfoort collected under the anthology Fools, Bells, and The Habit of Eating. The study is premised on the recognition of the fact that a writer does not only create works of art for art‟s sake but create art that is aimed at educating the readers about the present and future realities. The thesis aims to study Mda‟s social vision not as a novelist as he is popularly known but as a playwright. The study focuses on the examination of the thematics and characterization respectively. It then moves on to an examination of the specific literary styles and devices that Mda uses to bring out the above mentioned concept. The study engages the Dialogism theory as articulated by the Russian philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin. These ideas are invoked as a theoretical tool for shedding light on how Mda creates his social vision for post-apartheid South Africa. This study employs textual analysis to collect, organize, analyze and interpret data on Mda‟s social vision for post-apartheid South Africa as portrayed in his plays under study. It is qualitative in nature and informed by the phenomenological research philosophy. The study found that elements such as characterization, thematic concerns and choice of diction are instrumental in communicating a writer‟s vision. Metaphors of social vision in the dramaturgy is one of the tenable areas for further research.