Of Mimicry And (Wo)Man: The Location of Motherwork in Colonial Mimicry

Abstract

This article explores the differences between ‘colonial mimicry’ and ‘colonial mimesis’ as evident in literary works by Scholastique Mukasonga, Tsitsi Dangarembga, and Stuart Hall, focalised through the role that mothers play in their children’s navigation of a colonial world. Here, colonial mimesis is defined as a desire for total assimilation into colonial structures, whereas colonial mimicry accepts these structures only as a potential means of subversion. The author argues that within each text, maternal support correlates with a more successful navigation of cultural conflict, whereas a lack thereof leads to colonial mimesis. For example, the protagonist’s nuanced understanding of her Rwandan identity in Our Lady of the Nile stems from physical and social support from her mother, whilst Tambudzai’s rejection of her indigenous heritage following on from her mother’s contradictory and broadly unsupportive attitude towards her education in The Book of Not.