![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
Abstract
In this article, we discuss personal names and naming patterns in contemporary Zimbabwe as a way of thinking through the hauntings of the metaphysical empire. We are interested in how the metaphysical empire, particularly through the process of linguicide, ‘invaded’ the ‘mental’ space of the colonised and significantly changed the way people use English and indigenous languages to name children. We examine anthroponomic patterns to tease out certain ideological properties of the metaphysical empire as it persists in the present—its hauntings. In the Derridean sense, haunting is understood as pasts that persist in the here and now, such as the prestige and power of the linguistic forms identified as English. While the use of English in personal names can be interpreted as a type of imperial debris, we show how indigenous ways of knowing the world nevertheless filter through these ruins in the form of uniquely Zimbabwean-English names.
Dans cet article, nous discutons des noms personnels et des modèles de dénomination dans le Zimbabwe contemporain pour réfléchir à certaines des obsessions de l'empire métaphysique. Nous nous intéressons à la façon dont l'empire métaphysique, notamment à travers le processus du linguicide, a « envahi » l'espace « mental » des colonisés et a considérablement modifié la façon dont les gens utilisent l'anglais et les langues autochtones pour nommer les enfants. Nous examinons les modèles anthroponomiques pour démêler certaines propriétés idéologiques de l'empire métaphysique tel qu'il persiste dans le présent - ses obsessions. Entendue au sens derridien, l’obsession désigne des passés qui persistent dans l'ici et le maintenant, comme le prestige et la puissance des formes linguistiques identifiées à l'anglais. Alors que l'utilisation de l'anglais dans les noms personnels peut être interprétée comme une sorte de résidu impérial, nous montrons comment les manières autochtones de connaître le monde filtrent encore à travers ces ruines sous la forme de noms anglais spécifiquement zimbabwéens.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Statement of Ethics
At the time this study was conducted, Great Zimbabwe University, where the first author was based did not require ethical approval to be sought for this type of research.
Notes
1 This also happened in other parts of the continent. The writers Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiongo dropped their English personal names, Albert and James respectively, for example (see Achebe Citation1988; Gikandi and Wachanga Citation2018).
2 Examples of such names include the Shona names Tapiwanashe, Tawananyasha, Anotidaishe,and Takomborerwa. Examples in Ndebele include the following: Nkosinathi, Mandlenkosi, Thandolwenkosi, and Sibonginkosi. Examples in XiTsonga include Hikhesile, Xinanina, and Katekisiwani.
3 These ‘Zimbabwean’ English names have attracted a lot of attention. The tendency to mock, or laugh at such names is growing. For instance, in his recent article on naming patterns in Zimbabwe, Pongweni wonders if the name ‘Fabulous’, was not written with an exclamation mark at the end! (Pongweni Citation2017, 110). Makoni et al actually describe some of the names as ‘humorous, idiosyncratic and sometimes nonsensical and weird to non-Zimbabweans and English native speakers’ (Makoni, Makoni, and Mashiri Citation2007, 440). In a newspaper report, Mabasa (November 4, Citation2014, The Herald) writes about ‘strange and sometimes hilarious names of Zimbabweans’. Interestingly Mabasa notes that the strange names are in both indigenous languages and English. In another newspaper report, Mavaza (August 20; Citation2020, The Herald) reports on how ‘Zimbabwean English’ name bearers become a laughing stock in the diaspora.
4 There are other examples of typical English names that however deviate from what we explain here. A good example is that of the name Felistars. In Zimbabwe this is understood to be an English name, but a google search on the name shows that it is rather a ‘Zimbabwean’ name. On Names.org the name is said to originate from Zimbabwe and its meaning is ‘flowers.’
5 In English, 'thank you' would not be associated with religion, but the respective Shona and Ndebele versions Tendai/Sibongile can be easily associated with the religious domain where gratitude is extended to God. However, as Chitando notes, in the same examples of ‘Thankyou’, Tendai/Sibongile, ‘not only the theological meaning exists’ (Citation1998, 25). In these names ‘the gratitude could simultaneously be owed to the ancestral spirits, to God, and to the bride for the joy that has been brought to the family’ (Pongweni Citation2017, 106–7).
6 These versions are provided by Makondo in his discussion of the most popular female Shona anthroponyms as follows: Gift; My gift, our gift, Heaven’s gift, Gift from God, the gift we have been given, the gift is ours, and His /her gift (Makondo Citation2013, 115). Thankyou is a shortened version of Be thankful to God, Be thankful to the creator, Be thankful to the giver, Be thankful for everything, Be thankful to the Lord, Be thankful to day we have increased (Makondo Citation2013, 115).
7 Interestingly, Anelisa is a name in Nguni and other languages, though with different meanings. According to a website called ‘Thinkbabynames’, Anelisa is a girls' name of Latin derivation and it means ‘graced with God's bounty’. Anelisa is an alternate form of Annalisa (Latin): combined variation of Ann and Lisa (http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Anelisa).
8 But this form of epistemological decolonisation may be so elitist that most who give their children ‘Zimbabwean English’ names may not be conscious of that dimension. This especially seems to be the case with the two names, Anelisha and Endlier discussed in this article, as they arose from rather haphazard social circumstances.