The mission school in Umtali, South Rhodesia, present day Mutare, Zimbabwe, is a significant location in Nervous Conditions because it is the location where Tambu’s worldview is tested and altered by the Western education offered to her. The mission school, which is run by Tambu’s uncle, Babamukuru, encourages Tambu to confirm to Western-style education and religious expectations, and ultimately leads Tambu to question the patriarchal culture she grew up in. Though, this education enlightens Tambu to a new worldview where education is a powerful tool for personal growth, it also highlighted the issues with her native patriarchal culture, which is demonstrated when she witnesses Babamukuru physically punishing Nyasha when she stood up against his authority (Dangarembga 171). This shows that while the mission school provides a setting for Tambu and Nyasha to think for themselves, even education cannot fully free the women, in Nervous Conditions, from the oppressive control the men in their families. This also highlights the differences in Tambu and Nyasha’s experiences at the mission school, as Tambu embraced the opportunity to learn, while Nyasha used this opportunity to rebel against her father. This is described by Sarah Miller, as “the same system that awakens determination in Tambu disempowers her cousin Nyasha by creating barriers between her and her family” (Miller 2), to assert that each experience at the mission school was different the reincarnation Tambu hoped would come from her education (Dangarembga 140), was not guaranteed.
Works Cited
Dangarembga, Tsitsi. Nervous Conditions. London: Women's Press Limited, 1988. Print.
Miller, Sarah. "Self-Destructive Education in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous." Best Integrated Writing 5.6 (2018): 1-6. https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1061&context=biw.
