“Portmanteau biota” and Ecofeminist Interventions in Zakes Mda’s The Heart of Redness

Abstract

When Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, the first African woman, and the first person ever to win the award for environmental activism, was asked by Time magazine’s Stephan Faris, “What’s the world’s biggest challenge?”, she replied: The environment. We are sharing our resources in a very inequitable way …. And esources is very much at the centre of Mda’s novel The Heart of Redness (2000). The historical past, emblematised by the cattle-killings in the Eastern Cape during the 1850s, is linked to the present through the ecological consciousness of Qukezwa, whose character is conceived in mythopoeic terms. Positing the notion that Qukezwa is the quintessential ecofeminist in the novel, this paper foregrounds her role as a catalyst in the war of words between the “Believers” in the prophecies of Nongquwuse and the “Unbelievers”. Her seemingly reckless act of cutting down foreign trees may be viewed as a protest against what Alfred W. Crosby has termed “portmanteau biota” (1986: 270), a collective term for the organisms that Europeans took with them to the lands they colonised. Qukezwa’s actions register a strong message to those governments which exploit Planet Earth without regard for the deleterious consequences of their actions.

Opsomming
Op die vraag “Wat is die wêreld se grootste uitdaging?”, gestel deur Time Magazine se Stephan Faris aan Nobel-vredespryswenner Wangari Maathai, die eerste vroulike Afrikaan en die eerste persoon ooit om die toekenning vir omgewingsaktivisme te ontvang, antwoord sy: “Die omgewing. Ons deel ons hulpbronne op ’n baie onregverdige manier .... En dit is deels waarom ons konflik het” (Faris 2004: 4, my vertaling). Konflik oor natuurlike hulpbronne is die spil waarom Mda se roman, The Heart of Redness (2000), draai. Die historiese verlede, versinnebeeld deur die grootskaalse beesslagting in die Oos-Kaap gedurende die 1850’s, sluit aan by die hede deur die ekologiese bewussyn van Qukezwa, wie se karakter in mitopoëtiese terme gestalte kry. Uit die hoek van die standpunt dat Qukezwa die kwintessensiële ekofeminis in die roman is, lig hierdie referaat haar rol uit as katalisator in die woordstryd tussen dié wat in die profesieë van Nongquwuse glo, en dié wat nie glo nie (die “Believers” en die “Unbelievers”). Haar skynbaar roekelose daad om uitheemse bome af te kap kan beskou word as ‘n protes teen wat Alfred W. Crosby “portmanteau biota” (1986: 270) noem, ’n kollektiewe term vir die organismes wat Europeërs saam met hulle geneem het na die lande wat hulle gekoloniseer het. Qukezwa se handelinge stuur ‘n sterk boodskap uit na dié regerings wat Planeet Aarde uitbuit sonder inagneming van die verwoestende gevolge van hulle dade.