The Relationship between Colonization and Mental Health in Nervous Conditions Fiona Blumin 12th Grade

Tstisi Dangarembga, author of Nervous Conditions, depicts Nyasha, Tambu’s first cousin, as a product of the hybridization of British and African culture throughout the entire novel. Certainly, Nyasha’s British customs are very prominent even when she returns to Africa, for she spent the majority of her childhood years in the United Kingdom. Her first appearance in the novel clearly illustrates her British customs and Tambu’s strong disapproval of it; Tambu describes her cousin’s appearance, explaining that Nyasha “obviously had [been to England]. There was no other explanation for the tiny little dress she wore…. I would not give my approval” (Dangarembga 37). Despite the fact that she chose to wear a dress that “hardly covered her thighs” (Dangarembga 37), Nyasha does, in fact, realize that she “shouldn’t have worn it” (Dangarembga 37). Similar to this situation, Nyasha, a hybrid, faces many other internal battles regarding her British and African customs. Through an analysis of Nyasha’s behavior, I will argue that escaping one’s hybridity is impossible due to the permanent psychological alterations one experiences as a product of conflicting cultures. Ultimately, Nyasha, a hybrid, attempts to revert back to her Shona-self,...