In the bedroom: the formation of single women's performative space in Tsitsi Dangarembga's \+i\Nervous Conditions. \-i

Addresses the formation of female intellectual subjectivity in Tsitsi Dangarembga's Bildungsroman, "Nervous Condition". Written just five years after Zimbabwe became an independent nation, the novel critiques government representations of females as physical labourers confined to domestic space, thus functioning as a counter-narrative to that limited national imaginary. Rethinks concepts of resistant agency, arguing that resistance, like any other concept, has a history, and that because Tambu is not a western creation, Western ideals of freedom and individuality cannot account for the heroic aspects of her behaviour. Concludes by arguing that spatial politics are crucial to Tambu's quest for intellectual subjectivity. (Author abstract - amended)