An exploration of festival growth from an Afrocentric perspective with special reference to Zimbabwe

Abstract

The growth of festivals has not been explored using an Afrocentric perspective. This has resulted in perceived unsatisfactory growth, leading to the business of festivals being overlooked in African countries in favour of Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing and Exhibition (MICE) events. African countries like Zimbabwe revere once off major events as well as copy and paste festivals with colonial and neo-colonial intonations like Harare Festival of the Arts (HIFA) and Victoria Falls Carnival. By neglecting local festivals developing countries risk losing out on opportunities to grow an industry with the potential to generate foreign investment, increase infrastructure development, promote destination growth and perpetuate the country’s living heritage. In order to explore Zimbabwean festivals growth from an Afrocentric perspective the qualitative methodology and decoloniality theory were applied. The specific objectives of the study were to establish the basis of selected local festivals held in Zimbabwe, to examine the requisite festival growth dimensions from a Zimbabwean perspective, to explore growth parameters of local festivals from a Zimbabwean perspective and to develop an Afrocentric lens for reshaping perspectives of festival growth in Zimbabwe. Five Zimbabwean local community festivals in different provinces were examined through in-depth interviews and participatory observation. Data were analysed thematically using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) framework, with Atlas.ti employed to support coding, organisation, and theme development. Study findings indicated residual colonial practices and a loss of African centeredness in festivals. Festival parameters and dimensions specific to the Zimbabwean festivalscape were defined. A lense for viewing festivals from an Afrocentric perspective was developed in the form of a trident framework. This may offer insights for reshaping of the African festival narrative and reforge Afrocentric perspectives on festivals. The lens subsumes policy, curriculum redesign and the Afrofestizen digital platform. Study recommendations include multi-level Government support and intervention in community festivals, the development of Community Based Festival Enterprises (CBFE), capacitation of communities, and the use of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) hubs such as the SAICH Platform as well as documentation. Insights for further studies include quantitative studies on festival growth.