REPRESENTING, CONSERVING AND CELEBRATING NATURE: AN ANALYSIS OF
CHIFUNYISE’S TAKURA AND THE TALKING BRANCH: A COLLECTION OF TRADITIONAL
STORIES ON THE ENVIRONMENT

REPRESENTING, CONSERVING AND CELEBRATING NATURE: AN ANALYSIS OF
CHIFUNYISE’S TAKURA AND THE TALKING BRANCH: A COLLECTION OF TRADITIONAL
STORIES ON THE ENVIRONMENT

ANNA CHITANDO,

n Zimbabwe, children’s literature is an evolving, yet very crucial discipline that deals with topical issues such as lan-
guage, identity, culture, environmentalism and sustainable development. Located within the discourse on Zimbabwean
literature, this study argues that Zimbabwean children’s literature has not received adequate scholarly reflections, yet it
deals with critical issues, just like adult literature. The study appreciates positive developments in Zimbabwean chil-
dren’s literature by paying particular attention to Stephen Chifunyise’s Takura and the Talking Branch: A Collection of
Traditional Stories on the Environment (1995). Informed by Glotfelty and Fromm’s theory of eco-criticism (1996), the
study argues that children’s literature promotes environmental consciousness. The research critiques Chifunyise’s de-
piction of the themes of environmentalism and sustainable development in Takura and the Talking Branch: A Collection
of Traditional Stories on the Environment

Zimbabwe International Journal of Open and Distance Learning

2012