FIGHTING OVER NDEBELE IDENTITY THROUGH ONLINE FORUMS: QUARRELS OF THE VANQUISHED?

Social media has transformed into a space of contest for identity, language and culture. In an attempt to reclaim, redefine and restore their distorted identity, the Ndebele people have taken to the use of social media as a forum to fulfil their quest. Unlike most cultures and identities the concept of Ndebeleness is a fluid ideology, because the concept of Nationalism in this culture involved a unification of various identities which in itself caused an identity divide in the Ndebele ideology. More recently the identity debates are centered on the concept of ‘who is Ndebele and who is an outsider?’ This article reflects on and discusses key ideas and cross-cutting themes around the evolution of ‘cultures’, discursive practices and other ‘language forms’ in Zimbabwe that have in recent years played a significant role in shaping ideas about Ndebele identity and the other. The research analyses these concepts using facets of critical discourse analysis as well as Primordial and Constructivist theories of identity. The article uses data collected from various social media forums for analysis purposes.