Music in Electoral Processes in Zimbabwe: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This research focuses on music and dance in Zimbabwe’s electoral processes and how politicians use the linguistic aspect of music to achieve various goals. This is against the backdrop that ruling and opposition parties in Sub-Saharan Africa use music and dance as tools in their campaigning sprees. However, very little attention has been paid to discourse analytical investigations of musical linguistics' use, dance and their emotional effects in various communities. This research consequently attempts to address the area scantly investigated in previous linguistic studies, focusing on such a component of musical discourse as a text with psychological effects. As such, the research adds to the existing literature and knowledge on music, dance and politics in Africa and simultaneously brings to the fore the idea that music and dance are used as an emotional ploy to win votes by the political elites. The pith of the research is the emotions generated by music and dance in the masses and how that works to the advantage or disadvantage of the politicians. The research focuses on the Zimbabwean electoral processes and uses Cucsman and Chief Shumba Hwenje 2023’s songs as the case study. The Critical Discourse Analysis Theory is used as the launch pad from which various songs are analysed. Qualitative research is also used to gather and analyse data. Participant observations and interviews are used as the main data-gathering instruments in this research. Thematic analysis was the major data analysis tool. The research concludes that the linguistic aspect of music as a text in Zimbabwe is used to generate certain emotions in the masses that in most cases influence them in the voting process. It has thus been unraveled that in Zimbabwe politicians use emotions like fear to intimidate the masses into voting for them. Consequently, music is a form of discourse text and part of the ideological state apparatus in Zimbabwe.