Introduction

In Africa and elsewhere television programmes normally advance and promote state ideology as they are usually exploited as an instrument to construct and protect the values and institutions of the ruling elite or the interests of those in control of capital (Bramlet and Farwell 1996, Strinati 1996). However, the overall social and ideological objective function of television programmes can only be fully comprehended within the complex interrelation of their texts, audiences and producers (Abercrombie 1996). Television is a medium of power and significance in and for everyday life. However, this power cannot be understood without attending to the complex over- and under-determining inter-relationships of the medium and the various levels of social and political reality with which it engages (Silverstone 1994:12). This article examines the way in which dramatic performance styles have been incorporated in the construction of and engagement with national and ethnic identities in Zimbabwe. Focus is on the construction and ‘performance’ of dialogue as ethno-linguistic dissent with reference to Sinjalo (2002), a popular drama series aired on Zimbabwe Television (ZTV). Considerable attention is paid to the function and limitations of ethno-linguistic dissent in the construction of nationhood in a multi-lingual and democratic society.