Repression, Literary Dissent and the Paradox of Censorship in Zimbabwe

This only has a little bit about romance, but although it's not a lot, it provides a discussion of how romance's themes might or might not be read as political, particularly in the Zimbabwean context. Here's an excerpt:

online novels often appear apolitical in their subject matter. Below, I will explore competing hypotheses for this absence of dangerously political topics. Is this because of self-censorship or is it an everyday form of resistance? Or is it that these authors do not care about politics? In the novel Kamusikana kekwa Mwazha (The Young Girl from Mwazha Church), Zivanai, a young Rastafarian man, falls in love with Ropafadzo, a church girl of the Mwazha apostolic sect. Ropafadzo’s father opposes this relationship since their religions are worlds apart. [...] The author deals with contentious, yet not too political, issues of religion and female oppression in contemporary Zimbabwe via a romantic plot. In essence, Kamusikana kekwa Mwazha is romance fiction defined by Regis as ‘a work of prose fiction that tells the story of courtship and betrothal of one or more heroines’. [...]

The father’s initial rejection of Ropafadzo’s love relationship speaks of everyday cultural matters of patriarchal oppression and religious fundamentalism that affect Zimbabwean society. The novel can also be read as a feminist text that articulates and challenges female oppression. In the broad context of censorship, this focus on romantic and religious issues can be considered as political and emotional escapism that distances people from their day-to-day sufferings. This is not uncommon across Africa, where writers may choose to focus on themes that do not attract the censor.

Here's the abstract:

This article explores the paradox of repression, dissent and censorship in Zimbabwe. It interrogates how selected literary artists in Zimbabwe have negotiated repression and censorship via choices of genre, codes, themes and publishing strategy. Given the internet-enabled diversification of publishing platforms, it is argued that alternative literary forms have emerged on social media, and, by refusing to be overtly political, some of the literature constitutes a new aesthetics that dissents without appearing to do so and compels us to rethink political action. The article demonstrates how state censorship appears to be contingent upon genre choices made by artists, potential size of audience, and fear that the supposed political harmony that the regime presides over is under threat. It concludes that cyber platforms have overturned traditional conceptions of literary genres and complicated the ability of the state to censor literary production. Ironically though, cyber platforms have also morphed into sites of repression. It is further concluded that censorship has often mobilised outrage in Zimbabwe’s cyber citizens, thus paradoxically creating symbolic resistance and infinite opportunities for discourse.