REPRESENTATIONS OF PHYSICAL-DISABILITY IN COLONIAL ZIMBABWE - THE CYRENE MISSION AND PITANIKO, THE FILM OF CYRENE

Pitaniko, the Film of Cyrene is a unique short film, created in 1946 i n part to popularize the work of Cyrene and its founder, the Reverend Edward George (Ned) Paterson. The film is the story, of the mission, t old through the transformation of the life of a disabled young man, Sa muel Songo, who portrays Pitaniko, first through his experience of rej ection at his village and then at the Cyrene mission. In Pitaniko, phy sical disability, is viewed ill two worlds, one African the other the world of the Cyrene mission, befitting the colonial contrasts of the p rimitive and the civilized. The meaning of rehabilitation is derived f rom rite transformation from the African world into the world of the C yrene mission through the medium of art, and ultimately, through conve rsion into Christianity. Disability is first an opportunity and later a symbol that illustrates and enhances the mission of Cyrene.