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A meaningful and sustainable interpretation of decorative symbols found on Zimbabwe's items of material culture among the various ethnic groups is one that recognizes their fundamental cosmologies, world-views, beliefs, axiologies and epistemologies relating to nature, the universe, interpersonal and inter-group relations and, above all, the critical goals that a community seeks to attain. Where there is a community there must, of necessity, be communication channels that ensure social cohesion and commitment to one vision and mission. Geometric decorative symbols, which are the subject of this book, belong to the visual arts, a genre that communicates fundamental messages effortlessly and b...
A Cradle of the Revolution is a compelling book of stories by former Inyathi School students in the period before Zimbabwean independence. The stories render moving accounts of evictions in the colonial period, conditions at Inyathi school, and in particular the leadership qualities of Kenneth Maltus Smith, who was the school head. After leaving Inyathi school, many of the student participated in the struggle for independence. The book is an expose of the colonial conditions and efforts to dislodge colonialists and usher in independence and dignity for the black majority.
K.M.R Smythe grew up in Rhodesia Her family lived in the grounds of Ingutsheni Mental Hospital in Bulawayo from 1953-1971 where her father worked as a psychiatrist. As a child she grappled with many frightening situations and found strength and self-belief by becoming a successful tennis player. The Secret World of Shlomo Fine is an exploration of concealment and prejudice on many different levels. It is a story about an isolated and isolating experience inside one of the largest lunatic asylums built during British colonial rule in Africa. The book raises questions about the role that psychiatry holds in the Western imagination as accepted wisdom for healing human distress. What took place at Ingutsheni - first under British colonial rule, followed by UDI and the leadership of Ian Smith - needs to be more widely known. Similar institutions were built throughout the Empire, and many still exist throughout the world.
The late Welshman Hadane Mabhena, was a leading Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) activist, the political party led by Joshua Nkomo. He was among the pioneers of the liberation struggle in Nkayi and Matabeleland North. He faced incarceration in various prisons in Rhodesia. He was detained in Gonakudzingwa near the border with Mozambique. A loud and fearless voice for the voiceless, uMawelishi, as he was affectionately known among his colleagues and admirers, was declared a national hero when he passed on. While the focus of the book is on an individual, Welshman Mabhena, it also illuminates the times, both good and bad, that were an integral part of Welshman Mabhena’s life.
After assuming power in 1980, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) has sought to control the narrative of the struggle for liberation from colonialism, to the exclusion of other players such as the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU). This book investigates the ways in which photographs are being used within Zimbabwe, especially on social media, to challenge the prevailing narrative and reclaim the memories of the subjugated. The book analyses the photographs produced by Zenzo Nkobi during the struggle against colonialism. Drawing on the memories of veterans from ZAPU and its military wing the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZPRA), the book shows that photographs can both act as a conduit for existing narratives, and as a tool for shaping memory narratives, and evidencing ZPRA military prowess ahead of other movements. At a time when Zimbabwe is reassessing the legacy of liberation, this book offers a powerful multidisciplinary assessment for researchers across the fields of history, memory, political science, African studies, and media studies.
This book is a pioneering study of Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, a Zimbabwean nationalist whose crucial role in the country’s anti-colonial struggle has largely gone unrecognized. These essays trace his early influence on Zimbabwean nationalism in the late 1950s and his leadership in the armed liberation movement and postcolonial national-building processes, as well as his denigration by the winners of the 1980 elections, Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. The Nkomo that emerges is complex and contested, the embodiment of Zimbabwe’s tortured trajectory from colony to independent postcolonial state. This is an essential corrective to the standard history of twentieth-century Zimbabwe, and an invaluable resource for scholars of African nationalist liberation movements and nation-building.
Joseph Daniels narrates his family’s origins, beginning with their arrival from England among the 1820 Settlers that landed in Cape Town, South Africa. Starting with nothing except a plot of land and the promise of prosperity in the Dark Continent, his ancestors John Henry and Kathleen Daniels, build a legacy that will intertwine their European heritage and that of the Black, indigenous people of Africa. Generations later, their mixed-race descendant Joseph Daniels, born in the turbulent years leading up to Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, strives to adapt to an environment rife with racial contradictions, political tension, and violence. Joseph shares the tender, harrowing, and humorous...
In 1999, a defiant 76-year old Mr Stanley Mhlanga confronted the Zimbabwean Forestry Commission. He claimed that Queen Lozikeyi had given his people the land from which they had been evicted. Who was this woman, an inspiration to an old man 80 years after her death? Queen Lozikeyi was the senior queen of Lobhengula, king of the Ndebele people in what is now Zimbabwe. Her early life has been wreathed in mystery, but now at last her story can be told. This book is one of the first studies of a woman who led her people while the British colonial power occupied her country. She was the intellect behind one of the most effective anti-colonial revolts. Queen Lozikeyi continues to be an inspiration to Zimbabweans today. Queen Lozikeyi, as an Ndebele royal woman, interited a strong constitutional position from Nguni royal foremothers in Zululand. This study shows how Lobhengula's senior queen and other Ndebele royal women uses their power.
This book charts technological developments from an African ethical perspective. It explores the idea that while certain technologies have benefited Africans, the fact that these technologies were designed and produced in and for a different setting leads to conflicts with African ethical values. Written in a simple and engaging style, the authors apply an African ethical lens to themes such as: The Fourth Industrial Revolution, the moral status of technology, technology and sexual relations, and bioethics and technology.
What are the right questions to ask when seeking out the spirit of a nation? In November, 2017, the people of Zimbabwe took to the streets in an unprecedented alliance with the military. Their goal, to restore the legacy of Chimurenga, the liberation struggle, and wrest their country back from more than 30 years of Robert Mugabe's rule. In an essay that combines bold reportage, memoir, and critical analysis, Zimbabwean novelist and journalist Panashe Chigumadzi reflects on the "coup that was not a coup," the telling of history and manipulation of time and the ancestral spirts of two women—her own grandmother and Mbuya Nehanda, the grandmother of the nation.