Ethnicity and Nationalism in Urban Colonial Zimbabwe: Bulawayo, 1950 to 1963

Abstract

Zimbabwean historians have not yet fully assessed the interaction of two problematic identities, ethnicity and nationalism, to determine whether the two can work as partners and successfully co-exist. This essay argues that, in Bulawayo during the period studied, ethnicity co-existed with and complemented nationalism rather than the two working as polar opposite identities. Ethnic groups provided both the required leaders who became prominent nationalist figures and the precolonial history, personalities and monuments that sparked the nationalist imagination. From the 1950s, ethnic groups expanded their horizons and provided platforms from which emerging African nationalists launched their agenda. Understanding these interrelationships will reshape our understanding of the workings of these two identities in a cosmopolitan town.

Violent Upheavals in Kenya: A Literary Historiographical Analysis of Kinyanjui Kombani’s The Last Villains of Molo.

“…The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission Report (2008) supports this view, from its own research findings that the government of the day supported the skirmishes to eject some groups of people in some political zones. Msindo (2007) avers that ethnic groups "do not exist primarily as political institutions to fight off opponents but pressure their cultural artifacts, their traditions…." [15].In the selected literary text, ethnicity is used to zone areas in terms of politics.…”

“…Msindo (2007) avers that ethnic groups "do not exist primarily as political institutions to fight off opponents but pressure their cultural artifacts, their traditions…." [15].In the selected literary text, ethnicity is used to zone areas in terms of politics. The tribal index is one that causes relocation, dispossession and deaths.…”

The politics of language and nation building in Zimbabwe. By Finex Ndhlovu

“…Msindo (2007) discusses the different ways in which the Kalanga in particular have resisted attempts to merge Kalanga into a regional Ndebele network.…”

“…The speakers of the minority languages identified in the Secretary's Circular Number 1 of 2002 (Kalanga, Xitsonga, Tshivenda, Nambya and Sesotho) (Government of Zimbabwe, 2002), and also covered under Subsection (4) of Section 55 of the Education Act (Government of Zimbabwe, 1987), have a long history of campaigns against the marginalisation of their languages in favour of isiNdebele. Msindo (2007) traces such campaigns among the Kalanga to as far back as the 1950s.…”

Making Sense of Cultural Nationalism and the Politics of Commemoration under the Third Chimurenga in Zimbabwe**

“…Msindo has noted that during this period, ethnically-based societies such as the Sons of Mashonaland Cultural Society, the Kalanga Cultural Society, the Monomotapa Offspring Society and the Matabele Home Society produced nationalist leaders while ethnic histories provided the needed pre-colonial heroes, heroines, monuments and local expressions of anti-colonial discontent. 18 Advocates of nationalism drew from pre-colonial language and culture and reinterpreted pre-colonial histories as they mobilised across ethnic lines as fighters for independence. Early nationalists appealed to ethnic cultural symbols such as the leopard skins and fur hats worn by pre-colonial Shona and Ndebele chiefs, which leaders like Joshua Nkomo and Leopold Takawira often wore when addressing the masses.…”