Contesting generational and ethnic discourses in historical accounts of the liberation struggle : a case study of the Sunday Mail column , Chronicles from the second chimurenga.

Since the attainment of independence in 1980, Zimbabwe’s historiography has been dominated by what Byrnes (2012:3) refers to as “Big History.” This Big History, authored by self-glorifying former nationalists and complemented by willing commissar intellectuals of the early 1980s, silenced the narrat...

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Main Author: Huni, Munyaradzi Elias
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Midlands State University 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4067
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author Huni, Munyaradzi Elias
author_facet Huni, Munyaradzi Elias
author_sort Huni, Munyaradzi Elias
collection DSpace
description Since the attainment of independence in 1980, Zimbabwe’s historiography has been dominated by what Byrnes (2012:3) refers to as “Big History.” This Big History, authored by self-glorifying former nationalists and complemented by willing commissar intellectuals of the early 1980s, silenced the narratives of former fighting forces from the Second Chimurenga, which brought the country’s independence. However, studies utilizing a bottom up approach that is capturing the voices of the less celebrated or rather marginalized former fighters are scare. Zooming on the narratives of these silenced former fighting forces, this study deploys Maurice Halbwachs’ concept of collective memory fused with Terrance Ranger’s patriotic history approach and post-colonial theory in examining the generational and ethnic contestations coming out of The Sunday Mail column, Chronicles from the Second Chimurenga. Utilizing a qualitative research approach and deploying archival research in data gathering, the study also examines how the liberation war account has been constructed in the midst of the generational and ethnic contestations in the column. Through critical discourse analysis and the presentation of data thematically, the study indicates that generational and ethnic contestations started way before the commencement of the Second Chimurenga. Furthermore, the study indicates that throughout the liberation struggle, there was mistrust between the former nationalists and the former fighting forces. The mistrust derailed the liberation struggle and the consequences are still being felt in Zimbabwe, 38 years after the attainment of independence. This study is an approach and a perspective from the silenced former freedom fighters who claim that their victory and history was stolen in 1980. Critically, the study shows ethnic and generational contestations defining Zimbabwe’s nationalistic history.
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spelling ir-11408-40672022-06-27T13:49:05Z Contesting generational and ethnic discourses in historical accounts of the liberation struggle : a case study of the Sunday Mail column , Chronicles from the second chimurenga. Huni, Munyaradzi Elias contesting generational discourses contesting ethnicl discourses historical accounts liberation struggles second chimurenga Since the attainment of independence in 1980, Zimbabwe’s historiography has been dominated by what Byrnes (2012:3) refers to as “Big History.” This Big History, authored by self-glorifying former nationalists and complemented by willing commissar intellectuals of the early 1980s, silenced the narratives of former fighting forces from the Second Chimurenga, which brought the country’s independence. However, studies utilizing a bottom up approach that is capturing the voices of the less celebrated or rather marginalized former fighters are scare. Zooming on the narratives of these silenced former fighting forces, this study deploys Maurice Halbwachs’ concept of collective memory fused with Terrance Ranger’s patriotic history approach and post-colonial theory in examining the generational and ethnic contestations coming out of The Sunday Mail column, Chronicles from the Second Chimurenga. Utilizing a qualitative research approach and deploying archival research in data gathering, the study also examines how the liberation war account has been constructed in the midst of the generational and ethnic contestations in the column. Through critical discourse analysis and the presentation of data thematically, the study indicates that generational and ethnic contestations started way before the commencement of the Second Chimurenga. Furthermore, the study indicates that throughout the liberation struggle, there was mistrust between the former nationalists and the former fighting forces. The mistrust derailed the liberation struggle and the consequences are still being felt in Zimbabwe, 38 years after the attainment of independence. This study is an approach and a perspective from the silenced former freedom fighters who claim that their victory and history was stolen in 1980. Critically, the study shows ethnic and generational contestations defining Zimbabwe’s nationalistic history. 2020-12-17T13:54:36Z 2020-12-17T13:54:36Z 2018-11 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4067 en open Midlands State University
spellingShingle contesting generational discourses
contesting ethnicl discourses
historical accounts
liberation struggles
second chimurenga
Huni, Munyaradzi Elias
Contesting generational and ethnic discourses in historical accounts of the liberation struggle : a case study of the Sunday Mail column , Chronicles from the second chimurenga.
title Contesting generational and ethnic discourses in historical accounts of the liberation struggle : a case study of the Sunday Mail column , Chronicles from the second chimurenga.
title_full Contesting generational and ethnic discourses in historical accounts of the liberation struggle : a case study of the Sunday Mail column , Chronicles from the second chimurenga.
title_fullStr Contesting generational and ethnic discourses in historical accounts of the liberation struggle : a case study of the Sunday Mail column , Chronicles from the second chimurenga.
title_full_unstemmed Contesting generational and ethnic discourses in historical accounts of the liberation struggle : a case study of the Sunday Mail column , Chronicles from the second chimurenga.
title_short Contesting generational and ethnic discourses in historical accounts of the liberation struggle : a case study of the Sunday Mail column , Chronicles from the second chimurenga.
title_sort contesting generational and ethnic discourses in historical accounts of the liberation struggle : a case study of the sunday mail column , chronicles from the second chimurenga.
topic contesting generational discourses
contesting ethnicl discourses
historical accounts
liberation struggles
second chimurenga
url http://hdl.handle.net/11408/4067
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