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The article explores the cardinal role that narratives, ideas, and discourses play as reference points to guide policy traction and trajectory. The study focuses on the interplay amongst the settler, liberation, and neo-liberal narratives as they informed the political economy of post-colonial Zimbabwe. Because the agency of these narratives memorialises race, privilege, native subalternism, restitution, and white hubris and neo-colonial obduracy, the article argues that the concepts of sovereignty and nation-state-building have become highly contested. Interpreted in the present but rooted in the colonial past, the indigenisation drive has become a conflicted discourse, torn between continuities and discontinuities—narratives and counter-narratives of liberation, post- colonialism, and black empowerment as against the Empire's neo-colonial modes of domination which have sanctioned a kind of "conflict in perpetuity". Therefore, in deconstructing the contradictions of transitional politics, policy instrumentalisation, state predations, and unprecedented political contestations that make up the Zimbabwean predicament, this article argues that the trajectory of Zimbabwe's indigenisation drive reveals the saliency of ideas either as a source of legitimation, a source of contestation, or as contours for a nuanced analysis of Zimbabwe's political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is not my first article on the developments in Zimbabwe during the racist Rhodesian regime. I expressed Moscow's assessment of the evolving situation and its role in Part 3 of The Hot 'Cold War': The USSR in Southern Africa (London and Scottsville, Pluto Press and UKZN Press, 2008), and in particular in the article 'Moscow and Zimbabwe's Liberation', published in the Journal for Southern African Studies (Volume 43, 2017, issue 1), where I reflected primarily on my personal experience and discussions with other witness participants. So here I will limit my writing to milestones of the 'Rhodesian crisis' as they were seen from Moscow, and elaborate on the question of sanctions and their efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Christian church in Zimbabwe radically indicated the courage and consciousness to identify itself with the struggle for liberation of the marginalised, the oppressed and the impoverished, more specifically in the context of chimurenga or the armed struggle. Thus, the Kairos model of ecclesiology consistently and unequivocally supported masses who were the majority Zimbabweans during the protracted struggle of the 1970s against racial system, thereby assuming such designations as the church of struggle, the Church of chimurenga , the church in trenches and combat with the people; hence, the liberationist language signalled a symbol of Kairos consciousness for Zimbabwean ecclesiology. Kairos consciousness implies the liberationist methodological framework of ecclesiology when the church becomes the interlocutor and articulator identified and associated with non-persons. Furthermore, the non-persons, the impoverished and the marginalised occupy the epicentre of epistemological space in ecclesiological discourse. Precisely, the socio-economic and political landscape of Zimbabwe radically shifted from 2000 onwards, marking the genesis of a crisis. This article based on ecclesiology investigates prophetic role and the impact of the church in the context of Zimbabwean crisis [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nation and nationalism have been associated with masculinity. Nations and states are often envisioned through heroic narratives. According to these narratives, nations are formed through the blood and toil of fore-fathers not fore-mothers. Women's roles in nation-building are regarded as supportive, relegating them to the background as supporters of their male counterparts. Heroines receive little or no attention in the historiography of national struggles. Pedagogically, heroines are understudied in most African school systems. It is easier for one to encounter names of nationalists like Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya), Thomas Sankara (Burkina Faso) among other heroes who led the liberation struggle in their respective countries compared to heroines like Yaa Asantewaa (Ghana), Charwe Nyakasikana (Zimbabwe), Mrs. Theodosia Salome Okoh (Ghana) among other women who contributed immensely to the development of their nation. Women have contributed greatly to the formation of the African nation. They served as reproducers of the state not only through their biological role as child bearers, but also their roles as cultural transmitters and liberators. Women's role in the nations of Africa must be examined if our understanding of nationalism is to be complete. There is the need for the history of nationalism in Africa to be examined through a feminist lens rather than the traditional masculine conception. This essay addresses this lacuna in the history of nationalism in Africa by examining the roles of Yaa Asantewaa of Ghana and Charwe Nyakasikana of Zimbabwe in the national struggles in their respective countries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the efficacy of the neo-indigenous post-linear style in creating democracy in politically committed theatre in Zimbabwe. The article interrogates democracy in performance with regards to liberated spectatorship and avoidance of indoctrination, monolithic readings and excessive reliance on what Brecht (in Babbage 2004: 34) described as 'emotional orgies', which cripple the spectators' ability to think and engage. Using Rooftop Promotions theatre company's performance Rituals, the article examines how this production harmonizes the antagonistic relationship between style and democracy in contemporary protest theatre in Zimbabwe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study is a response to the call for papers that focuses on African issues and discusses the issue of liberation. This paper seeks to explore the theme of liberation beginning with its definition. It will then proceed by looking at the history of Israel discussing the Egyptian bondage. The identity and role of Moses will also be explored in light of the prominent role that the Hebrew Bible gives him in the exodus motifs. It also highlights the life and role of Jesus of Nazareth in human liberation. In addition it will also highlight the importance of liberation and will pay attention to the fight for freedom and independence in Africa. Finally it looks at the quest for liberation among marginalized women and children in Africa looking at their struggles in the 21st century. The essay will use examples from both theological and secular sources. The Biblical/theological examples will be drawn from the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and commentaries. Since Africa is very big although sharing related issues, I will use specific examples from Zimbabwe and also use general information from across the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of multi-racial education in Tsitsi Dangarembga's The Book of Not. Focusing on the “engulfment” of protagonist Tambudzai Sigauke at the Young Ladies' College of the Sacred Heart in colonial Rhodesia of the 1970s, I argue that Tambu is so battered and overwhelmed by the racist environment as a black pupil in a multi-racial school that she succumbs to the very forces that threaten her existence. At the novel's end Tambu wonders about her future in a racist postcolonial Zimbabwe that she finds personally disappointing. The paper, then, aims to locate Tambu's personal development in the social context of multi-racial colonial education in 1970s Rhodesia. The existential philosophies of R.D. Laing and Frantz Fanon are employed to show the extent of her “divided self” within a threatening environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human beings are born to struggle in order to create 'space' in which to establish their identities and independence through self expression. Computer technology enhances the creation of unrestricted space in which people can air their ideas, opinions and values in contexts of political struggles. E-mail and the Internet have come to symbolise people's struggles mediated through modern communication systems. This article examines how cyberspace has provided an avenue through which music surfed on the Internet can be analysed to recover alternative political voices. In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union and Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) government has imposed strictures on communication via the Internet in order to stifle people's views on the necessity for a new democratic ethos. However, the government's dictatorial laws have failed to totally prevent people from using the Internet to generate and pass on knowledge that has subverted the oppressive system presided on by ZANU PF since the 1990s. This article suggests that it may be important to view the Internet as a liberating platform where political dissent is to some extent encouraged and tolerated. Zimbabwean music surfed on the Internet can be considered an effective weapon for political dissidence which provided the grammar of conduct for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to negotiate for power-sharing in Zimbabwe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that songs from Zimbabwe's war of the liberation (Chimurenga) recorded by Alec Pongweni differ in thrust from the poems written by fellow combatants, Freedom Nyamubaya and Thomas Bvuma. Although songs and poetry are generically related, the songs from the war served a single immediate purpose of encouraging the execution of the war, while the poems allowed the poets a fair share of individual exploration of both official and unofficial perspectives of people in Chimurenga. Thus, while the songs effectively dwell on the immediate business of the war, the poems have the luxury of space to pontificate, establish philosophies and even quarrel with the very idea of Chimurenga itself. It shall also be argued that while the two poets differ from the singing guerrillas, the poets develop in different, even if not necessarily opposed, directions in their understanding of Chimurenga and its aftermath. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents and analyses songs that were created and performed in guerrilla camps in Mozambique during the Zimbabwean liberation war. The article explores the links between music, ideology and popular culture to facilitate analysis of these songs. The article argues that the songs composed and performed were an integral part of the liberation war and remain key narratives of that struggle. These songs were part of the struggle for a new political, cultural and social identity. Selected songs are analysed and discussed in some detail, and bring out certain aspects of the war such as humour and sexual innuendo, treachery and weaponry. The discussion acknowledges its shortcomings in presenting material from only one liberation army — the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). Studies remain to be done for the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]