Re-thinking the Colonial Encounter in Zimbabwe in the Early Twentieth Century

Abstract An orthodox nationalist scholarship has always defined the colonial encounter between the Ndebele and the early Rhodesian settlers in the dichotomous terms of domination and resistance pioneered by T.O. Ranger in the 1960s. In this article, I seek to transcend this traditional conceptualisation of the colonial encounter by recognising mimicry, hybridity, negotiation and alienation as the central aspects of the encounter between the coloniser and the colonised. I employ recent theoretical work to historically problematise the colonial encounter, in order to understand both the strategies used by the early Rhodesian settlers to indigenise themselves and the dynamics of Ndebele political consciousness in the period 1898–1934. Scholars have not seriously engaged with this period of Zimbabwean history, seeing it only as a simple pre-history of Zimbabwean mass nationalism. This article will open this historical period to interpretations based on the agency of the colonised and the coloniser in the construction of colonialism. Notes 1 T. Ranger, The African Voice in Southern Rhodesia, 1898–1930 (London, Heinemann, 1970). 2 In his widely read article entitled, 'Nationalist Historiography, Patriotic History and the History of the Nation: The Struggle over the Past in Zimbabwe', Journal of Southern African Studies (JSAS), 30, 2 (June 2004), pp. 215–34, Ranger criticises traditional nationalist historiography and particularly its metamorphosis into a 'patriotic history' in support of the current state. 3 E. Said, Orientalism (London, Routledge, 1978); H. Bhabha, The Location of Culture (London, Routledge, 1994); G. Spivak, 'Can the Subaltern Speak?', in P. Williams and L. Chrisman (eds), Colonial Discourses and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader (New York, Columbia University Press, 1994), pp. 66–111. 4 F. Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1967); M. Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (New York, Princeton University Press, 1996); S. Marks, The Ambiguities of Dependence in South Africa: Class, Nationalism and the State in Twentieth Century Natal (Baltimore and London, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986): J. Comaroff and J. Comaroff, Of Revelation and Revolution: Christianity, Colonialism, and Consciousness in South Africa: Volume One (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1991). 5 D.N. Beach, War and Politics in Zimbabwe, 1840–1900 (Gweru, Mambo Press, 1986); N. Bhebe, ZAPU and ZANU Guerrillas in Zimbabwe's Liberation War (Gweru, Mambo Press, 1999). 6 F. Cooper, 'Conflict and Connection: Rethinking Colonial History', in J.D. Le Seur (ed.), The Decolonization Reader (New York, Routledge, 2003), p. 24. 7 Bhabha, The Location of Culture, pp. 12–17. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid., p. 89. 13 Spivak, 'Can the Subaltern Speak? p. 66; E. Hobsbawn and T. Ranger (eds), The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 1–14. 14 Spivak, 'Can the Subaltern Speak?'. 15 F. Fanon, Black Skins, White Masks (London, Paladin, 1970). 16 Mamdani, Citizen and Subject, pp. 12–20. 17 Marks, The Ambiguities of Dependence, pp. 4–7. 18 Ibid. 19 Comaroff and Comaroff, Of Revelation and Revolution: Volume Two, p. 34. 20 Ibid. 21 C. Young, The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective (Yale, Yale University Press, 1994). 22 H. Child, 'The History and Extent of Recognition of Native Law in Southern Rhodesia', Native Affairs Department Annual (NADA), 40, (1963), pp. 29–45. P. Kaarsholm, 'Inventions, Imaginations, Codifications: Authorising Versions of Ndebele Cultural Tradition', JSAS, 23, 2 (June 1997), pp. 243–58. 23 Mamdani, Citizen and Subject, p. 20. 24 Cooper, 'Conflict and Connection,' pp. 24–30. 25 N. Bhebe and T. Ranger (eds), The Historical Dimensions of Democracy and Human Rights in Zimbabwe: Volume 1 (Harare, University of Zimbabwe Publications, 2001), pp. 1–10. 26 Ranger, 'Democracy and Traditional Political Structures in Zimbabwe, 1890–1999', in Bhebe and Ranger (eds), Historical Dimensions of Democracy, pp. 31–5. 27 Ibid. 28 Bhabha, The Location of Culture. 29 J. Alexander, J. McGregor and T. Ranger, Violence and Memory. One Hundred Years in. the 'Dark Forests' of Matabeleland (Oxford, James Currey, 2000) 30 C. Bullock, The Mashona. The Indigenous Natives of Southern Rhodesia (Cape Town, Juta and Company, 1928). 31 Kaarsholm, 'Inventions'. 32 Isilaphalapha was commonly used in farms and in kitchens where English speakers interacted with a large pool of poorly educated Africans. 33 E. Worby, 'Maps, Names and Ethnic Games: The Epistemology and Iconography of Colonial Power in Northwestern Zimbabwe', JSAS, 20, 3, Special Issue: Ethnicity and Identity in Southern Africa (September 1994), p. 385. 34 Ranger, 'Protestant Missions in Africa: The Dialectics of Conversion in the American Methodist Episcopal Church in Eastern Zimbabwe', in T.D. Blakely, W.E.A. van Beek and D.L. Thomson (eds), Religion in Africa. Experience and Expression (London, James Currey, 1994). 35 S.J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 'Imperial Hypocrisy, Settler Double Standards and Denial of Human Rights to Africans', in Bhebe and Ranger (eds), The Historical Dimensions of Democracy, pp. 65–8. 36 E. Schmidt, Traders and Wives: Shona Women in the History of Zimbabwe, 1870–1939 (London, James Currey, 1992), pp.16–30. 37 T. Ranger, 'Tales of the Wild West: Gold-diggers and Rustlers in Southwest Zimbabwe. An Essay in the Use of Criminal Court Records for Social History', South African Historical Journal, 28 (1993), pp. 40–62. 38 National Archives of Zimbabwe (hereafter NAZ) S2929/3/3 Delineation Reports, 1964. 39 C. Summers, From Civilization to Segregation, 1890–1934 (Athens, OH, Ohio University Press, 1994). 40 The Zambezi Mission Record, 76 (April 1911), pp. 476–8. 41 Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 'Imperial Hypocrisy,' p. 68. 42 Ranger, 'Democracy and Traditional Structures', pp. 31–6. 43 Ibid. 46 Ibid. 44 Ibid. 45 NAZ NB6/5/2/2 Gielgud's Report, 1898. 47 NAZ NB6/4/3 Monthly Report Insiza, 1898. 48 NAZ A3/18/3, Alfred Drew, 1911. 49 Ibid. 50 J. Alexander, 'The State, Agrarian Policy and Rural Politics in Zimbabwe, 1940–1990' (D. Phil. Thesis, University of Oxford, 1993). 51 A. Keppel-Johns, Rhodesia and Rhodes (Kingston, McGill-Queens University Press, 1984), p. 389. 52 Umlamlankunzi means peace-maker. 53 Ranger, Revolt in Southern Rhodesia, 1896–7 (London, Heinemann, 1967), p. 239. 54 uMlugulu Khumalo still called other chiefs to his place as a senior chief. 55 Alexander et al., Violence and Memory, pp. 56–60. 56 Interview with Msilisi Sibanda, January 1994. 57 N. Bhebe, Traditional Religion and Christianity in Western Zimbabwe (London, Longman, 1979). 58 R. Palmer, Land and Racial Domination in Rhodesia (London, Heinemann, 1977). 59 R. Roberts, 'The End of the Ndebele Royal Family' (Seminar Paper, University of Zimbabwe, 1988). 60 Ranger, The African Voice. 61 Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 'The Dynamics of Democracy and Human Rights among the Ndebele of Zimbabwe, 1818–1934' (D.Phil. Thesis, University of Zimbabwe, 2004). 62 Ibid. 63 Gampu Sithole was one of the leading collaborators who received numerous cattle. 64 NAZ N3/19/4, 17 August 1914. 65 NAZ A3/18/10 Land Protests. 66 Nationalism was not only espoused by non-chiefly families. Former warriors were also active. 67 S. Feierman, Peasant Intellectuals (Madison, University of Wisconsin, 1990). 68 Ranger, 'Ethnicity and Nationalism,' (Seminar Paper, University of Zimbabwe, 1999), p. 6. 69 NAZ A3/18/18/1 71 Roberts, 'The End of Royal Family.' NAZ A3/18/18/1. 70 Ibid. 72 Ibid. 73 Ibid. 74 NAZ AOH/69 Oral Interviews 75 Ibid. 76 Ranger, The African Voice, p. 80. 77 NAZ A3/18/6 Letters of Protest 78 Roberts, 'Nguboyenja Lobengula' (Henderson Paper, University of Zimbabwe, 1984), p. 40. 79 The Khumalo were the descendants of the original ruling clan around which the Ndebele nation crystallised. 80 Ranger, 'Ethnicity and Nationalism,' p. 1. 81 Comaroff and Comaroff, Of Revelation and Revolution, pp. 54–50. 82 Ibid. 83 NAZ A3/18/39/21 Methodist Petition. 84 Ranger, 'Protestant Mission.' 85 Ibid. 86 Ranger, Are We Not Also Men? The Samkange Family and African Politics in Zimbabwe (Harare, Baobab, 1995), pp. 1–9 87 Ibid. 88 Ranger, 'Early History of Independency in Southern Rhodesia', in W. Watt (ed.), Religion in Africa (London, Edinburgh, 1964). 89 NAZ A11/2/18/3 90 M. Daneel, Quest for Belonging (Gweru, Mambo Press, 1987), pp. 90–95. 91 A. Mazrui, 'Seek Ye First, The Political Kingdom' in Mazrui (ed), UNESCO General History of Africa: Volume VIII (California, Heinemann, 1993), pp. 117–19. 92 NAZ A3/18/18/6. 93 NAZ N3/5/8 Ngwenya's Appeal. 94 R. Elphick and R. Davenport (eds), Christianity in South Africa (Oxford, James Currey, 1997). 95 Ranger, Voices from the Rocks (Oxford, James Currey, 1999). 96 Ibid. 97 Bhabha, The Location of Culture. 98 Ranger, The African Voice, p. 45. 99 D. D. Jabavu, The Life of John Jabavu, 1884–1921 (Cape Town, Lovedale Institute Press, 1922), pp. 63–65. 100 Ranger, The African Voice. 101 Migrant labour was a common practice during the colonial period and it continues today. Migrant workers not only learnt foreign languages, they also imbibed political and religious ideas which they took back with them to their places of origin. 102 Migrant labour was a common practice during the colonial period and it continues today. Migrant workers not only learnt foreign languages, they also imbibed political and religious ideas which they took back with them to their places of origin. 103 Bhebe, Benjamin Burombo and the Rhodesia Bantu Voters' Association (Harare, Boabab, 1989). 104 Ibid. 105 Interview with Sikhili Moyo, 20 September 1999). 106 Bhebe, Burombo. 107 Ranger, The African Voice. 108 NAZ S84/A/300. B. Raftopolous and I. Phimister (eds), Keep on Knocking (Harare, Baobab, 1997).

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