IDEOLOGIES OF LAND AND PLACE: MEMORIES FROM ZIMBABWE'S WAR OF LIBERATION

Abstract

ABSTRACT Textual analysis of Shona and British settler memoirs describing life primarily during Zimbabwe's liberation war was undertaken to investigate non-traditional sources of environmental information and to understand how perceptions of human-environment relations and place may be shaped by gender, culture, and war experience. Findings from nineteen book-length works (three for each pre- and post-war periods and thirteen for the period during the war) established that most authors exhibited strong, generally positive feelings toward land, especially their home areas. Shona authors demonstrated knowledge of colonial ideologies of bringing progress and security, but settlers exhibited little understanding of colonialism's impact on traditional land tenure. Reflecting on the liberation war, settlers were more likely to comment on hardships faced in ‘wild’ lands, landscape aesthetics, road conditions, and leisure time activities, whereas Shona emphasized the need for land tenure reform, land as sacred and provider of material needs, and hardships faced due to racial discrimination, relocation, and forced labor. Threats from landmines, ambushes, disease, and wild animals affected both groups. The cultural background and degree of contact across these authors were instrumental in shaping their ideologies. Gender and combat experience were less relevant in shaping ideologies confirming findings from the analyses of East African memoirs.