Purging the Lingering Shadow of Colonialism? Zimbabwe’s Third Chimurenga and the Struggle Over School Names

Abstract

Drawing on a range of source material that is in public domain, chiefly newspapers and Parliamentary Debates, this article examines the efforts at renaming government schools in early 2000s in Zimbabwe, the debates surrounding the renaming and the results thereof. The renaming of schools by the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) government aimed at replacing names that appeared to celebrate colonialism with those that expressed Zimbabwe’s historical anti-colonial struggles. The article attempts to establish the source of this nationalist zeal—the need to purge the lingering shadow of colonialism, particularly continued British influence on Zimbabwe’s political landscape—and analyze the extent to which it was deployed. The article notes that these efforts at decolonizing school names must be understood within the broader Third Chimurenga revolutionary fervor. In doing so, the article highlights that while substantial efforts were invested in this exercise, the lingering shadow of colonialism remained, as many schools retained their colonial names. By focusing on renaming of schools, this article does not only address a neglected subject, but pulls together in one narrative the connections between the renaming of schools, anti-colonial struggles, decolonization and the post-2000 resurgent nationalism hinged on what is popularly known as the Third Chimurenga.