Reconsidering Conceptual Issues Pertaining to Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle

Abstract

This chapter puts to the test the long-held perception of a pervasive peasant consciousness brought about by exposure to a system of colonial governmentality before the liberation struggle. Using empirical evidence from a case study of the Diwa community in north-eastern Zimbabwe, the chapter instead posits that at the onset of the liberation war, some parts of the country had not yet been exposed to any significant colonial government structures that had made other areas despise colonialism. This chapter thus argues that the Diwa case study reveals that there were other factors that did not necessarily have anything to do with disgruntlement over governmentality that made peasants to support the war of liberation. In the final analysis, the chapter cautions against the generalisation of an embedded link between the liberation struggle and the discourse of nationalism, and postulates that generalisations based on a few case studies should be avoided as situations and conditions differed and accordingly affected the levels of peasant consciousness differently in colonial Zimbabwe.