Redemptive or Grotesque Nationalism

Today nationalism is the sole universally accepted criterion of statehood legitimization. Similarly, human groups wishing to be recognized as fully fledged participants in international relations must define themselves as nations. This concept of world politics underscores the need for openended, broad- ranging, novel, and interdisciplinary research into nationalism and ethnicity. It promotes better understanding of the phenomena relating to social, political, and economic life, both past and present.

At the beginning of 2000, with the launch of the so-called Third Chimurenga, Zimbabwean nationalism revealed some of its most grotesque aspects, resulting in a polarisation of the nation into 'patriots' and 'sell-outs' and dividing academics into groups such as 'regime intellectuals', left-nationalists, left-internationalists, 'nativists' and 'neo-liberals'. Drawing upon the arguments and insights of an array of scholars, many based in Zimbabwe, this book offers a new analysis of the grotesque character of Zimbabwean nationalism, a nationalism that has provoked ambivalent responses locally, regionally and internationally.

Autorentext

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni is Associate Professor of Development Studies at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in Pretoria. He is the author of numerous publications including Do `Zimbabweans Exist? Trajectories of Nationalism, National Identity Formation and Crisis in a Postcolonial State (Peter Lang, 2009). James Muzondidya is a Research Manager at the Zimbabwe Institute based in Harare. His main research interests lie in cultural history and identity politics. He is the author of Walking a Tightrope: Towards a Social History of the Coloured People of Zimbabwe (2005).

Klappentext

At the beginning of 2000, with the launch of the so-called Third Chimurenga , Zimbabwean nationalism revealed some of its most grotesque aspects, resulting in a polarisation of the nation into 'patriots' and 'sell-outs' and dividing academics into groups such as 'regime intellectuals', left-nationalists, left-internationalists, 'nativists' and 'neo-liberals'. Drawing upon the arguments and insights of an array of scholars, many based in Zimbabwe, this book offers a new analysis of the grotesque character of Zimbabwean nationalism, a nationalism that has provoked ambivalent responses locally, regionally and internationally.

Zusammenfassung
«This collection casts a fresh eye on Zimbabwean nationalism past and present. This is important reading for anyone interested in understanding the perilous interplay of 'dismantling and building' that has shaped Zimbabwean nationalism's many transformations.» (Jocelyn Alexander, Professor of Commonwealth Studies, University of Oxford)
«This volume, with a significant number of Zimbabweans writing of their own nationalism(s), will be both controversial but hugely rewarding for those open-minded enough to move beyond simplicities and reductions. This is a valuable book.» (Stephen Chan OBE, Professor of International Relations, School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London)
«This provocative book, charting and examining the manifestations of Zimbabwe's extraordinary ruling ideologies, from mass media, music and history perspectives, helps us to rethink the nature of nationalism all over Africa and the rest of the world.» (David Moore, Professor and Head of Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, University of Johannesburg)

Inhalt

Contents: Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni/James Muzondidya: Introduction: Redemptive or Grotesque Nationalism in the Postcolony? - Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni: Beyond the Drama of War: Trajectories of Nationalism in Zimbabwe, the 1890s to 2010 - Robert Muponde: History as Witchcraft: The Narcissism of Warrior Masculinities in Edmund Chipamaunga's War and Post-War Novels - Munyaradzi B. Munochiveyi: 'War Vet Nation'?: Beyond 'Guerrilla Nationalism' and the Search for Other Nationalisms in Zimbabwe - Kudakwashe Manganga: Masculinity ( Dodaism ), Gender and Nationalism: The Case of the Salisbury Bus Boycott, September 1956 - Finex Ndhlovu: Language Policy, Citizenship and Discourses of Exclusion in Zimbabwe - Jane L. Parpart: Silenced Visions of Citizenship, Democracy and Nation: African MPs in Rhodesian Parliaments, 1963-1978 - Kudzai Pfuwai Matereke: One Zimbabwe Many Faces: The Quest for Political Pluralism in Postcolonial Zimbabwe - Terence M. Mashingaidze: What Blacks, Which Africans and in Whose Zimbabwe? Pan-Africanism, Race and the Politics of Belonging in Postcolonial Zimbabwe - Moses Chikowero: The Third Chimurenga: Land and Song in Zimbabwe's Ultra-Nationalist State Ideology, 2000-2007 - Wendy Willems: 'Powerful Centre' Versus 'Powerless Periphery'? Postcolonial Encounters, Global Media and Nationalism in the 'Zimbabwe Crisis' - Clapperton Mavhunga: The Colony in Us, The Colony as Us.