Peasant consciousness and guerrilla war in Zimbabwe: a comparative study http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.crp2b20037 Use of the Aluka digital library is subject to Aluka’s Terms and Conditions, available at http://www.aluka.org/page/about/termsConditions.jsp. By using Aluka, you agree that you have read and will abide by the Terms and Conditions. Among other things, the Terms and Conditions provide that the content in the Aluka digital library is only for personal, non-commercial use by authorized users of Aluka in connection with research, scholarship, and education. The content in the Aluka digital library is subject to copyright, with the exception of certain governmental works and very old materials that may be in the public domain under applicable law. Permission must be sought from Aluka and/or the applicable copyright holder in connection with any duplication or distribution of these materials where required by applicable law. Aluka is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of materials about and from the developing world. For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org Peasant consciousness and guerrilla war in Zimbabwe: a comparative study Author/Creator Ranger, Terence O. Publisher James Currey Ltd. (London) Date 1985 Resource type Books Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique Coverage (temporal) 1917 - 1980 Source Northwestern University Libraries, Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, 968.91 R196p Rights Terence Ranger, Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War in Zimbabwe: A Comparative Study, (c) 1985 by London: James Currey, Ltd. and Berkeley: University of California Press. Hard copies of this book can be ordered from James Currey, Ltd. at the following address: 73 Botley Road, Oxford OX2 0BS, UK; James Currey can also be contacted at: http://www.jamescurrey.co.uk/. The University of California Press can be contacted at: http://www.ucpress.edu/. Description This classic study focuses on the role of the Zimbabwean peasantry in the national liberation struggle, beginning with background on the peasantry under early colonialism, and exploring changes in consciousness in subsequent periods. The author makes systematic comparisons between resistance in Zimbabwe and the Mau Mau revolt in Kenya, as well as with ideology and experience of armed struggle for independence in Mozambique. Format extent 408 pages (length/size) http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.crp2b20037 http://www.aluka.org Northwestern University Library Evanston, Illinois 60201 I ILL PERSPECTIVES ON SOUTHERN AFRICA I The Autobiography of an Unknown South African. by Naboth Mokgatle (1971) 2 Modernizing Racial Domination: South Africa's Political Dynamics. by Heribert Adam (1971) 3 The Rise of African Nationalism in South Africa: The African National Congress. 1912-1952. by Peter Walshe (1971) 4 Tales from Southern Africa. by A. C. Jordan (1973) 5 Lesotho 1970: An African Coup Under the Microscope, by B. M. Khaketla (1972) 6 Towards an African Literature: The Emergence of Literary Form in Xhosa. by A. C. Jordan (1972) 7 Law. Order. and Liberty in South Africa. by A. S. Mathews (1972) 8 Swaziland: The Dynamics of PoliticalModernization. by Christian P. Potholm (1972) 9 The South West Africa/Namibia Dispute: Documents and Scholarly Writings on the Controversy Between South Africa and the United Nations. by John Dugard (1973) 10 Confrontation and Accommodation in Southern Africa: The Limits of Independence. by Kenneth W. Grundy (1973) 11 The Rise of Afrikanerdom: Power, Apartheid and the Afrikaner Civil Religion. by T. Dunbar Moodie (1975) 12 Justice in South Africa. by Albie Sachs (1973) 13 Afrikaner Politics in South Africa. 1934-1948. by Newell M. Stultz (1974) 14 Crown and Charter: The Early Years of the British South Africa Company. by John S. Galbraith (1975) 15 Politics of Zambia. edited by William Tordoff (1975) 16 Corporate Power in an African State: The Political Impact of Multinational Mining Companies in Zambia by Richard Sklar (1975) 17 Change in Contemporary South Africa. edited by Leonard Thompson and Jeffrey Butler (1975) 18 The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique: The Zambesi Valley. 18501921. by Allen F. Isaacman (1976) 19 Black Power in South Africa: The Evolution ofan Ideology. by Gail Gerhart (1978) 20 Black Heart: Gore-Brown and the Politics of Multiracial Zambia. by Robert I. Rotberg (1977) 21 The Black Homelands of South Africa: The Political and Economic Development of Bophuthatswana and KwaZulu. by Jeffrey Butler. Robert I. Rotberg. and John Adams (1977) 22 Afrikaner Political Thought: Analysis andDocuments (3 vols.). by Andr6 du Toit and Hermann Giliomee (Volume 1: 1780-1850. 1983) 23 Angola Under the Portuguese: The Myth and the Reality. by Gerald Bender (1978) 24 Land and Racial Domination in Rhodesia. by Robin Palmer (1977) 25 The Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern Africa. edited by Robin Palmer and Neil Parsons (1977) 26 The Soul of Mbira: Music and Traditions of the Shona People of Zimbabwve. by Paul Berliner (1978) 27 The Darker Reaches of Government: Access to Information about Public Administration in England, the United States, and South Africa. by Anthony S. Mathews (1979) 28 The Rise and Fall of the South African Peasantry. by Colin Bundy (1979) 29 South Africa: Time Running Out. The Report of the Study Commission on U.S. Policy Toward Southern Africa (1981) 30 The Revolt of the Hereros. by Jon M. Bridgman (1981) 31 The White Tribe of Africa: South Africa in Perspective. by David Harrison (1982) 32 The House of Phalo: A History of the Xhosa People in the Days of Their Independence. by J. B. Peires (1982) 33 Soldiers Without Politics: Blacks in the South African Armed Forces. by Kenneth W. Grundy (1983) 34 Education. Race. and Social Change in South Africa. by John A. Marcum (1982) 35 The Land Belongs To Us: The Pedi Polity, the Boers and the British in the Nineteenth-century Transvaal. by Peter Delius (1984) 36 Sol Plaatje. South African Nationalist. 1876-1932. by Brian Willan (1984) 37 Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War in Zimbabwe: A Comparative Study. by Terence Ranger (1985) 38 Guns and Rain: Guerrillas and Spirit Mediums in Zimbabie. by David Lan (1985) Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War in Zimbabwe Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War in Zimbabwe A comparative study Terence Ranger Professor of Modern History University of Manchester JAMES CURREY LONDON UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES James Currey Ltd 54b Thornhill Square, Islington. London N I I BE University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles © Terence Ranger 1985 First published 1985 in Great Britain by James Currey Ltd and in the United States of America by the University of California Press ArkI British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Ranger. T.O. Peasant consciousness and guerrilla war in Zimbabwe: a comparative study 1. Peasantry-Zimbabwe-Political activityHistory 2. Revolutionists-Zimbabwe- History I. Title 322.4'2'09689 HD1339.Z5 ISBN 0-85255-000-6 Cased ISBN 0-85255-001-4 Pbk University of California Press LCN 85-040286 ISBN 0-520-05555-1 Cloth ISBN 0-520-05588-8 Paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ranger, T. 0. (Terence 0.) Peasant consciousness and guerilla war in Zimbabwe. (Perspectives on Southern Africa ; 37) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. National liberation movements--Zimbabwe. 2. Peasantry--Zimbabwe--Political activity. 3. Mau Mau. 4. FRELIMO. 5. Zimbabwe--Politics and government-1965-1979. 6. Kenya-- Politics and government--To 1963. 7. Mozambique--Politics and government--To 1975. I. Title. II. Series. DT962.75.R36 1985 968.91 85-40286 ISBN 0-520-05555-1 ISBN 0-520-05588-8 (pbk.) Typeset in 10/11 pt Times by Inforum Ltd. Portsmouth Printed in Great Britain N. CONTENTS Preface Viii Select Chronology xi Maps Xvi Illustrations Xxi Introduction: Laying the comparative foundations 1 1 The Zimbabwean peasantry under early colonialism and the nature of peasant consciousness 19 2 The Great Depression and the Zimbabwean peasantry 54 3 Kenya and Rhodesia, 1940-52: Mau Mau and Matabeleland 99 4 Mau Mau and the guerrilla war in Zimbabwe: the lost lands 137 5 Mau Mau, FRELIMO and the Zimbabwean guerrilla war: ideology 177 6 Mau Mau, FRELIMO and the guerrilla war: rural class struggle 223 Conclusion: Peasant consciousness in an independent Zimbabwe 284 Appendix 1 Matabeleland since the end of the war 334 Appendix 2 Peasant religion in contemporary Zimbabwe 339 Sources and select bibliography 345 Index of Themes 367 Index of Names and Places 371 PREFACE In March 1983 1 gave eight lectures in the University of Cambridge at the invitation of the Smuts Trustees who wished in this way to inaugurate an annual Smuts Commonwealth Lecture series. The text of this book, though considerably enlarged, retains the same argumentative sequence as the text of my eight Cambridge lectures. The comparative dimension derives from the terms of the Trustees' invitation. They asked me to draw upon the recent experience of Zimbabwe in order to predict what might happen in South Africa. Prudently I declined this proposal. But I thought that I had better suggest another comparative approach, though this time a comparison of what had already happened rather than of what might happen in the future. I had noticed from 1976 onwards an increasing number of articles which compared events and prospects in Zimbabwe with what had taken place in Kenya and Mozambique. It seemed to me that it would be interesting to set my own recent research on Zimbabwe into this kind of context; to ask how far Zimbabwean historiography could be illuminated by the insights of Kenyan and Mozambican historiography; and to ask how far happenings in Zimbabwe could be regarded as analogous to those in the other two countries.