Katja Uusihakala MEMORY MEANDERS Place, Home and Commemoration in an Ex-Rhodesian Diaspora Community Academic Dissertation to be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki, in Auditorium XII on the 1st of February, 2008, at 12. Katja Uusihakala MEMORY MEANDERS Place, Home and Commemoration in an Ex-Rhodesian Diaspora Community Research Series in Anthropology University of Helsinki Academic Dissertation Research Series in Anthropology University of Helsinki, Finland Distributed by Helsinki University Press P.O. Box 4 (Vuorikatu 3 A) 00014 University of Helsinki Finland fax +358-9-7010 2374 http://www.yliopistopaino.fi Copyright © Katja Uusihakala ISSN 1458-3186 ISBN 978-952-10-4476-2 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-4477-9 (PDF) Helsinki University Printing House 2008 CONTENTS List of Illustrations vii Acknowledgements viii INTRODUCTION 1 “When-We-Were-in-Rhodesia” – a Diasporic Mode of Remembering Together 5 Theorizing Colonialism and Postcolonialism 9 Diaspora and Homeland 15 Place and Landscape 18 On the Field and on Fieldwork 20 Outline of the Dissertation 26 PART I HISTORICAL CONTEXTUALIZATION OF THE EX-RHODESIAN COMMUNITY 27 1. CONQUEST, COMPANY RULE AND SELF-GOVERNMENT 27 “Founding” Rhodesia: The British South Africa Company Rule (1890-1923) 27 Responsible Government (1923- 1953) 31 Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953-1963) 34 2. THE END OF RHODESIA 35 The Unilateral Declaration of Independence 35 The War Years 38 Living through the war 39 The Independence 43 White Emigration in the 1980’s 44 PART II GOD’S OWN COUNTRY 51 Prologue 51 Introduction 60 1. A PLACE IN THE BUSH 63 “The Mountains Had Lost None of their Presence” 63 “The Land Is Calling” 70 2. UNTANGLING THE BUSH 78 The Idea of Wilderness 78 Colonial Wilderness 80 Open country? 83 The pioneer path through “open country” 86 The Bush as a Moral Guide 90 Rural values 90 Spiritual land 93 Conclusion 96 PART III “ALMOST LIKE HOME” 99 Introduction 99 1. REMEMBERING THE HOME THAT WAS 103 “And then the Bell Would Ring” – at Kevin’s Place 103 The Wholesome Home 106 Family background 106 The colonial home 107 “The Full Regalia” – Organization of Time and Space at Home 112 Building house 112 “We love brass, good brass, old brass.” The interior decor of civilization 116 The exterior decor – the garden 119 Like clockwork – the routine ways of home 122 2. “ALMOST LIKE HOME” 127 Taking the Gap 127 Bringing Homes on Their Backs 132 Packing belongings 132 Unpacking home 138 “We’ve All Got the Same Things” 145 Conclusion: The Almostness of Home 150 PART IV COMMEMORATING COMMUNITY 153 Introduction 153 1. A DIASPORA ORGANIZATION 155 Rhodesians Worldwide 155 RASA: The Rhodesian Association in South Africa 156 History 156 Membership 159 Branches 161 2. A SOCIAL FOOD EVENT – MAKING A MORAL COMMUNITY 164 Bring and Braai 164 Jo-burg braai 164 Maritzburg braai 166 Bring and Braai as a Social Food Event 168 Commemorative Food 174 Eating Together – Hospitality Reconsidered 179 3. RE-ENACTMENT OF A HISTORICAL EVENT – COMMEMORATING COMMUNITY 189 Rhodesianaland 189 The flag raising ceremony 194 Remembering Together 197 Commemoration as mnemonic practice 197 Pilgrimage site or tracing Rhodesia 201 Re-enactment 205 Conclusion 209 CONCLUSION 211 Appendix 1: Population Statistics 216 Appendix 2: Maps 219 Glossary 221 References 223 Name Index 250 vii List of Illustrations Picture 1: Rhodes’ grave at the Matopos 51 Picture 2: Kevin emigrates 128 Picture 3: Taking the gap 133 Picture 4: Marjorie’s lounge 142 Picture 5: Stuart’s altar of memorabilia 146 Picture 6: Felix’s altar of two home countries 148 Picture 7: Braai-ing sausages 164 Picture 8: “Welcome to Rhodesianaland.” 189 Sources: Pictures 2 and 8 by informants. Picture 3: Bolze, Louis and Rose Martin 1978. The Whenwes of Rhodesia. Bulawayo: Books of Rhodesia. Pictures 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7 by Katja Uusihakala. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During this research I have been inspired, guided and supported by many people and institutions. My fieldwork in South Africa was funded by the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala, Sweden and by the Finnish Cultural Foundation. The research was further funded by the Research Foundation of the University of Helsinki, by the Sasakawa Foundation and by the Alfred Kordelin Foundation. I want to offer my sincere gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Jukka Siikala and Professor Karen Armstrong. Professor Siikala has been an encouraging source of scholarly inspiration throughout the course of this research. With critical comments but also with persistent support and perceptive insight he has pushed me further to deepen my thinking and analysis. Professor Armstrong has followed the work closely offering astute and sensitive suggestions all the way through. She has shared her personal interest and engagement in issues of place and memory, which have greatly invigorated and guided my study. Most importantly, I thank them both for their unyielding passion and love for anthropology that they have conveyed to their students. I also want to thank my preliminary examiners, Professor Blair Rutherford and Dr. Harri Englund whose constructive criticism and encouraging observations helped me to clarify my thinking and writing. I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all the teachers, researchers, staff and students at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Helsinki. I especially want to thank Dr. Anna-Maria Tapaninen, my teacher, colleague and a friend, for inspiration and unwavering support. With fellow post-graduate students we have shared similar experiences of dissertation writing, moments of agony and joy. I am grateful for having been able to walk this long road alongside with Petra Autio and Siru Aura, whose backing and friendship I have relied on. Marianna Keisalo- Galván has kindly assisted me in language edition. I thank you all. In the course of this research, I have had the privilege of receiving comments from and sharing inspiring discussions with many distinguished scholars. I thank Professor Richard Werbner for stimulating conversations and encouragement and Professor Jean Comaroff for sharing her anthropological and regional knowledge and giving me valuable advice. Professor Charles Piot’s observant and generous comments are also much appreciated. When I was still an undergraduate student planning my fieldwork in Kenya, I was once advised to “talk to Terry because he knows everything.” I was fortunate to “talk to Terry” – Professor Terence Ranger – during my fieldwork, when I took part in two conferences focusing on landscape and memory in Southern Africa. Subsequently, Professor Ranger also carefully read the entire manuscript of the dissertation sharing his vast knowledge on ix Zimbabwe and offering erudite and perceptive comments, for which I am thankful. Those conferences, first one at Botha’s Hill in South Africa and the second in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, were profoundly inspiring. They gave me an invaluable break from fieldwork and helped me to put my own research in perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed the enlightening discussions – both academic and social – with the Southern African scholars. I particularly want to thank Dr. Liz Gunner and Dr. Neville Smith for inviting me to the conferences. Dr. Smith was also extremely helpful at the initial stages of this research. In addition to making valuable suggestions regarding the research, he also assisted in practical matters, including finding us very convenient and comfortable accommodation. For that and for the hospitality of his family I remain deeply indebted. I owe my greatest thanks to the former Rhodesians in South Africa, too many to be mentioned here by name, who so warm-heartedly and generously welcomed me to their homes and lives. Thanks are especially due to John Redfern and his family, who in so many ways facilitated my entry to the field. The Gibsons, my “extended family,” made me feel at home from day one. For their comfort, affection and friendship I am more than grateful. Finally, I want to thank all my friends and family members for their encouragement and reassurance throughout the research process. My parents, Eeva and Mauri Uusihakala, first took our family to Kenya when I was twelve. That experience has fundamentally shaped and guided the paths I have taken ever since. Most importantly, I offer my gratitude to my immediate family for their tolerance through the seemingly endless project. To my spouse, Turkka Turunen, any words of gratitude would be insufficient. His companionship in the field was crucial. He has solidly infused me with trust in my ability to complete the work at moments when I have been in doubt, in addition to which he has with patience and craft taken care of the layout of the dissertation. Without him, this book, quite concretely, would not exist. My daughter Helmi also accompanied me to the field, very bravely attending a kindergarten in South Africa. My son Lauri’s birth in 2004 gave me an invaluable break from writing. Throughout this process, my children have helped me to keep my feet on the ground, in addition to which they have been a constant source of joy and inspiration. I want to dedicate this book to my grandmother Kaarina Uusihakala, and to the memory of my grandparents Aili and Veikko Hujanen and Urmas Uusihakala, who all passed away while this work has been in process. They have all, in their special ways, taught me about the meanings of place, of home, and about what it means to belong. 1 INTRODUCTION The problem with Rhodesia1 is that it does not exist anymore. There is no going back. When we came here in 1980, we decided that there was no return. We would try to integrate here. And even if we couldn’t integrate, we would try to find a space to live (…) Rhodesia to us was not necessarily a geographical place.