CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Unisa Institutional Repository INTERFACE OF HISTORY AND FICTION: THE ZIMBABWEAN LIBERATION WAR NOVEL By ITAI MUWATI UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA NOVEMBER 2009 INTERFACE OF HISTORY AND FICTION: THE ZIMBABWEAN LIBERATION WAR NOVEL By ITAI MUWATI submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject of African Languages at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF D E MUTASA JOINT SUPERVISOR: DR M L BOPAPE NOVEMBER 2009 DECLARATION Student number: 4310-995-0 I declare that Interface of History and Fiction: The Zimbabwean Liberation War Novel is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. 30 September 2009 Signature Date i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to acknowledge first and foremost, the efforts of and the selflessness shown by my Promoter, Professor Davie E. Mutasa. His encouragement and belief in me made me walk what appeared to be an unwalkable doctoral research journey. I am also very thankful to my Co-Promoter, Doctor Malekutu L. Bopape, who, together with Professor Mutasa, convinced me that I was intellectually tall each time I felt I was short. These two men’s views and expert guidance helped significantly in shaping this thesis. My gratitude also goes to the Financial Aid Bureau (FAB) which offered me a bursary that enabled me to pursue doctoral studies with the University of South Africa. I am further thankful to Professor Zifikile Gambahaya, my mentor and colleague, who allowed me unfettered access to her library and other resources. I am also grateful to my long time comrade-in-arms, Tavengwa Chinyuku Gwekwerere, who thoroughly edited my final draft and made very useful comments and suggestions. My selfless brother Eventhough Ndlovu inexhaustibly assisted me in translating Ndebele novels and transcending certain enigmatic experiences. For this kind of unexampled love, I am forever grateful man. I also thank my junior brother, Paul Muhwati, who carried out interviews for me in Mhondoro. Equally, I also want to thank Loveson Gopo for assisting me in the initial stages of the research. I am also thankful to all the Zimbabwean writers and editors who responded to my questionnaires as well as those who managed to set aside part of their precious time for an interview with me. It would be very unfair for me not to express my gratitude to Veronica Kunaka who assisted me in ways too numerous to mention here. Last but not least, I would like to thank all the people with whom I shared ideas. Having paid homage to all these benefactors, I must evoke the memory of two men whose teachings have made a lasting impression in my life. The first, of course, is my late father, Peter Muhwati, a barber and general hand, who with his very very little income persevered in order for me to see many doors at school. His many sacrifices are the reason why I am where I am today and where I will go tomorrow. My father’s reincarnation at the intellectual level is none other than the late Professor Emmanuel Mudhliwa Chiwome, the master teacher and moulder of minds who shaped my ii intellectual world. I owe my manhood to the teachings and principles of life imparted by these two men. Wherever you are, Peace be your home my fathers! Above everything else, thank you, God, my maker. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to the love of my heart, Euritah, amai VaMasimba, with whom I have shared the worst including losing two lovely sons in a row, Takunda and his brother we did not have time to name. The cross precedes the crown. Your presence, dear, made possible this research, otherwise I could have resigned. Remember I carried out this research during the hungriest and thirstiest of times in the history of Zimbabwe, but you managed to perform the multiple roles of ‘father’, mother, daughter, daughter-in-law, Barclays Bank employee and the result was of course; our collective buoyancy and my continued focus on this research. I will not forget to also dedicate this research effort to my hardworking, strong and authentic mother, Sarah Lupahla and my dear son, Masimba Elisha. Ndinotenda Baba Jowani vakatenda kutumwa nedare rengirozi mugore ra1931. Ndinotenda zvakare bhaibheri guru rinonzi Matangi riri kuverengwa nhasi munyika yeBudiriro. Iri ibhaibheri rine mabasa makuru nokuti zvakaitwa mhiri kuGalilea zviri kuitwa paMatangi, muZimbabwe. Also special dedication to myself, in particular my autogenous philosophy of struggle and victory that has taught me how to ‘make of every apparent setback a new point of attack, how to use every momentary retreat as an opportunity for a run and leap forward, how to find in defeat the means for victory’. The struggle for life is long. The search for fulfilment and contentment in life is tough but victory over challenges must be the first order of a Shona/African person’s business. iv ABSTRACT The research examines the interface of history and fiction. It predominantly focuses on historical fiction on the Zimbabwean liberation war written in Shona, Ndebele and English and published after the attainment of political independence in 1980. Historical fiction on the liberation war is both biographical and autobiographical. Consequently, the study comes to the conclusion that historical fiction is a veritable stakeholder in the history issue in Zimbabwe. It becomes another type or source of history that cannot be papered over when dealing with the nation’s history. In a nation where liberation war history is not only taken seriously, but is also a vigorously contested terrain, historical fiction becomes part of those discursive contestations, particularly on nation and nationalism. It is in this regard that the study problematises the interface of history and fiction by reasoning that historical fiction published in the early 1980s largely advances a state-centered perspective which views history, nation and nationalism in positive terms. This discourse uses history in order to argue for a single nation that derives its identity from the heroic and symbolic guerrilla characters. Nationalism is exclusively presented as humanising and as being the sole legitimate political brand capable of leading the nation. On the other hand, historical fiction written in English and published in the late 1980s onwards represents alternative historical truths that contest nationalism and debunk official definitions of nation. This discourse leads to the pluralisation of perspectives on nation and nationalism. The focus on historical fiction published in three languages used in Zimbabwe is a conscious attempt to transcend ethnicity in critical scholarship. Discussing novels in Shona, Ndebele and English, which are the three main languages in Zimbabwe, makes it possible for the study to draw reasoned conclusions on the bearing of time, language, region and background among others on historical representation. This undertaking brings to the fore how literature responding to similar historical processes appears moderately conjunctive and principally disjunctive. Correspondingly, it also shows various trends in the development of liberation war fiction in Zimbabwe. v Key terms: Historical fiction; Nationalism; Nation; Liberation war; Contesting representations; Historical representation; Literature Bureau; Zimbabwe/Shona/Ndebele literature; History of violence; History as opposition; History as instrument of hegemony vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... ii Dedication .................................................................................................................. iv Abstract ....................................................................................................................... v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Context and statement of purpose .................................................................... 1 1.2 Aim of the study ................................................................................................ 5 1.2.1 Objectives .............................................................................................. 5 1.2.2 Research questions................................................................................ 6 1.3 Significance of Research .................................................................................. 6 1.4 Research methods.......................................................................................... 10 1.5 Literature review ............................................................................................. 14 1.6 Theoretical framework .................................................................................... 23 1.7 Scope of research .......................................................................................... 26 1.8 Limitations of the study ................................................................................... 27 1.9 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER 2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIBERATION WAR FICTION: A GENERIC PERSPECTIVE ........................................................................................................