THE MOBILE WORKSHOP: MOBILITY, TECHNOLOGY, AND HUMAN- ANIMAL INTERACTION IN GONAREZHOU (NATIONAL PARK), 1850- PRESENT by Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) in The University of Michigan 2008 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Gabrielle Hecht (Chair) Associate Professor Arun Agrawal Associate Professor Nancy Hunt Assistant Professor Rebecca Hardin Professor Mamadou Diouf, Columbia University © Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga 2008 For Mother, Ray, Denny, Lynn, and Carol For Whom This Would Have Been A Celebration, But Came Too Late ii Acknowledgments If there is one word that characterizes this dissertation, it ought to be risk. There are many people and environments that galvanized my determination to try. I would like to express my profound gratitude to a very special mentor, advisor, and dissertation chair, who encouraged me to believe that I was taking the right risk to work at the intersection of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and African Studies. It was Gabrielle Hecht who took the risk to bring me to the University of Michigan. In 2006 when my mother and four siblings passed on, I came very close to quitting the doctoral program. I stayed on because all the dedication, care, and belief that Gabrielle had put into my studies—far too much to even quantify—would have been in vain. I hope this dissertation is an acceptable instalment towards repaying that sacrifice she and her family gave while facing difficulties of their own. I thank the other four members of my dissertation committee: Mamadou Diouf who introduced me to the intellectual discussion around Pan-Africanism and Africanity; Nancy Hunt, for introducing me to debates in the studies of health and healing in Africa; Rebecca Hardin, for sharpening my integration of environment science, anthropology, and history; and Arun Agrawal, for encouraging me in engaging Subaltern Studies—and Foucault. All of you took time to write magical letters of recommendation and grooming me well. Look where I am because of you! I must pay tribute to faculty members who also enabled this dream to become a reality. To Kathleen Canning and Michelle Mitchell, two fine professors forever remembered for that memorable History 615 class of 2003. To David William Cohen, who posed to our 629 class of 2003 that important question: “What are the politics driving each one of you to study African History?” This dissertation must now answer that question. To Joshua Cole, Farina Mir and Jonathan Sheehan, for the privilege of having been a Graduate Student Instructor in those two wonderful Honors Colloquia of 2005 and 2006. And to John Carson and Martin Pernick, for their advice, critiques, and ever-presence in support of my write-up. I wish to thank all those people who ensured that I remained sane when I should have lost my mind. To my dear friends Anneeth Kur Hundle, Sarah Hilliwert, Esabel Cordova, Ken Garner, Kaluke Mawila, Brian Maguranyanga, and Menna Demessie, I just want to say thanks for all the love, support, and belief. This dissertation might not have been possible without the financial support of the following: Andrew W. Mellon Research Fellowship on Migration and Urbanization (Wits University, South Africa 2003-6) as well as multiple internal awards from the University of Michigan: Global Ethnic Literatures Seminar (GELS) Fellowship, Department of Comparative Literature (2007-8); Rackham Dissertation Fellowship, Rackham Graduate School (2007-8); Rackham Humanities Research Candidacy Fellowship (2006-7); Rackham International Research Award, International Institute (2006-7); Melvin and Janey Lack Fellowship, Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies (2006-7); South Africa iii Initiative and African Initiative Travel Grants, Center for Afro-American and African Studies (CAAS) (2004, 2006); Pre-dissertation Research Award, International Institute (2004); Rackham International Travel Grant (2004); and the Institute for Research in Women and Gender (IRWIG) Travel Grant (2004). I would also like to acknowledge the intellectual space the following institutions, seminars and study groups afforded me in the research and write-up: the African History Group, the Science, Technology and Society Colloquium, and Global Ethnic Literatures Seminar (GELS) at the University of Michigan, and WISER (Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research) at Wits. This dissertation owes a major debt of gratitude to the staff of the National Archives of Zimbabwe in Harare—in particular Shepherd Pondiwa—who helped me find every piece of paper I needed. I thank my three research assistants Josphat Gwezhira, Marxwell Zhira, Medial Hove, who went out of their way with minute resources to get me documents and audio-visual recordings when I could not be around. During fieldwork, many people took time off from their daily activities to tell me about their life, wildlife, and cross-border migrations. It would be unfair to thank any individual among the rangers and scouts of Gonarezhou National Parks, the villagers of Sengwe, Chikombedzi, Chibwedziva, and Makuleke and their chiefs. I am happy that this dissertation my answer to the challenge you laid before me at Malipati eight years along: “Can you write what we are telling and showing you so that we too can have a history of our own?” I am the story teller, but you are the real authors of the story. This dissertation owes its existence to Mildred and Cleopatra, the two most important girls in my life, and Chitsidzo-Promise (C-P), my son. It is a fulfillment of a promise I made to you that the risks I was putting you into would be fruitful, even though at a heavy price of not being there when our beloved ones left this world. Like all risks of knowledge, there are costs, but the eye must always be cast on the ultimate prize. iv Table Of Contents Dedication……………………………………………………………………… ii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………. iii List of Figures…………………………………………………………………. vi List of Abbreviations……………………………………………….…………. vii Abstract………………………………………………………………………… viii Chapter Introduction………………………………………………………………… 1 1 The Mobile Workshop…………………………………………………. 30 2 The Technological Junction……………………………………………. 87 3 Weapons of Mass Acquisition…………………………………………. 144 4 Transgressing Temporal and Spatial Boundaries……………………… 182 5 Poachers of Game……………………………………………………… 241 6 Tsetse Allies…………………………………………………………… 299 7 Pests unto the State……………………………………………………… 341 Conclusion: The State as a Pest in People’s Lives…………………………… 398 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………….. 417 v List of Figures Figure 1. Mobility, Portable Identities, and the Claiming of Space, 1500-1889…… 35 2. The chief’s Right to the Ground Tusk…………………………………… 72 3. An Elephant’s Footprint…………………………………………………. 82 4. A Trap-Gun……………………………………………………………… 85 5. The Technological Junction……………………………………………… 90 6. Pathways to the TransLimpopo Hunting Grounds………………………. 91 7. Interactions of Humans, Technology, Prey, and Space………………….. 95 8. The European Mobile Workshop Anchors in the Village………………... 126 9. The Devastation of the Rinderpest in 1896-7……………………………. 191 10. Bvekenya Barnard and his Biographer…………………………………... 193 11. A Tsetse Fly……………………………………………………………. 300 12. A Variation of Martini Henry Rifle…………………………………….. 347 13. Budget for Rewards to Farmers who Slaughtered ‘Vermin’ 1929-34….. 349 14. Spraying Pests…………………………………………………………... 364 15. A Cartoonist’s Depiction of the ‘Election Campaign’ (left) and the Meaning of a ‘Run Off Election’ in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe…............. 412 vi List of Abbreviations BSA British South Africa (Company/Police) CCJP Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace CDC Civil Defense Committee CID Criminal Investigations Department CIO Central Intelligence Organization CNC Chief Native Commissioner CVS Chief Veterinary Surgeon DAL Department of Agriculture and Lands DC District Commissioner DDF District Development Fund DDT Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane DM District Messenger, later District Assistant (DA) DNPWLM Department of National Parks and Wild Life Management FMD Foot and Mouth Disease FRELIMO Frente de Libertação de Moçambique HDM Head District Messenger ICA Intensive Conservation Area JOC Joint Operations Command LOMA Law and Order Maintenance Act MAPU Mobile Anti-Poaching Unit, formerly APU MDC Movement for Democratic Change NADA Native Affairs Department Annual NAZ National Archives of Zimbabwe NPA Native (later African) Purchase Area PACU Problem Animal Control Unit PV Protected Village RENAMO Resistëncia Nacional Moçambicana RSF Rhodesian Security Forces R$ Rhodesian Dollar, later Zimbabwe Dollar (Z$) SNC Special Native Constable TTL Tribal Trust Lands, formerly Native Reserve VCU Vermin Control Unit WENELA Witwatersrand Native Labor Association ZANLA Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army ZANU Zimbabwe African National Union, later Zanu (PF) ZAPU Zimbabwe African People’s Union ZIPRA Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army ZNA Zimbabwe National Army ZRP Zimbabwe Republic Police vii ABSTRACT THE MOBILE WORKSHOP: MOBILITY, TECHNOLOGY, AND HUMAN- ANIMAL INTERACTION IN GONAREZHOU (NATIONAL PARK), 1850- PRESENT by Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga Chair: Gabrielle Hecht The dissertation investigates the role of mobility in the interactions of people, technology, and nature in Gonarezhou National Park in southeastern Zimbabwe for the last 150 years. It concentrates on the movement of three specific actors. First, it examines the movement of people such as state administrators,