Healing the wounds of war: Memories of violence and the making of history in Zimbabwe's most recent past

Journal of Southern African Studies

Volumn 23, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 301-310

  Schmidt, Heike ^a  

^a HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITY   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

WAR;

ZIMBABWE;

EID: 0031400258     PISSN: 03057070     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03057079708708538     Document Type: Review

References (76)

1. There were a number of articles on the celebrations in Zimbabwe's popular monthly magazine Horizon in September 1993: By T. O. Ranger see 'Healing the Land, Mediums Call for National Cleansing', p. 16 and 23; see also 'Matabeleland Makes Peace With Its Past, pp. 16-17, 19, 'The Pupu Pungwe - A New Way to Mark Heroes' Day, p. 17, 'Lobhengula's [sic] Last Day', p. 18. See also T. O. Ranger, 'Indigenous Ideas: Accounting for Drought, Making Rain and Healing History in Matabeleland, 1992', (ms., Oxford, 1992) and 'Trauma and Testimony: Memories of Terror in Northern Matabeleland', (ms., Oxford, November 1995).
2. There were a number of articles on the celebrations in Zimbabwe's popular monthly magazine Horizon in September 1993: By T. O. Ranger see 'Healing the Land, Mediums Call for National Cleansing', p. 16 and 23; see also 'Matabeleland Makes Peace With Its Past, pp. 16-17, 19, 'The Pupu Pungwe - A New Way to Mark Heroes' Day, p. 17, 'Lobhengula's [sic] Last Day', p. 18. See also T. O. Ranger, 'Indigenous Ideas: Accounting for Drought, Making Rain and Healing History in Matabeleland, 1992', (ms., Oxford, 1992) and 'Trauma and Testimony: Memories of Terror in Northern Matabeleland', (ms., Oxford, November 1995).
3. There were a number of articles on the celebrations in Zimbabwe's popular monthly magazine Horizon in September 1993: By T. O. Ranger see 'Healing the Land, Mediums Call for National Cleansing', p. 16 and 23; see also 'Matabeleland Makes Peace With Its Past, pp. 16-17, 19, 'The Pupu Pungwe - A New Way to Mark Heroes' Day, p. 17, 'Lobhengula's [sic] Last Day', p. 18. See also T. O. Ranger, 'Indigenous Ideas: Accounting for Drought, Making Rain and Healing History in Matabeleland, 1992', (ms., Oxford, 1992) and 'Trauma and Testimony: Memories of Terror in Northern Matabeleland', (ms., Oxford, November 1995).
4. There were a number of articles on the celebrations in Zimbabwe's popular monthly magazine Horizon in September 1993: By T. O. Ranger see 'Healing the Land, Mediums Call for National Cleansing', p. 16 and 23; see also 'Matabeleland Makes Peace With Its Past, pp. 16-17, 19, 'The Pupu Pungwe - A New Way to Mark Heroes' Day, p. 17, 'Lobhengula's [sic] Last Day', p. 18. See also T. O. Ranger, 'Indigenous Ideas: Accounting for Drought, Making Rain and Healing History in Matabeleland, 1992', (ms., Oxford, 1992) and 'Trauma and Testimony: Memories of Terror in Northern Matabeleland', (ms., Oxford, November 1995).
5. There were a number of articles on the celebrations in Zimbabwe's popular monthly magazine Horizon in September 1993: By T. O. Ranger see 'Healing the Land, Mediums Call for National Cleansing', p. 16 and 23; see also 'Matabeleland Makes Peace With Its Past, pp. 16-17, 19, 'The Pupu Pungwe - A New Way to Mark Heroes' Day, p. 17, 'Lobhengula's [sic] Last Day', p. 18. See also T. O. Ranger, 'Indigenous Ideas: Accounting for Drought, Making Rain and Healing History in Matabeleland, 1992', (ms., Oxford, 1992) and 'Trauma and Testimony: Memories of Terror in Northern Matabeleland', (ms., Oxford, November 1995).
6. There were a number of articles on the celebrations in Zimbabwe's popular monthly magazine Horizon in September 1993: By T. O. Ranger see 'Healing the Land, Mediums Call for National Cleansing', p. 16 and 23; see also 'Matabeleland Makes Peace With Its Past, pp. 16-17, 19, 'The Pupu Pungwe - A New Way to Mark Heroes' Day, p. 17, 'Lobhengula's [sic] Last Day', p. 18. See also T. O. Ranger, 'Indigenous Ideas: Accounting for Drought, Making Rain and Healing History in Matabeleland, 1992', (ms., Oxford, 1992) and 'Trauma and Testimony: Memories of Terror in Northern Matabeleland', (ms., Oxford, November 1995).
7. T. O. Ranger, 'Afterword: War, Violence and Healing in Zimbabwe', Journal of Southern African Studies 18, 3 (1992).
8. For more details see, H. Schmidt, 'The Social and Economic Impact of Political Violence in Zimbabwe, 1890-1990; A Case Study of the Honde Valley' (DPhil Thesis, Oxford, 1996), chap. 6.
9. Ibid. See also H. Schmidt, 'Love and Healing in Forced Communities: Borderlands in Zimbabwe's War of Liberation', in A. I. Asiwaju and P. Nugent (eds), African Boundaries: Barriers, Conduits and Opportunities (London, 1996), pp. 183-204.
10. Lan suggested childlessness as a third reason for a deceased person to become a ngozi. D. Lan, Guns and Rain, Guerrillas and Spirit Mediums in Zimbabwe (Harare, 1985), p. 35.
11. Hannan, Standard Shona Dictionary (Harare, 1987). For ngozi deriving from killing during the Chimurenga, see P. Reynolds, 'Children of Tribulation: The Need to Heal and the Means to Heal War Trauma', Africa, 60, 1 (1990), pp. 1-38; Lan, Guns and Rain; and R. Werbner, Tears of the Dead, The Social Biography of an African Family (Edinburgh, 1991; republished Harare, 1992), pp. 151-6, 188-90. For a brief definition see, P. Fry, Spirits of Protest, Spirit-mediums and the Articulation of Consensus among the Zezuru of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) (Cambridge, 1976), note 6, p. 129. Similar beliefs are held throughout the region.
12. Hannan, Standard Shona Dictionary (Harare, 1987). For ngozi deriving from killing during the Chimurenga, see P. Reynolds, 'Children of Tribulation: The Need to Heal and the Means to Heal War Trauma', Africa, 60, 1 (1990), pp. 1-38; Lan, Guns and Rain; and R. Werbner, Tears of the Dead, The Social Biography of an African Family (Edinburgh, 1991; republished Harare, 1992), pp. 151-6, 188-90. For a brief definition see, P. Fry, Spirits of Protest, Spirit-mediums and the Articulation of Consensus among the Zezuru of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) (Cambridge, 1976), note 6, p. 129. Similar beliefs are held throughout the region.
13. Hannan, Standard Shona Dictionary (Harare, 1987). For ngozi deriving from killing during the Chimurenga, see P. Reynolds, 'Children of Tribulation: The Need to Heal and the Means to Heal War Trauma', Africa, 60, 1 (1990), pp. 1-38; Lan, Guns and Rain; and R. Werbner, Tears of the Dead, The Social Biography of an African Family (Edinburgh, 1991; republished Harare, 1992), pp. 151-6, 188-90. For a brief definition see, P. Fry, Spirits of Protest, Spirit-mediums and the Articulation of Consensus among the Zezuru of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) (Cambridge, 1976), note 6, p. 129. Similar beliefs are held throughout the region.
14. Hannan, Standard Shona Dictionary (Harare, 1987). For ngozi deriving from killing during the Chimurenga, see P. Reynolds, 'Children of Tribulation: The Need to Heal and the Means to Heal War Trauma', Africa, 60, 1 (1990), pp. 1-38; Lan, Guns and Rain; and R. Werbner, Tears of the Dead, The Social Biography of an African Family (Edinburgh, 1991; republished Harare, 1992), pp. 151-6, 188-90. For a brief definition see, P. Fry, Spirits of Protest, Spirit-mediums and the Articulation of Consensus among the Zezuru of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) (Cambridge, 1976), note 6, p. 129. Similar beliefs are held throughout the region.
15. Hannan, Standard Shona Dictionary (Harare, 1987). For ngozi deriving from killing during the Chimurenga, see P. Reynolds, 'Children of Tribulation: The Need to Heal and the Means to Heal War Trauma', Africa, 60, 1 (1990), pp. 1-38; Lan, Guns and Rain; and R. Werbner, Tears of the Dead, The Social Biography of an African Family (Edinburgh, 1991; republished Harare, 1992), pp. 151-6, 188-90. For a brief definition see, P. Fry, Spirits of Protest, Spirit-mediums and the Articulation of Consensus among the Zezuru of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) (Cambridge, 1976), note 6, p. 129. Similar beliefs are held throughout the region.
16. D. Lan, 'Resistance to the Present by the Past: Mediums and Money in Zimbabwe', in J. Parry and M. Bloch. (eds), Money and the Morality of Exchange (Cambridge, 1989), p. 194.
17. Lan, Guns and Rain, pp. 151-153 and Lan, 'Resistance to the Present by the Past', p. 205. For differing interpretations, see M. Spierenburg, The Role of the Mhondoro Cult in the Struggle for Control over Land in Dande (Northern Zimbabwe), Social Commentaries and the Influence of Adherents, Centre for Applied Social Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Occasional Paper Series (Harare, 1995) and M. F. C. Bourdillon, 'Guns and Rain: Taking Structural Analysis Too Far?', Africa, 57, 2 (1987), pp. 263-274.
18. Lan, Guns and Rain, pp. 151-153 and Lan, 'Resistance to the Present by the Past', p. 205. For differing interpretations, see M. Spierenburg, The Role of the Mhondoro Cult in the Struggle for Control over Land in Dande (Northern Zimbabwe), Social Commentaries and the Influence of Adherents, Centre for Applied Social Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Occasional Paper Series (Harare, 1995) and M. F. C. Bourdillon, 'Guns and Rain: Taking Structural Analysis Too Far?', Africa, 57, 2 (1987), pp. 263-274.
19. Lan, Guns and Rain, pp. 151-153 and Lan, 'Resistance to the Present by the Past', p. 205. For differing interpretations, see M. Spierenburg, The Role of the Mhondoro Cult in the Struggle for Control over Land in Dande (Northern Zimbabwe), Social Commentaries and the Influence of Adherents, Centre for Applied Social Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Occasional Paper Series (Harare, 1995) and M. F. C. Bourdillon, 'Guns and Rain: Taking Structural Analysis Too Far?', Africa, 57, 2 (1987), pp. 263-274.
20. Lan, Guns and Rain, pp. 151-153 and Lan, 'Resistance to the Present by the Past', p. 205. For differing interpretations, see M. Spierenburg, The Role of the Mhondoro Cult in the Struggle for Control over Land in Dande (Northern Zimbabwe), Social Commentaries and the Influence of Adherents, Centre for Applied Social Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Occasional Paper Series (Harare, 1995) and M. F. C. Bourdillon, 'Guns and Rain: Taking Structural Analysis Too Far?', Africa, 57, 2 (1987), pp. 263-274.
21. Interview with BRMO, 15 August 1992. Interestingly, when the interview was transcribed, the saying was translated more elaborately as 'In war, foul is fair - so nothing haunts those who come out unscathed'. See also, Reynolds, 'Children of Tribulation', p. 14. For all interviewees cited, acronyms are used consisting of four capitals. The third capital indicates the sex of the interviewee, i.e. male or female and the fourth capital indicates the age, i.e. young, middle-aged or old.
22. Interview with BBMM, a chief, 15 August 1992; interview with DDFY, 7 November 1992.
23. Interview with CPMY, 7 October 1992.
24. Ibid.
25. The 'truth commission' in South Africa is currently facing this very problem, as one of its central tasks is to distinguish between criminal and political violence.
26. Interview with BRMO, 15 August 1992.
27. Ibid.
28. N. Kriger, Zimbabwe's Guerrilla War: Peasant Voices (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 179-86.
29. Interview with BBMM, 15 August 1992. See also, interview with BHFM, 8 October 1992.
30. N. Kriger, 'Popular Struggles in Zimbabwe's War of National Liberation', in P. Kaarsholm (ed), Cultural Struggle and Development in Southern Africa (Harare, 1991), p. 127.
31. Interview with CPMY, 7 October 1992. It is frequently recounted that other members of the communities were forced or encouraged to join in the beating and killing of alleged sell-outs and witches. Another ex-combatant, on the other hand, related with fervour how he had participated in torturing and killing a chief who was accused of being a sell-out-cum-witch. He emphasised that this was done in the presence of the assembled community. Interview with CIMM, 7 October 1992.
32. Interview with DDFY, 7 November 1992. See also Reynolds, 'Children of Tribulation', pp. 10-12. For cleansing and healing in Matabeleland, see, Werbner, Tears of the Dead, Ranger, 'Indigenous Ideas ', and J. Brickhill, 'Making Peace with the Past: War Victims and the Work of the Mafela Trust', in N. Bhebe and T. O. Ranger (eds), Soldiers in Zimbabwe's Liberation War (London, 1995), pp. 163-73.
33. Interview with DDFY, 7 November 1992. See also Reynolds, 'Children of Tribulation', pp. 10-12. For cleansing and healing in Matabeleland, see, Werbner, Tears of the Dead, Ranger, 'Indigenous Ideas ', and J. Brickhill, 'Making Peace with the Past: War Victims and the Work of the Mafela Trust', in N. Bhebe and T. O. Ranger (eds), Soldiers in Zimbabwe's Liberation War (London, 1995), pp. 163-73.
34. Interview with DDFY, 7 November 1992. See also Reynolds, 'Children of Tribulation', pp. 10-12. For cleansing and healing in Matabeleland, see, Werbner, Tears of the Dead, Ranger, 'Indigenous Ideas ', and J. Brickhill, 'Making Peace with the Past: War Victims and the Work of the Mafela Trust', in N. Bhebe and T. O. Ranger (eds), Soldiers in Zimbabwe's Liberation War (London, 1995), pp. 163-73.
35. Interview with DDFY, 7 November 1992. See also Reynolds, 'Children of Tribulation', pp. 10-12. For cleansing and healing in Matabeleland, see, Werbner, Tears of the Dead, Ranger, 'Indigenous Ideas ', and J. Brickhill, 'Making Peace with the Past: War Victims and the Work of the Mafela Trust', in N. Bhebe and T. O. Ranger (eds), Soldiers in Zimbabwe's Liberation War (London, 1995), pp. 163-73.
36. Interview with ANMM, an ex-combatant, 21 October 1992 and AQMM, 7 February 1992. The relationship between guerrillas, mujibhas, and villagers are central to a number of novels about the Chimurenga, for a particularly useful account, see P. Hotz, Muzukuru, A Guerrilla's Story (Johannesburg, 1990).
37. Interview with BHFM, 8 October 1992.
38. For a more general treatment of healing practices, see, G. L. Chavunduka, Traditional Medicine in Modern Zimbabwe (Harare, 1994) and P. Reynolds, Traditional Healers and Childhood in Zimbabwe (Athens/Ohio, 1996).
39. For a more general treatment of healing practices, see, G. L. Chavunduka, Traditional Medicine in Modern Zimbabwe (Harare, 1994) and P. Reynolds, Traditional Healers and Childhood in Zimbabwe (Athens/Ohio, 1996).
40. Interview with BBMM, 15 August 1992. Jeater discussed comprehensively throughout her book the issue of girl pledging and colonial attempts to suppress this practice, but does not mention pledging as compensation in cases of affliction. See D. Jeater, Marriage, Perversion, and Power, The Construction of Moral Discourse in Southern Rhodesia 1894-1930 (Oxford, 1993).
41. See, for example, Reynolds, 'Children of Tribulation', pp. 14-15.
42. Interview with BBMM, 15 August 1992.
43. Ibid.
44. The following account is based on an interview with ATMO, 8 August 1992.
45. Interview with DDFY, 7 November 1992, AZMM, 18 September 1993 and 19 September 1993, and BKFY, 18 September 1993.
46. Interview with CIMM, 7 October 1992; also interview with ARMO, 3 October 1992. 31 Interview with ATMO, 8 August 1992.
47. Interview with BBMM, 15 August 1992.
48. Ranger, 'Afterword', p. 705.
49. Interview with BXMY, 23 August 1992.
50. Interview with BKFY, 23 August 1992, BWFM, 23 August 1992, and BHFM, 3 August 1992.
51. Interview with BPMO, 13 August 1992. In fact possession practices are also found in other churches.
52. Interview with DIMY, 18 September 1993.
53. Interview with COMO, 6 October 1992.
54. Interview with CRMO, 7 October 1992. Frequently, western medicine is also drawn upon: interview with AHFY, 19 October 1992 and 12 September 1993.
55. For a different view, see Reid who argued that chikwambo and ngozi are 'different names for the same type of spirit'. He argued that 'it is called Chikwambo in Manicaland and ngozi in other parts of the country'. Reid Papers, 'The Witch (Muroyi)', n.d. [1977?]. For a different interpretation of chikwambo as shave and chikwambo n'anga, see, M. Gelfand, S. Mavi, R. B. Drummond, and B. Ndemera, The Traditional Medical Practitioner in Zimbabwe, His Principles of Practice and Pharmacopoeia (Harare, 1985), pp. 71-2.
56. Interview with DDFY, 7 November 1992; also interview with CGFY, 5 October 1992 and BFFY, 30 July 1992. For a ngozi case which lasted from the 1910s to the late 1960s, during which period a number of girls were pledged, see District Administrator's Office, Mutasa District, PER5 Chief Mutasa, DC Inyanga to DC Umtali, 22 January 1969 and for a case which lasted from the 1940s to 1970s, see Reid Papers, The Witch (Muroyi)'.
57. Hannan, Standard Shona Dictionary.
58. Lan, Guns and Rain, p. 38.
59. The same is the case with madzviti. Interview with BFFY, 30 July 1992. See also H. Schmidt, 'Neither War Nor Peace, Making Sense of Violence', in G. Elwert, S. Feuchtwang and D. Neubert (eds), Dynamics of Violence, Processes of Escalation and De-escalation of Violent Group Conflicts (forthcoming).
60. Interview with DIMY, 18 September 1993 and DDFY, 7 November 1992. For comparative literature on cults and female status in East Africa, see L. L. Giles, 'Possession Cults on the Swahili Coast: A Re-examination of Theories of Marginality', Africa, 57, 2 (1987), pp. 234-257 and I. Berger, 'Fertility as Power: Spirit Mediums, Priestesses and the Precolonial State in Interlacustrine East Africa', in D. M. Anderson and D. H. Johnson (eds), Revealing Prophets, Prophecy in Eastern African History (London, 1995), pp. 65-82.
61. Interview with DIMY, 18 September 1993 and DDFY, 7 November 1992. For comparative literature on cults and female status in East Africa, see L. L. Giles, 'Possession Cults on the Swahili Coast: A Re-examination of Theories of Marginality', Africa, 57, 2 (1987), pp. 234-257 and I. Berger, 'Fertility as Power: Spirit Mediums, Priestesses and the Precolonial State in Interlacustrine East Africa', in D. M. Anderson and D. H. Johnson (eds), Revealing Prophets, Prophecy in Eastern African History (London, 1995), pp. 65-82.
62. Interview with DDFY, 7 November 1992.
63. Ibid.
64. Interview with BRMO, 15 August 1992. It is not clear whether, and if, women who were killed manifest themselves as ngozi or shave spirits. For literary treatment of the problem, see, A. Kanengoni, 'The Wo(man) in the Mirror', in A. Kanengoni, Effortless Tears (Harare, 1993), pp. 101-106.
65. Interview with DDFY, 7 November 1992 and BFFY, 30 July 1992.
66. Interview with DDFY, 7 November 1992. Another woman maintained that the children have the totem and name of their mother: interview with BFFY, 30 July, 1992.
67. Ibid.
68. It became apparent how daring the woman was in breaking taboos when during the conversation in a small group of women, she appeared to become possessed and began to masturbate. Interview with CGFY, 5 October 1992; Interview with CCFY and CDFY, 5 October 1992.
69. R. Gaidzanwa, 'Women's Land Rights in Zimbabwe', Issue. A Journal of Opinion, 22, 2 (1994), pp. 12-16 and D. Pankhurst and S. Jacobs, 'Land Tenure, Gender, and Production: The Case of Zimbabwe's Peasantry', in J. Davison (ed), Agriculture, Women, and Land, The African Experience (Boulder, 1988). pp. 202-227.
70. R. Gaidzanwa, 'Women's Land Rights in Zimbabwe', Issue. A Journal of Opinion, 22, 2 (1994), pp. 12-16 and D. Pankhurst and S. Jacobs, 'Land Tenure, Gender, and Production: The Case of Zimbabwe's Peasantry', in J. Davison (ed), Agriculture, Women, and Land, The African Experience (Boulder, 1988). pp. 202-227.
71. Interview with DDFY, 7 November 1992.
72. Interview with BKFY, 17 September 1993 and AZMM, 18 September 1993 and 19 September 1993.
73. Ranger, 'Afterword', p. 705.
74. Ranger himself pointed out that 'it is important to make distinctions between forms of violence'. Ibid., p. 703.
75. Reynolds, 'Children of Tribulation', p. 17.
76. One example is the specificity of memories in healing cases in contrast to the centralised presentation at the national memorial 'Heroes Acre' in Harare where Heroes' Day is commemorated annually. See N. Kriger, 'The Politics of Creating National Heroes: The Search for Political Legitimacy and National Identity', in N. Bhebe and T. O. Ranger (eds), Soldiers in Zimbabwe's Liberation War (London, 1995), pp. 139-162.