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Zimbabwe's severe crisis - and a possible way out of it with a
transitional government, and the new era for which it prepares the
ground - demands a coherent scholarly response. 'Progress' can be
employed as an organising theme across many disciplinary approaches
to Zimbabwe's societal devastation. At wider levels too, the
concept of progress is fitting. It underpins 'modern', 'liberal'
and 'radical' perspectives of development pervading the social
sciences and humanities. Yet perceptions of 'progress' are subject
increasingly to intensive critical inquiry. Their gruesome end is
signified in the political projects of Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF.
John Gray's Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of
Utopia indicates this. It is expected that participants will engage
directly in debates about how the idea of 'progress' has informed
their disciplines - from political science and history to labour
and agrarian studies, and then relate these arguments to the
Zimbabwean case in general and their research in particular. This
book was published as a special issue of the Journal of
Contemporary African Studies.
Zimbabwe's severe crisis - and a possible way out of it with a
transitional government, and the new era for which it prepares the
ground - demands a coherent scholarly response. 'Progress' can be
employed as an organising theme across many disciplinary approaches
to Zimbabwe's societal devastation. At wider levels too, the
concept of progress is fitting. It underpins 'modern', 'liberal'
and 'radical' perspectives of development pervading the social
sciences and humanities. Yet perceptions of 'progress' are subject
increasingly to intensive critical inquiry. Their gruesome end is
signified in the political projects of Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF.
John Gray's Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of
Utopia indicates this. It is expected that participants will engage
directly in debates about how the idea of 'progress' has informed
their disciplines - from political science and history to labour
and agrarian studies, and then relate these arguments to the
Zimbabwean case in general and their research in particular. This
book was published as a special issue of the Journal of
Contemporary African Studies.
e defeat of ZANU-PF in the 2008 parliamentary election marked the
end of one-party rule in Zimbabwe. The Global Political Agreement
signed later that resulted in a Government of National Unity, and
the former ruling party was, for the first time, faced with the
reality of sharing power. The Hard Road to Reform presents a
penetrating analysis of developments since the GNU was established,
reviewing recent political history from a range of perspectives -
political, economic, social and historical, and featuring the best
work of Zimbabwe's young scholars.
Becoming Zimbabwe is the first comprehensive history of Zimbabwe,
spanning the years from 850 to 2008. In 1997, the then Secretary
General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Morgan
Tsvangirai, expressed the need for a 'more open and critical
process of writing history in Zimbabwe. ...The history of a
nation-in-the-making should not be reduced to a selective heroic
tradition, but should be a tolerant and continuing process of
questioning and re-examination.' Becoming Zimbabwe tracks the idea
of national belonging and citizenship and explores the nature of
state rule, the changing contours of the political economy, and the
regional and international dimensions of the country's history. In
their Introduction, Brian Raftopoulos and Alois Mlambo enlarge on
these themes, and Gerald Mazarire's opening chapter sets the
pre-colonial background. Sabelo Ndlovu tracks the history up to
WW11, and Alois Mlambo reviews developments in the settler economy
and the emergence of nationalism leading to UDI in 1965. The
politics and economics of the UDI period, and the subsequent war of
liberation, are covered by Joesph Mtisi, Munyaradzi Nyakudya and
Teresa Barnes. After independence in 1980, Zimbabwe enjoyed a
period of buoyancy and hope. James Muzondidya's chapter details the
transition 'from buoyancy to crisis', and Brian Raftopoulos
concludes the book with an analysis of the decade-long crisis and
the global political agreement which followed.
Developing a Transformation Agenda for Zimbabwe analyses the
political and economic constraints on the nation's reconstruction
and democratic transformation and suggests options for
transformation in key sectors as well as lessons learnt from other
transformations. The challenges in relation to transitional justice
are analysed from an historical context as well as in light of the
political dynamics in the country. The urgent need to launch a
stabilisation programme is discussed, along with key issues for
economic reconstruction. The book also looks at military
involvement in politics in Zimbabwe and concludes that robust
intervention is needed to reform the security sector.
In the struggles for democratisation that emerged in the late 1980s
and 1990s in Africa, labour movements often played a central role
in the development of opposition politics. This book examines the
emergence of labour as a strong organisational and political force
in the struggles against an increasingly authoritarian state in
Zimbabwe. Written by specialists in the labour movement from a
variety of different perspectives, the chapters discuss the
political, economic, global, organisational, legal, gender and
sectoral challenges faced by the Zimbabwean labour movement in its
move from the margins of liberation movement politics to a pivotal
role in the post-colonial struggle for a more responsible and
accountable civil society and government.
The dramatic changes in Zimbabwe's economic, political and social
landscapes since the 2000 elections - referred to as the 'Zimbabwe
crisis' - have raised complex critical questions at national,
regional and international levels. This work addresses these
points, by focusing on the shifting discourses about, and
relationsips between land, state and citizenship. It argues that
these changing definitions and dynamics, and their implications,
can best be understood in terms of a number of overlapping,
complete and incomplete projects of transformations; or as
'unfinished business'
Zimbabwe: Injustice and Political Reconciliation brings together an
array of commentators who chart patterns of historical injustice
and consider a range of options for what may be termed a politics
of justice and reconciliation, with the ultimate goal of
sustainable peace. Justice is explored as an inclusive, restorative
process. Reconciliation is understood as a political strategy to
build civic trust, a human rights culture and economic
transformation. The contributors stress the need for careful
thought, listening, generosity of spirit and courageous action.
Equally, they demand concrete goals, and a pragmatic approach that
views reconciliation as the only alternative to more
authoritarianism and violence in the face of a violent and divided
history.
The growing scholarship on urban historiography in Zimbabwe is
neither widely published, nor particularly well known. The editors
have here gathered the scattered and growing work on urban history
into a representative volume, displaying the diversity of work that
is available. The essays show that the study of urban history in
Zimbabwe brings into focus a wide array of subjects: the spaces
which were created for Africans in the urbanisation process; the
contradictory responses of the colonial state; the effects of
rural- urban linkages on labour organisation; and the struggles
over the mapping of the city along racial, class and gender lines.
The editors argue that the problems faced by colonial
administrators continue to face their post-colonial counterparts,
but in exacerbated form.
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