Name: Shingi Mavima

College: Michigan State University

Discipline: African American and African Studies

Module Title: “Popular Expressions of Nationalism in Zimbabwe”

Narrative Description of the Module: Contemporary discourse surrounding nationalism in Africa focuses overwhelmingly on the political leaders, their apparent tyranny and the resulting failure of their nation states. This not only robs the communities of Africa, in their endless diversity and individuality- of due agency, but also plays into long-held reductionist understandings of Africa and its nations.

Using Zimbabwe as a site of analysis, this module demonstrates how the people of Zimbabwe, in their different communities, have expressed their sense of national identity with an emphasis on the colonial and post-colonial eras. Various popular expressions will be studied: including larger phenomena by which people organize themselves such as religion, unions, militancy and political parties (macro-expressions), as well as the more specific expressions employ from within or outside the lenses of these organized spaces, and these include music, theatre, literature, protest (micro-expressions)

We will begin by defining “popular expressions” for the purposes of the module. This will be an interactive exercise in which the students debate what is and what isn’t, and ultimately define the operational understanding of popular expressions.

We then proceed with a look at pre-colonial Zimbabwe, shedding light on the Mutapa and Rozvi Empires, as well as the Mfecane disturbances that shaped notions of identity in the region before the advent of European colonialism

Thereafter, students will learn about early colonialism in what became Rhodesia, placing particular emphasis on how Africans mobilized in resistance through Ethiopianism, the rise of trade unions, Pan-African songs and other expressions.

The following section focuses on the mid 20th century era, beginning with the Second World War through to the rise of the African nationalist movements in what was then Rhodesia (modern day Zimbabwe). The sessions will be taught through the lens of novels, competitive traditional dance, football fandom, and music, as well as through political and military organizing.

Students will then proceed to learn about the advent of independence in Zimbabwe, and the ways in which the masses not only celebrated, but asserted their hopes and dreams for the new nation. We will see this through song, film, theatre and other media.

Students will round up the module by learning about contemporary expressions of nationalism in a world- Zimbabwe not sparing- increasingly divided on the continued utility of “the nation.” We will look at how different groups are expressing their imaginary of the nation as it is and it should be. Sometimes the notions are in tandem with each other, and times they are in conflict.

Ultimately, students will be asked to find one popular expression of their national/community identity and be asked to present on its significance to the rest of the groups.

Student Readings (links to sites where readings can be accessed electronically or by purchase)

1. African National Congress 1943. “Africans’ Claims in South Africa”
2. Dimeo- Ediger, Winona. “Black Panther's Mythical Home May Not Be So Mythical After All” NPR, February 10, 2018.
3. Mcdermott, Annette. “Did World War II Launch the Civil Rights Movement?” History, May 22, 2018.

1. Batts, Callie. “ ‘In good conscience’: Andy Flower, Henry Olonga and the death of democracy in Zimbabwe.” in Forty Years of Sport and Social Change, 1968 2008, ed. Russell Field and Bruce Kidd, 43-56. New York: Routledge, .2015.
2. Chikowero, Mhoze. African Music, Power, and Being in Colonial Zimbabwe. Indiana University Press, 2015.
3. Choto, Tafadzwa; Chiweshe, Kudzai Manasa, and Nelson Muparamoto. “Football fandom, ethno-regionalism and rivalry in post-colonial Zimbabwe: case study of Highlanders and Dynamos”, Soccer & Society, (2017).
4. Coplan, David, and Benetta Jules- Rosette. “'Nkosi Sikelel' IAfrika': Stories of an African Anthem.” Composing Apartheid : Music for and against Apartheid, edited by Grant Olwage, Wits University Press, 2008, pp. 185–208.
5. Marima, Tendai. “#ThisFlag Or #OurFlag? The Digital Fray For Zimbabwe’s Soul.” The Daily Vox. May 26, 2016.
6. Mavima, Shingi. “Stories of Struggle: The Intractability of Early African Fiction from Nascent African Nationalism in Rhodesia.” Journal of Pan African Studies, vol. 12 no. 3, November 2018
7. Mlambo, Alois S. A History of Zimbabwe.New York : Cambridge University Press, 2014.
8. Raftopoulos, Brian, and A S. Mlambo. Becoming Zimbabwe: A History from the Pre-Colonial Period to 2008. Harare: Weaver Press, 2009
9. Scarnecchia, Timothy. The Urban Roots of Democracy and Political Violence in Zimbabwe: Harare and Highfield, 1940-1964. Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2008
10. Zenenga, Praise. “Censorship, Surveillance, and Protest Theater in Zimbabwe.” Theater,vol. 38, no. 3, Fall 2008. pp.66–83.