Crafting Identity in Zimbabwe and Mozambique

Erscheinungsjahr 2013
ISBN: 978-1-58046-365-2
Verlag: Boydell & Brewer

Buch, Englisch, Band 30, 208 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 308 g

Reihe: Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora

Crosses conventional theoretical, temporal, and geographical boundaries to show how the Ndau of southeast Africa actively shaped their own identity over a four-hundred-year period.

With this first comprehensive history of the Ndau of eastern Zimbabwe and central Mozambique, Elizabeth MacGonagle moves beyond national borders to show how cultural identities are woven from historical memories that predate the arrival of missionaries and colonial officials on the African continent. Drawing on archival records and oral histories from throughout the Ndau region, her study analyzes the complex relationships between social identity and political power from 1500 to 1900.
Ndauness has been created and recreated within communities through marriages and social structures, cultural practices that mark the body, and rituals that help to sustain shared beliefs. A senseof being Ndau continues to exist into the present, despite different colonial histories, postcolonial trajectories, and official languages in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. MacGonagle's study of ethnic identities among the marginalizedNdau sheds light on the conflicts and divisions that haunt southeast Africa today. This compelling interpretation of the crafting of identity in one corner of Africa has relevance for readers interested in identity formation andethnic conflict around the world.

Elizabeth MacGonagle is Assistant Professor of African History at the University of Kansas.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Macgonagle, Elizabeth

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Afrikanische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

A Mixed Pot: The Crafting of Identity
The Historical Landscape of Southeast Africa
Early Exchanges: Political and Economic Contexts
Ties That Bind: Social Structures and Cultural Practices
Keeping Up Appearances: Identity and Adornment
Brewing Beer, Making Rain, and Holding Court
Memories and Identities in the Shadow of Ngungunyana
Past and Present in the Ndau Region

Über Autor(innen)

Elizabeth MacGonagle is assistant professor of African History at the University of Kansas.