Forced Resettlement, Ethnicity, and the (Un)Making of the Ndebele Identity in Buhera District, Zimbabwe

Francis Musoni

doi:10.1017/asr.2014.93

Forced Resettlement, Ethnicity, and the (Un)Making of the Ndebele Identity in Buhera District, Zimbabwe

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2014

Francis Musoni

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Abstract:

This study examines the historical development of hostility between the Shona-speaking inhabitants of Buhera district in south-central Zimbabwe and Ndebele speakers who settled in the area after being forcibly removed from various parts of Matabeleland and Midlands provinces between the 1920s and 1950s. It shows how competition for productive farmlands, which became visible beginning in the 1940s, produced and sustained the Ndebele–Shona hostility in Buhera. While other scholars view this hostility primarily from an ethnic perspective, this article argues that ethnicity was just one of many factors that shaped relations between these people.

Résumé:

Cette étude examine le développement historique de l’hostilité entre les habitants de langue shona du district de Buhera au centre-sud du Zimbabwe et les habitants de langue ndebele qui se sont installés dans la région après avoir été expulsés de force de diverses parties du Matabeleland et des provinces des Midlands entre les années 1920 et 1950. Il montre comment la concurrence pour l’exploitation des terres agricoles fertiles, devenue visible depuis les années 1940, a créé et maintenu l’hostilité qui perdure aujourd’hui entre les Ndebele et les Shona dans le district de Buhera. Alors que d’autres chercheurs considèrent principalement cette hostilité du point de vue ethnique, cet article soutient que l’ethnicité n’est qu’un des nombreux facteurs ayant façonné les relations entre ces deux groupes.

Keywords

Forced resettlement ethnicity identity formation boundary disputes Ndebele–Shona relations Zimbabwe

Type: ARTICLES
Information: African Studies Review , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , December 2014 , pp. 79 - 100

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2014.93 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © African Studies Association 2014

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