The liberation war was a watershed event in the history of Zimbabwe. According to the ZANU PF (Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front) ruling elites, an understanding of the common experiences of the people during the liberation war provides the best opportunity to mold a common national identity and consciousness. However, the representation of important historical events in a nation's history is problematic. At best events are manipulated for political purposes by the ruling elites, and at the worst they are distorted or exaggerated. In Zimbabwe, the representation of the ZAPU/ZIPRA and the ZANU/ZANLA as liberation movements in high school history textbooks during the armed struggle is a hot potato. This study critically examined and explored the contested "representational practices" of the ZAPU/ZIPRA and the ZANU/ZANLA as liberation movements during the Zimbabwean armed revolution. By means of qualitative content analysis, seven high school history textbooks from Zimbabwe were analyzed. Drawing from postcolonial perspectives and insights, particularly Fanon's concept of the pitfall of national consciousness, the study unveiled the way in which Zimbabwean high school textbooks portrayed the ZAPU/ZIPRA and the ZANU/ZANLA as very different liberation movements whose roles and contributions were unequal. High school textbooks depicted the ZANU/ZANLA as a radical revolutionary and people-oriented liberation movement totally committed to the armed struggle and the ZAPU/ZIPRA as a moderate party not dedicated to the armed revolution. In a nutshell, the high school history textbooks glorified and celebrated the political and military achievements of the ZANU/ZANLA and suppressed while not completely ignoring those of the ZAPU/ZIPRA. Although the findings of this study will not solve the problem of high school textbooks (mis) representation of the roles and contributions of the ZAPU/ZIPRA and the ZANU/ZANLA in the armed struggle, the study can serve as a "tool of resistance" by exposing the continual abuse and misuse of history education by postcolonial ruling elites to preservice teachers, classroom teachers, teacher education programs and textbook publishers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1505182 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Sibanda, Lovemore |
| Contributors | Young, Jemimah, Mathis, Janelle, King, Kelly, Subramaniam, Karthigeyan |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | viii, 254 pages, Text |
| Coverage | Zimbabwe |
| Rights | Use restricted to UNT Community, Sibanda, Lovemore, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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