- Title
- Transformations in Hlengwe ethnicity in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe, 1890 to 2014
- Creator
- Chisi, Taderera Hebert
- Subject
- Hlengwe (African people) -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District
- Subject
- Ethnicity -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District
- Subject
- Social constructionism
- Subject
- Black people -- Race identity -- Zimbabwe -- Chiredzi Rural District
- Subject
- Zimbabwe -- History
- Subject
- Imperialism -- History
- Date Issued
- 2018
- Date
- 2018
- Type
- text
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Doctoral
- Type
- PhD
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62296
- Identifier
- vital:28152
- Description
- Studies of ethnicity have shifted from primordialism to diverse variants of social constructivism, which include instrumentalism, invention of tribalism by the colonial elite and missionaries and demotic constructivism or creation of ethnicity from below. The studies have generally generated two broad schools of thought. One school avers that African ethnicity was invented by the colonial elite and missionaries in the colonial period whilst the other and more recent asserts that ethnicity had a precolonial currency and the generality of Africans also played a key role in identity formation. Also most notable is that most studies have tended to focus on larger and more visible ethnic groups, ignoring the stories of small communities mostly found in remote border areas of modern ‘nation’ states. Using archival material, colonial records, autobiographies, oral and secondary sources, this thesis, which is largely guided by the demotic constructivist theoretical perspective examines the evolution of the ethnic identity of an ‘obscure’ Hlengwe ethnic community of the south-east lowveld of Zimbabwe from the pre-colonial period to 2014. History of the Hlengwe history has been blurred by the use of the term “Shangaan” to denote the Hlengwe, yet they were not ethnically so. A chronological approach and demotic constuctivism have been used to enable a deeper analysis of the critical historical phases, key players and processes in Hlengwe identity formation as time wore on. While we acknowledge that identity formation involves diverse players, we also focus on the role of the generally neglected commoners in the making of African ethnicity. This study differs from other works on ethnicity which focus on events of short historical phases and the role of selected elitist agents in the making of African ethnicity, by analysing the making of Hlengwe ethnicity from the precolonial to the postcolonial period. We prove that Hlengwe ethnicity was created in the pre-colonial period but did not remain static as it was perpetually reshaped by unpredictable historical events right up to 2014. The Hlengwe community was subjected to processes of social transformation over a long period of time to an extent that the one time docile, ‘uncivilised”, inward looking community bearing an identity of shame had evolved by the close of the 20th century and early 21st century to an assertive community, proud of its identity and actively seeking political, economic and cultural recognition and rights for its ‘underdog’ Hlengwe constituency in a country where diverse Shona groups andNdebele form the dominant ethnic communities.
- Format
- 357 pages
- Format
- Publisher
- Rhodes University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Humanities, History
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Chisi, Taderera Hebert
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