In 1997, the then Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Morgan Tsvangirai, expressed the need for a “more open and critical process of writing history in Zimbabwe . . . The history of a nation-in-the-making should not be reduced to a selective heroic tradition, but should be a tolerant and continuing process of questioning and re-examintaion.”

Becoming Zimbabwe tracks the idea of national belonging and citizenship and explores the nature of state rule, the changing contours of the political economy, and the regional and international dimensions of the country’s history. 

In their Introduction, Brian Raftopoulos and Alois Mlambo enlarge on these themes, and Gerald Mazarire’s opening chapter sets the pre-colonial background. Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni tracks the history up to World War II, and Alois Mlambo reviews developments in the settler economy and the emergence of nationalism leading to the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965. The politics and economics of the UDI period, and the subsequent war of liberation, are covered by Joseph Mtisi, Munyaradzi Nyakudya and Teresa Barnes.

After independence in 1980, Zimbabwe enjoyed a period of buoyancy and hope. James Muzondidya’s chapter details the transition “from buoyancy to crisis”, and Brian Raftopoulos concludes the book with an analysis of the decade-long crisis and the global political agreement which followed. 

“a profoundly new history of Zimbabwe that tears apart all of the old certainties” – David Moore, Associate Professor of Development Studies, University of Johannesburg.

About the Author

Brian Raftopoulos was formerly Associate Professor of Development Studies at the University of Zimbabwe, and is currently the Director of Research and Advocacy, Solidarity Peace Trust since 2007, based in Cape Town. He has published extensively on Zimbabwean history, historiography, politics, and economics. From the late 1990’s he was a key civil society leader in Zimbabwe, serving on the founding executive of the National Constitutional Assembly from 1998-2000, and the first Chair of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition 2001-2003. Currently also Research Fellow at UWC and Research Associate at UCT.    

First Prize Zimbabwe International Book Fair in the category non-fiction for the Brian Raftopoulos and Tsuneo Yoshikuni (Eds), Sites of Struggle: Essays in Zimbabwe’s Urban History, Weaver Press, Harare, 1999.