The front line runs through every woman : women & local resistance in the Zimbabwean Liberation War / Eleanor O'Gorman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Gorman, Eleanor, 1968-

Contributor:

JSTOR (Organization)

Series:

African issues

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women and war--Zimbabwe.

Women and war.

National liberation movements--Zimbabwe--History--20th century.

National liberation movements.

History.

Zimbabwe--History--Chimurenga War, 1966-1980--Women.

Zimbabwe.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 192 pages) : illustrations, maps.

polychrome

Place of Publication:

Woodbridge, Suffolk [U.K.] : James Currey ; Harare, Zimbabwe : Weaver Press, 2011.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

How do We Understand women's experiences of Zimbabwe's liberation War? The history of that war has been written in terms of peasant mobilisation and resistance. Women's voices within this history have been muted or absent. Feminist history and research has also sought to understand the relationship of women and war through the roles women take up and the culture of militarism. However, it is the testimonies and voices of women themselves that need to he heard to better understand what life was like in the war.

How did women experience guerrilla war in rural Zimbabwe? Women in Chiweshe, Zimbabwe, experienced war as a matter of everyday survival and resistance as they navigated volatile relations with state soldiers and guards, roaming bands of guerrillas and with their own neighbours, families and communities. Their experience was all the more unique as they were herded into Protected Villages that were a counterinsurgency measure by the Rhodesian Front government to prevent contact with the revolutionary groups. The battleground is revealed to be such that the 'front line runs through every woman'.

Why are women's voices of the liberation war relevant today for Zimbabwe and for the Un? more local, rural and personal understanding of the liberation war in Zimbabwe reveals experiences of war that speak directly to current international efforts to address women, peace and security, notably through UN Security Council Resolution (1325). It also speaks to the ways in which women experience the insecurity and political violence that have become hallmarks of governance in present day Zimbabwe. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction Women, War Voice & Agency 1

1 Situating Women in Revolution Battlefront Myths & Homefront Lies 15

2 Re-framing Women's Revolutionary, Lives Women, Gender & Local Resistance 40

3 Setting the Field work Context Zimbabwe as Arena, Chiweshe as Locale 55

4 Women's Perceptions of Revolutionary Participation Understandings of Agency & Consciousness 69

5 Living with & within Revolution Challenges to Unity & Community 91

6 The Front Line Runs Through Every Woman Resistance & Survival by Woman in Revolutionary War 123

Conclusion Women's Agency & Voice in War Reconsidered 147.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-186) and index.

Electronic reproduction. New York Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781846159923

184615992X

Publisher Number:

99958961313

9786613933133

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.