Subversion, Resistance and Contestations : Politics of Names and Naming in Zimbabwe / edited by Tanaka Chidora, Yaser Ellethy, Anne Hege Grung, Henry Jansen, and Matthew Ryan Robinson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Chidora, Tanaka, editor.

Ellethy, Yaser, editor.

Grung, Anne Hege, editor.

Jansen, Henry, editor.

Robinson, Matthew Ryan, editor.

Series:

African Social Studies Series ; 50.

Social Sciences E-Books Online, Collection 2026.

African Social Studies Series ; 50

Social Sciences E-Books Online, Collection 2026

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Studies.

Civilization--History.

Civilization.

History.

Languages and Linguistics.

Literature and Cultural Studies.

Social history.

Social sciences.

Sociology & Anthropology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (278 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Politics of Names and Naming in Zimbabwe

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2026.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This volume is unique in the sense that it is the first full-volume book to gather various contributions on the politics of names and naming in Zimbabwe. The premise of the book is that names are historical archives; thus, the chapters gathered herein attempt a chronological survey of the politics of names and naming from the colonial period to the post-Mugabe era, popularly euphemised as the New Dispensation. This chronological study of names and naming was not meant to give a linear narrative of subversion, resistance and contestation, but to show that Zimbabwe does not have a monolithic history and that a chronological study of the names and naming traditions from the colonial period to the present will reveal various histories of Zimbabweans struggling against various hegemonies, from a colonialist chronotope that threatened the onomastic erasure of black people to present political machinations and nomenclatural shenanigans that seek to disavow violent legacies. The multidisciplinary nature of this volume allowed for a more inclusive approach to the politics of names and naming in Zimbabwe. The various chapters constituting this volume were contributed by scholars from the fields of linguistics, literary studies, history, sociology, media and music studies in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has consistently offered an interesting case study in various academic fields because of its unique history that includes a protracted liberation and an unrelenting post-independence crises. Thus, this volume offers a unique opportunity and archive for researchers interested in Zimbabwean history, politics, literature and culture.

Contents:

Front Cover

Half Title

Series Page

Title Page

Copyrights Informations

Contents

Figures and Tables

Figures

Tables

Notes on Contributors

1 Introduction: Names as Historical Archives

1 Introduction

2 Names, Naming and National Histories: Subversion, Resistance and Contestations in Zimbabwe

3 Chapter Organisation

References

2 Names as Sites of Violence and Memory Erasure in Colonial Zimbabwe

2 Indigenous Naming Patterns

3 Colonial Violence

4 Memory Erasure

5 Some Toponyms-Victims of Colonial Hegemony

5.1 'New' Colonial Names

5.2 Erasure through Toponymic Distortions

6 Conclusion

3 (Re)Naming the White Farm(er): Towards Subversion

2 Anthroponyms, Toponyms and the Nature of Naming in Contested Rhodesian and Zimbabwean Times-Spaces

3 (Re)Naming and Creative Writing

4 (Re)Naming the Settler Farm(er) and the Struggle for a Native Chronotope: a Literary Exegesis

5 Conclusion

4 'The Dual-Faced Toponym': Subversion and Contestations surrounding the Name Zimbabwe

2 Methods of Gathering Data

3 Theory

4 Place Renaming and Subversion during the Colonial Period

5 Place Renaming and Subversion in Post-colonial Zimbabwe

5 Not Naming as Resistance: Yvonne Vera's Without a Name (1994)

2 The Politics of Naming in Zimbabwe

3 Post-normative Naming

4 Vera's Philosophy of Writing

5 How Without a Name Subverts the Master Narrative

6 Not Naming as Resistance

7 Conclusion

6 Naming and Remembering the Unsayable

2 The Intersection of Memory, Trauma and Onomastics

3 Naming Strategies in Running with Mother and House of Stone.

3.1 Violence and the Revisioning History in Christopher Mlalazi's Running with Mother

3.2 Names and the Quest to Remember Gukurahundi in Novuyo Rosa Tshuma's House of Stone

4 Conclusion

7 Caricaturing the Names "New Dispensation" and "Second Republic"

2 Socio-literary Versions of Madness

ibotso, ngozi, kupenga, etc.

3 Dispensations of Madness: Cosmological Reconsiderations

4 Legacy Quests: Madness as Legacy

8 Onomastic Palimpsests and the Discourse of Negative Political Propaganda in Zimbabwe

1 Introduction and Background

2 Literature Review

2.1 Linguistic Tinkering

2.2 Rhetoric and Propaganda

3 Theoretical Framework

4 Methodology

5 Analysis and Discussion

5.1 Onomastic Synecdoche Blends

5.2 Blending Politicians' Names with Coincidental Negative Lexis

5.3 Tinkering with Abbreviations for Political Banter

9 From IDEAS to SMART BUILDers against #Team ZANU-PF

2 Methodology and Theoretical Framework

3 #Team ZANU-PF

4 SMART

5 BUILD and IDEA

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

10 Decolonising Zimbabwean Music? Urban Grooves Artistes

1 Introduction: Music and the Politics of Names and Naming

2 Music and Resistance in Zimbabwe

3 Post-2000 Nationalist Politics, Decolonisation and the Urban Grooves Movement

4 Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

5 Presentation and Discussion of Findings

5.1 Artistes Who Used Birth Names

5.2 Names Which Paid Homage to ZANU-PF Propaganda

5.3 Artistes with Indigenous Names

5.4 Artistes Whose Names Borrowed from Jamaican Reggae Culture

5.5 Names Influenced by American and African American Musical Traditions

5.6 Names That Reference Street Lingo.

5.7 Names That Borrow from the Lives of Ordinary Zimbabweans

6 Implications of Urban Grooves Musiconymic Practices

11 The Politics of Language in the Naming of Places and Streets

3 An Overview of Language, Naming, Politics and Identity

3.1 Place Names and Identity

3.2 Politics of Language in Naming

3.3 Toponyms and Hodonyms (Street Names)

4 Discussions on Toponyms and Hodonyms in and around Chiredzi Urban

4.1 Tshovani

4.2 Emobeni (in Sugarcane)

4.3 Bani (Open Space)

4.4 Gozonya

4.5 Chironga Drive

4.6 Marinda

4.7 Chigarapasi

4.8 Makondo

4.9 Muchangani

12 A Linguistic Landscape in Motion: the SeSotho/SeBirwa of Gwanda Promotion and Visibility

3 Data Collection Strategies

4 Brief Background to the Language Situation in Zimbabwe

5 SeSotho/SeBirwa Language Profile in Zimbabwe

5.1 Language Policy Intervention: Green Horse (Petse e Tala) Approach

Internet Sources

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

90-04-74449-5

9789004744493

OCLC:

1561175628

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004744493 DOI