Browsing by Author "Mulaudzi, Maanda"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Conflicting Perspectives of Socioeconomic Change and the Pan - Africanist Ideal of Self-Determination, 1912 - 2002
    (2016) Yakubu,Kamal Kweku; Mulaudzi, Maanda
    This dissertation interrogates the debate on socioeconomic change in Africa post 1912. It examines the leading currents of thought on what is now popularly termed as development, starting with New Institutional Economics (NIE). Focusing on NIE, it contrasts recent policy implications maintained in the work of Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson (AJR) with that of earlier dependency and modernization perspectives. At the same time it sets these intellectual traditions against what is defined as the Pan-Africanist ideal of self-determination. The rationale behind such a reverse chronological presentation is to enable the reader to travel back in time, and see how socioeconomic thinking about Africa has undoubtedly changed, but, also retained some theoretical misconceptions about the continent and its people. The ideal of self-determination is described as the intellectual tradition of insisting that Africans should ensure that they cultivate the capacity to formulate autonomous ideas, first and foremost, on the type of values and ethics, institutional framework, and notion of progress best suited to their socioeconomic needs and environment. By means of this contrast of ideas, the dissertation suggests that even though more contemporary perspectives such as those embodied in NIE can be seen as an attempt to converge divergent streams of thought from the earlier dependency and modernization traditions, some of its most popular policy implications, such as the transference of good colonial property rights institutions to regions that have suffered a ‘reversal of fortune’ stand in stark opposition to the Pan-Africanist ideal of self-determination.
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    Continuing Conversations at the Frontier
    (2010) Mulaudzi, Maanda; Schoeman, H M; Chirikure, Shadreck
    Researchers involved or interested in the 500 Year Initiative (FYI) gathered at the University of Cape Town in June 2008 to explore how different disciplines engaged in historical studies may better communicate and collaborate within and between each other. Appropriately titled ‘Continuing Conversations at the Frontier’, participants in this conference challenged themselves to cross the theoretical and methodological borders separating archaeology, history, geography, anthropology and linguistics, in order to understand how and under what influence modern southern African identities have taken shape over the past 500 years. These conversations made it clear that new insights are not only reliant on new data, but that it is equally important to expose our methodologies and processes of gaining understanding. In addition to confronting disciplinary boundaries and methods, social and spatial frontiers were key loci for discussion, although it became apparent that historians and archaeologists have approached frontiers in different ways. We briefly explore the roots of these approaches.
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    "The father of the revolution": history, memory and the FNLA veterans of Pomfret
    (2016) Claassen, Christian; Field, Sean; Mulaudzi, Maanda
    The "official" narrative of the Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola (National Front for the Liberation of Angola, or FNLA) as presented by FNLA documents and scholars such as Christine Messiant and Inge Brinkman, paints a picture of a liberation movement that fragmented and lost its credibility over time, from its inception in 1962 to its demise in 1978.In part, this was due to the actions, or rather inaction of its authoritarian and highly paranoid leader Holden Roberto. In contrast, however, former FNLA fighters I have interviewed remember the FNLA and Holden Roberto as having been the righteous and just vanguard of the Angolan struggle against Portuguese colonialism, and later against the MPLA Soviet"puppet" regime. For the ex-FNLA fighters, the FNLA stood for progress, inclusivity, and justice, to the extent that many of these former fighters have proclaimed their continued loyalty to the FNLA to this day. By making use of concepts such as memory, myth, as well as senses of place, belonging and identity, this thesis will examine these two divergent narratives, and will posit that the respondents' reflections on the FNLA are ultimately tied to their present identities as forgotten and betrayed war veterans.
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    Rewriting post-colonial historical representations: the case of refugees in Zimbabwe's war of liberation
    (University of Cape Town, 2020) Magadzike, Blessed; Field, Shaun; Mulaudzi, Maanda
    'Rewriting postcolonial historical representations: The case of refugees in Zimbabwe's liberation war' focuses on the historicisation of the experiences of people who were refugees during Zimbabwe's liberation war, fought between 1966 and 1980. It uses the narratives of former refugees from Mutasa and Bulilima Districts as a way of capturing their histories of the war period. When Zimbabwe attained independence in 1980, the country embarked on a historicisation project that was ably supported by a memorialization one. The aim of these twin projects was to capture the experiences of people who had either participated in the war or had been affected by it. Whilst all the other key players in that war such as the political leadership, the war veterans, the former detainees and even the ordinary peasants' experiences have been captured in these projects, there has been an absolute silence on those of people who were refugees. The same also applies to the omission of the refugee's voice in the continued regeneration of such histories that has been taking place since the year 2000 in Zimbabwe. Using the central question that asks about the experiences of displacement in Zimbabwe's liberation war, the research argues that we can only understand the totality of that war, the interactions that took place and the identities it created if the refugee figure and voice are represented on the historical record.
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    Soort soek soort : the "American Negro" community in Cape Town until 1930
    (2004) Charles, Misha J; Mulaudzi, Maanda; Saunders, Christopher
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    The Gukurahundi "genocide": memory and justice in independent Zimbabwe
    (2019) Ndlovu, Nompilo; Field, Sean; Mulaudzi, Maanda
    Operation Gukurahundi (1982-1987) commenced and endured within the Midlands and two Matabeleland Provinces of Zimbabwe through a Fifth Brigade army – trained by the North Koreans, and which was accountable to former President Robert Mugabe. This army sought to find 400 armed dissidents, but their excessively violent actions ultimately resulted in 20 000 civilians being killed, thousands being tortured and/or disappearing as well as 400 000 persons brought to the brink of starvation due to targeted food limitations within these regions. The story of Gukurahundi is complex and multifaceted, but significantly it was about the political annihilation of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), as an opposition party, as well as their supporters - predominantly from these targeted provinces. Essentially, the key aspect that this study speaks to is: How has state denial and produced silences of Gukurahundi shaped survivor memories across generations; and contributed to justice in independent Zimbabwe? Amidst produced silences, Gukurahundi memory remains existent over 30 years after the occurrence and is nuanced in various ways. The study therefore looks into the memory traces of the post-Gukurahundi period through select reminiscences as shared by 30 survivors of Gukurahundi who offer a telling around what happened during Gukurahundi, and in the aftermath as key informants to the research. This study thus draws attention to ‘ordinary’ people’s stories, as narrated by them, and discusses them against oral history theory. In this regard, the research objectives are to analyse various memory debates associated with this occurrence, such as the nexus between memory and silence; gender and memory; spatialities of memory; as well as intergenerational memory. Another important gleaning which becomes a thread throughout the research is the connection between memory and language(s). Linkages between memory and justice are made, with reference to select initiatives across a variety of actors which are relied upon on as a means to address, memorialise as well as to survive Gukurahundi. Oftentimes these actors – including survivors themselves – address Gukurahundi outside of the Government of Zimbabwe’s arrangements. Finally, this research aims or hopes to contribute to post-conflict commendations.
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    The wider KwaZulu-Natal region circa 1700 to the onset of colonialism: a critical essay on sources and historiography
    (2020) Fagan, Henry Allan; Mulaudzi, Maanda; Hamilton Carolyn
    This dissertation is an extended essay dealing with historical productions on the late independent era (the late “pre-colonial” epoch) of the wider KwaZulu-Natal region. The project pays particular attention to the development of the historiography and examines how it has shaped and in turn been shaped by the source material over time. Attention is also drawn to issues with terminology and disciplinary convention, including the distinction which is traditionally made between ‘primary' and ‘secondary' sources. The dissertation's scope extends beyond the discipline of history to interrogate how influences from the fields of anthropology, art history, archaeology, and literary criticism have shaped the production of history. It also examines the productions of African intellectuals whose works were excluded from the discipline of history during the late colonial and apartheid eras. Among other things, this essay draws attention to historiographical breaks in the literature and considerers where paradigm shifts and epistemic ruptures can be discerned.
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    “To the black women we all know”: three women's contemporary mobilizations of history in relation to questions of status, belonging, and identity in Mpolweni Mission, KwaZulu-Natal
    (2023) Mahlaba, Ayanda Mlungisi Godgive; Hamilton, Carolyn; Mulaudzi, Maanda
    KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has a long history of individuals and groups mobilizing the past to make claims in the present. A notable phenomenon that has captured the attention of scholars of contemporary KZN is how formations such as Ubumbano – that center around the paternal clan and its ancestry – have been invoking ‘pre-Zulu’ pasts to claim resources in the form of land, and even recognition of kingship status by the state. Individuals in former mission stations in turn have referenced the prominence of their families’ histories in the establishment of mission stations. Clearly, the past has potent usability for numerous actors in this province. Rarely have scholars focused on how different generations of Black women in this province, who have not aligned themselves with any formal structure such as Ubumbano, mobilize their families’ histories and for what reasons. Inspired in part to address this gap, this thesis explores the oral historical narrations of three women of three different generations from my maternal family, namely Gogo MaHlubi, Mamkhulu Ntombenhle, and Mam Phindile, who are based in Mpolweni Mission. These women are descendants of amakholwa and were socialized in a mission context albeit at different times. My analysis of these women’s narratives reveals that they mobilize the past to strategically position themselves to lay claims to status, belonging, and identity in Mpolweni Mission. This happens at a time of growing tensions between first-comer descendants (such as the three women) and newcomers, and their contending claims of belonging to Mpolweni. In the process of grappling with their narrations, we learn more about Mpolweni Mission and its complex history from the perspectives of these women. The result of 3 this is that the history of the area is rendered visible. The oral narratives of these women are not relayed ‘oral tradition’: they are fluid, imaginative and not patrilineal in nature. This is in stark contrast to the oral sources that are conventionally treated as ‘oral tradition’ and considered to be passed down from one generation to the other. Moreover, the fluidity of the women’s narratives also means that the narrators are aware of the kinds of work the content of their stories can do for them in different contexts. Individually and collectively, these narratives contribute in crafting what we might call a matri-archive. This matri-archive is constantly being made and remade by the women. The thesis shows how women of different generations are producers of history, and that historical production is not only the preserve of a certain generation of women or of men.