History, Histories and Historians: Reflecting on Legacies and New Directions in Zimbabwe’s Historiography

Over the past decade, historians of Zimbabwe have lost some influential colleagues who shaped both the content of the country’s historiography and its contemporary discourses. In association with the Britain Zimbabwe Society (BZS), the Journal of Southern African Studies (JSAS), will be convening a two-day event in Oxford between 20 and 21 June 2025 to reflect on ‘history, histories and historians in the making of Zimbabwe’s past’. It will explore the current state of Zimbabwean historiography; key institutional bases for doctoral supervision, training and mentorship; practices, methods and power relations in the production of history; the central questions for earlier generations; emerging and novel themes and perspectives; and the re-centring of the study of Zimbabwean history in the twenty-first century.  In this space, there will be opportunities to explore and engage with scholars and scholarship on Zimbabwean historiography from social, and economic to political histories. We are proposing a partnership between JSAS and BZS as YSI (AFRICA and ECONOMIC THOUGHT) and bringing young scholars to witness and participate in this scholarly engagement. This is a space where scholars will reflect on recent and changing trends in Zimbabwean historiography. The question to be explored is: Are the questions that have dominated historiography over the last fifty years, since Ranger’s Revolt (1967) still the central issues? Many historians who wrote political and economic histories during the liberation struggle were influenced by it. In turn, their view of the past helped to inform elements of the struggle. Is there a need to reassess critical anti-colonial analyses?  Should issues of economic history and development, such as migrant labour, urbanisation, and rural poverty be re-addressed?  What new themes are being taken up by historians in the twenty-first century, and since the fast-track land reform? How should we assess the influence of broader, global influences on historical writing, especially in view of the widening range of institutions that provide a base for academics from Zimbabwe, and those writing about Zimbabwe? Focusing on the multiple centres of Zimbabwean historical research and the diverse mentorships, collaborations and networks involved, this workshop and the resulting JSAS special issue will examine these genealogies, exploring how and why the current generation is moving beyond the well-established themes of the liberation and early independence eras, how they are building upon, expanding and challenging these approaches and pointing to silences and gaps.   The workshop and special issue will partly reflect on the legacies of Ngwabi Bhebhe and Terence Ranger and the continuing work of practising senior historians such as Alois Mlambo, Ian Phimister, Joseph Mtisi, Allan Isaacman, Sandra Swart, and others. However, when conversations about Zimbabwe’s historiography take place, they rarely give full attention to emerging scholarship. As is all too evident, the most dangerous thing in history is the persistence of a single story.

Application start date to be announced soon! Be on the lookout.