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| Title: | Nehanda and gender victimhood in the central MaShonaland 1896-97 rebellions: revisiting the evidence |
| Author: | Charumbira, Ruramisai |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Periodical: | History in Africa |
| Volume: | 35 |
| Pages: | 103-131 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Zimbabwe |
| Subjects: | First Chimurenga historiography women gender discrimination |
| External link: | http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/history_in_africa/v035/35.charumbira.pdf |
| Abstract: | In 1998, David N. Beach revisited the 1896-1897 central MaShonaland uprising in colonial Zimbabwe. His main thesis was that, contrary to conventional wisdom that placed Nehanda-Charwe, a medium of the Nehanda Mhondoro Spirit, at the centre of those anti-European settler rebellions, she might have been 'an innocent woman unjustly accused'. For Beach, upstart Kaguvi-Gumboreshumba (a male spiritual leader) might have been the real hero. The present paper, which revisits the history of early colonial Zimbabwe through feminist lenses, is a response to Beach's study. It looks at the credibility of evidence given by Africans to colonial officials, with a focus on women's testimonies. Furthermore, the paper examines the arrest and trial of Nehanda-Charwe and Kaguvi, with an emphasis on Beach's argument that witnesses against Nehanda-Charwe were men, and those sitting on the court bench were men, and so she was a scapegoat for colonial inefficiency. The paper argues that the biggest hole in Beach's argument about Nehanda-Charwe being a 'victim' of gender bias lies in the fact that he did not consider the larger canvas of women's and gender history before and during the uprisings to articulate Nehanda-Charwe's actions better. The present paper revisits the evidence to find other women's voices, so that Nehanda-Charwe's voice gets a woman's and gendered context through which her actions can be better understood. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
