Tales of the Nation: Feminist Nationalism or Patriotic History? Defining National History and Identity in Zimbabwe (NAI Research Reports)

In light of the uses and misuses of history in Zimbabwean politics in recent years, this research report focuses on how versions of the country s liberation war history have become a site of struggle over the definition of Zimbabwean national identity. As "identity politics" often do, Zimbabwean nationalism draws on a wide field of cultural symbols of identity and political discourses of inclusion and exclusion. Therefore, the report takes a cross-disciplinary approach to the issue of national identity by "mapping out" the imaginary field of Zimbabwean nationalism. This approach opens up the possibility of cross-reading the political discourses of the President and the ruling party ZANU (PF) with opposing voices such as those in the works of the author Yvonne Vera. This cross-reading shows how Vera s novels and the political discourses participate in the struggle over Zimbabwean national identity by offering different versions of the nation s history in the form of "patriotic history," "feminist nationalism," or narratives of difference. In this way the research report adds to our understanding of power and resistance in Zimbabwean politics of national identity.