The Assassination of Herbert Chitepo

Texts and Politics in Zimbabwe

Bibliographic Data

ID3912533
AuthorsJane L Parpart (0000-0002-4596-8862), Luise White
Year2004
Volume37
Issue2
Pages345
Publication date2004-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe International Journal of African Historical Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0361-7882 • E-ISSN: 2326-3016
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/4129012
OpenAlexW1495535408
LanguageEN
Citations received10

The Assassination of Herbert Chitepo: Texts and Politics Zimbabwe. By Luise White. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2003. Pp. xiii, 128. $39.95 cloth, $15.95 paper. Who assassinated Herbert Chitepo, head of Zimbabwe African Nationalist Union's (ZANU) war council, Lusaka on 18 March 1975? Can we believe various people claiming to have done deed? Why has interest this question revived so dramatically present-day Zimbabwe? These are some of questions tackled by Luise White her marvelous postmodern mystery/history, The Assassination of Herbert Chitepo. Indeed, this dense, elegantly written thriller raises reader's hope that we will discover Chitepo's killer (and perpetrators of other controversial deaths, such as that of Joseph Tongagara). But whole point of White's book is not who did or who confessed, but rather why there have been so many confessions, how and why certain texts about assassination have been read and understood at various times, and implications of those readings. This book is thus more deep interrogation of texts surrounding Chitepo assassination over time than search for the truth. Indeed, as White points out, book is in pursuit of of how about past are produced and reproduced and how power is produced and reproduced by these narratives (p. 2). White's examination of texts surrounding Chitepo's murder over time raises number of crucially important questions, both for rethinking past and for understanding present (and possibly future). Why, she asks, are so many people suddenly interested Chitepo's murder? Why is it happening at this time of economic and political turmoil, when dreams of freedom and prosperity never seemed further away? White argues that timing of this resurgence makes eminent sense, for Chitepo assassination provides way for Zimbabweans to revive and rehearse political world of (p. 93). The ruling ZANU-PF has represented 1970s as period of black unity and British perfidy. Two master have emerged. The first denies divisions within black community, representing liberation war as a unified and unflinching struggle for land white farmers had stolen from Africans 189Os (p. 95). The second places Britain at center of liberation struggle, effectively erasing complex history of settler rule and multiracial politics. These have allowed ruling elite to reinforce its power while dismissing opposition as traitors and sell-outs, and denying rights to protection of white and Asian citizens of Zimbabwe (p. 95). The crucial role of these master for ZANU-PF ruling elite is demonstrated by government's dramatic efforts to curtail political debate and to institutionalize an extreme version of these as patriotic history, particularly among youth. While some Zimbabweans support (and benefit from) promulgation of these narratives, dramatic economic decline and heavy-handed censorship of current regime, along with growing belief that government leaders are corrupt and unconcerned with plight of poor, have led many to question legitimacy of ZANU-PF regime and, with that, master they have produced

Ancient history · Political science · Politics · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · History · Law

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