Rhodes, Mugabe and the Politics of Commemorative Toponyms in Zimbabwe
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3948462 |
|---|---|
| Authors | T Mangena (0000-0002-2333-763X, Great Zimbabwe University, Masvingo, Zimbabwe, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1015-1036 |
| Publication date | 2020-08-07 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Geopolitics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1465-0045 • E-ISSN: 1557-3028 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14650045.2018.1508017 |
| OpenAlex | W2897151102 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 19 |
This paper is based on former Zimbabwean President Robert Gabriel Mugabe’s ninety-third birthday celebrations. It uses and goes beyond the said ceremony to interrogate the politics of commemorative toponyms in post-independence Zimbabwe. The event took place on 25 February 2017 at a school whose name Rhodes Estate Preparatory School (REPS) was changed to Matopos Junior School prior to the celebrations. The methodological framing of this discussion consists of a critical reading of the media’s representation of the name change and the debates that followed. Reference is specifically made to two Zimbabwean newspapers, The Patriot, which featured the story on 2 March 2017 under the heading “Rhodes ‘legacy’ finally put to rest” and the ZimEye’s story of 26 February 2017 headlined “Mugabe removes Rhodes.” Theoretically, the paper is framed within the critical approach to toponymy that interprets commemorative place-nomenclature as political arenas which could be used to think through issues of history and memory. In particular, it is argued in this paper that in post-independence Zimbabwe, place names, especially commemorative toponyms, are political spaces par excellence which we can use to study not only the country’s colonial history but also its postcolonial realities
Archaeology · Colonialism · Estate · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Toponymy · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · History · Law
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Street Fights
Place Naming asDispositif
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,67 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2023 (4) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |