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These Bones Will Rise Again
A leading writer of Zimbabwe s born-free generation reflects on the November 2017 ousting of Robert Mugabe, radically reframing the history of Zimbabwe to include the perspectives of workers, women and urban movements. In November 2017 the people of Zimbabwe took to the streets in an unprecedented alliance with the military. Their goal, to restore the legacy of Chimurenga, the liberation struggle, and wrest their country back from over thirty years of Robert Mugabe s rule. In an essay that combines bold reportage, memoir and critical analysis, Zimbabwean novelist and journalist Panashe Chigumadzi reflects on the coup that was not a coup , the telling of history and manipulation of time and the ancestral spirts of two women her own grandmother and Mbuya Nehanda, the grandmother of the nation. Chigumadzi successfully nests the intimate charge of her poignant personal story in the sweeping historical account and mythology of Zimbabwe.
144 pages, Paperback
First published June 14, 2018
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August 3, 2019
I was fortunate enough to attend a talk with Panashe, in which she talked about her book, so I'll include some interesting bits I learned there in my review. I hope you don't mind.
Ahead of Zimbabwe’s elections in July 2018, These Bones Will Rise Again responds to the November 2017 ousting of Robert Mugabe, exploring events leading up to the ‘coup not coup’ that brought his 37-year rule to an end. Panashe Chigumadzi provides an interrogation of the liberation movement that was created through the spirit of a woman but led by men and guns, by juxtaposing the life of Mbuya Nehanda (the Mother of the Nation) with the life of her own grandmother.
Panashe says that she was not interested in writing a book about Mugabe, and she never will be. She is interested in discovering what Zimbabwe truly is beyond this figure. Where do Zimbabweans go from here? History is not happening outside, removed from oneself. It is happening here. It is happening now. Panashe first had that realisation when reading Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Seeing a country, struggling in similar ways to her home country, made her aware of all the right questions: who are the Okwonkwos in her family?
So, ultimately, writing this book became and exercise in asking questions. That task proved to be daunting as Panashe wanted and needed to protect the privacy of the people she was having these difficult conversations with. She is aware that many of her questions are of a vulnerable nature, might even evoke a trauma, that she herself is not comfortable sharing and writing about, since it isn’t her place and her story to tell. Her grandmother, whom this book is about, is dead. She is not here to defend herself, to depict her side of the story. So Panashe had to appropriate her experiences, but she tried to do it in the most respectful way. ‘Zvimwe hazvibvunnzwi.’ Some things are just not asked about.
In a way, Panashe says, she is kind of grateful that she never got to talk to her grandmother about her life because it forced her to ask so many other people, she spoke to so many different people within Zimbabwe, and that really provided her with a wider scope and a fuller picture of her home.
When asked how she deals with criticisms of her work, Panashe is very upfront: “I don’t care about white readers. I do my work for Black people, especially Black women. I don’t care about Black patriarchs either. There are some people you will never be able to convince and you just have to accept that.”
Unfortunately, as amazing as all of Panashe's ideas sound and as honorable her intentions for writing this book were, it really wasn't executed well. These Bones Will Rise Again doesn't work as a narrative, it isn't concise, it lacks information, it lacks emotion. It is structurally confusing, as she jumps in time a lot, and it is hard to keep track of the people to whom she is talking to.
As someone who was completely ignorant of Zimbabwean politics prior to reading her work, I found it incredibly hard to understand what she was wiring about in the first place. Panashe doesn't provide the context needed to understand her narrative. Granted, there are a few "history lessons" scattered throughout the book, but they are all so superficial and random, that they don't really provide any help. Furthermore, my frustration with the book grew as I moved along, as they were many interesting topics that Panashe grazed, like the ancestral religion that seems to be dying in Zimbabwe. A belief system that includes the belief in totems, spirit mediums and ancestral spirits. Concepts that weren't explained or elaborated on, which is a damn shame, since she is writing about Mbuya Nehanda exactly for the reason of her being a medium spirit.
I get that some of my frustrations with the text, primarily the ones with the content of the book (and not its messy form), stem from the fact that I am an ignorant Western reader. I'll readily admit that. I am not afraid of putting the work and research in, I did all of that for myself. However, as much as Panashe feels like she is writing for her Black sisters, it is beyond apparent that this particular book, published by Indigo press, is targeted at a Western audience and that its main uptake will be in the West. That can be seen in other instances, when Panashe is in fact explaining certain parts of Zimbabwean culture, which would be redundant if she were writing for a Zimbabwean audience.
Those passages, in which Panashe actually provided the information needed to understand the points she were making, were highly enjoyable. On the concept of 'Ubuntu', she writes: “It is a philosophy of ethical personhood that leads many of our mothers and fathers to reprimand us for bad behaviour, especially in the company of others, by demanding to know ‘Kuita kwemunhu here?’ Is this how human beings behave? It’s a question that can also be levelled towards a group of people in light of their history of actions with Africans. Given white settlers’ unjust conquest of land and indigenous people, it is possible that when wanting to know the race of a person you can ask, ‘Munhu here?’ and, should the person be white, it is appropriate to answer, ‘Aiwa, murungu.’ No, they are a white person. In other words varungu, white settlers, have not been considered vanhu, people, because of their historic failure to treat the indigenous people with hunhu, humanity.” I find this passage so fascinating, these are facts that are hard to research. How would you come across this piece of information?
And even though Panashe didn't wanna write about Mugabe, I have to say that the passages in which he does show up, pretty late in the book, are probably the strongest. The way she interweaves that history lesson on his presidency with the Chimurenga (the people's uprising) and all of their hopes and fears was beyond beautiful:
Ahead of Zimbabwe’s elections in July 2018, These Bones Will Rise Again responds to the November 2017 ousting of Robert Mugabe, exploring events leading up to the ‘coup not coup’ that brought his 37-year rule to an end. Panashe Chigumadzi provides an interrogation of the liberation movement that was created through the spirit of a woman but led by men and guns, by juxtaposing the life of Mbuya Nehanda (the Mother of the Nation) with the life of her own grandmother.
Our political history is one that makes wombs of women, empties us of all human complexity, impregnates us with all that is good or wrong in our society so that woman are either Mothers of the Nation, birthing all that is good, or Evil Stepmothers, birthing all that is bad in our society.Her narrative deliberately distances itself from the myth of the “Founding Fathers”. Panashe is searching for the “Founding Mothers” and all the real people that made this country she is fortunate enough to call her home. It is her contribution to decolonizing a history, by first and foremost decolonizing what “history” means in the first place; as, when it comes to “African history”, infuriatingly enough, the history of white men in Africa seems to be on the focus, which is a view on history Panashe doesn’t subscribe to. Africa was not discovered by white settlers, it was already there with a rich history and a variety of cultures and different people, ages before white settlers first stepped on the continent.
Panashe says that she was not interested in writing a book about Mugabe, and she never will be. She is interested in discovering what Zimbabwe truly is beyond this figure. Where do Zimbabweans go from here? History is not happening outside, removed from oneself. It is happening here. It is happening now. Panashe first had that realisation when reading Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Seeing a country, struggling in similar ways to her home country, made her aware of all the right questions: who are the Okwonkwos in her family?
So, ultimately, writing this book became and exercise in asking questions. That task proved to be daunting as Panashe wanted and needed to protect the privacy of the people she was having these difficult conversations with. She is aware that many of her questions are of a vulnerable nature, might even evoke a trauma, that she herself is not comfortable sharing and writing about, since it isn’t her place and her story to tell. Her grandmother, whom this book is about, is dead. She is not here to defend herself, to depict her side of the story. So Panashe had to appropriate her experiences, but she tried to do it in the most respectful way. ‘Zvimwe hazvibvunnzwi.’ Some things are just not asked about.
In a way, Panashe says, she is kind of grateful that she never got to talk to her grandmother about her life because it forced her to ask so many other people, she spoke to so many different people within Zimbabwe, and that really provided her with a wider scope and a fuller picture of her home.
When asked how she deals with criticisms of her work, Panashe is very upfront: “I don’t care about white readers. I do my work for Black people, especially Black women. I don’t care about Black patriarchs either. There are some people you will never be able to convince and you just have to accept that.”
Unfortunately, as amazing as all of Panashe's ideas sound and as honorable her intentions for writing this book were, it really wasn't executed well. These Bones Will Rise Again doesn't work as a narrative, it isn't concise, it lacks information, it lacks emotion. It is structurally confusing, as she jumps in time a lot, and it is hard to keep track of the people to whom she is talking to.
As someone who was completely ignorant of Zimbabwean politics prior to reading her work, I found it incredibly hard to understand what she was wiring about in the first place. Panashe doesn't provide the context needed to understand her narrative. Granted, there are a few "history lessons" scattered throughout the book, but they are all so superficial and random, that they don't really provide any help. Furthermore, my frustration with the book grew as I moved along, as they were many interesting topics that Panashe grazed, like the ancestral religion that seems to be dying in Zimbabwe. A belief system that includes the belief in totems, spirit mediums and ancestral spirits. Concepts that weren't explained or elaborated on, which is a damn shame, since she is writing about Mbuya Nehanda exactly for the reason of her being a medium spirit.
I get that some of my frustrations with the text, primarily the ones with the content of the book (and not its messy form), stem from the fact that I am an ignorant Western reader. I'll readily admit that. I am not afraid of putting the work and research in, I did all of that for myself. However, as much as Panashe feels like she is writing for her Black sisters, it is beyond apparent that this particular book, published by Indigo press, is targeted at a Western audience and that its main uptake will be in the West. That can be seen in other instances, when Panashe is in fact explaining certain parts of Zimbabwean culture, which would be redundant if she were writing for a Zimbabwean audience.
Those passages, in which Panashe actually provided the information needed to understand the points she were making, were highly enjoyable. On the concept of 'Ubuntu', she writes: “It is a philosophy of ethical personhood that leads many of our mothers and fathers to reprimand us for bad behaviour, especially in the company of others, by demanding to know ‘Kuita kwemunhu here?’ Is this how human beings behave? It’s a question that can also be levelled towards a group of people in light of their history of actions with Africans. Given white settlers’ unjust conquest of land and indigenous people, it is possible that when wanting to know the race of a person you can ask, ‘Munhu here?’ and, should the person be white, it is appropriate to answer, ‘Aiwa, murungu.’ No, they are a white person. In other words varungu, white settlers, have not been considered vanhu, people, because of their historic failure to treat the indigenous people with hunhu, humanity.” I find this passage so fascinating, these are facts that are hard to research. How would you come across this piece of information?
And even though Panashe didn't wanna write about Mugabe, I have to say that the passages in which he does show up, pretty late in the book, are probably the strongest. The way she interweaves that history lesson on his presidency with the Chimurenga (the people's uprising) and all of their hopes and fears was beyond beautiful:
They shout ‘Sokwanele!’ ‘Zvakwana!’ ‘It is enough!’ railing as if a final heave of energy is all that is needed to push the old man out and all their dreams and aspirations, big and msall, for their country in. For their children to find decent jobs, for their parents to be able to have pensions to retire on, for hospitals they can send their relatives to without feeling they are sending them there to die, for national roads that do not risk their lives, for their speech to be free, for the lives of their family lost in Gukurahundi to be accounted for, for leaders who have won their respect and who they have chosen, for a place they can make a home of again.So all in all, this book had great potential and I don't regret reading it because it sparked my interest in Zimbabwean politics and led me down a research-rabbit hole, but judging the book for what it is, I have to say that it is too confusing and non-stringent for my taste. The idea behind it is great, the execution... not so much.
[…]
A person is a person through others. This truth extends across time and space. We are through those who have come before us, those who have come with us and those who will come after us. Spirit possession, at the heart of Chimurenga, is an exercise in timelessness. It is those in the present communing with those in the past about the future concerning those who will come. Chimurenga has always been the intergenerational spirit of African self-liberation. It is not linear, it is bones that go into the earth and rise again and again.
November 10, 2018
These Bones Will Rise Again, part of The Indigo Press's Mood Indigo essay series which focuses on publishing writing on pressing social and political issues, is part memoir and part history book and looks at the state of Zimbabwe after its fourth political revolution which took place over a two-week period in November 2017 when army generals took over the country in Operation Restore Legacy. This operation triggered the demise of Robert Mugabe who had been the sole leader of Zimbabwe for thirty-seven years since the country attained independence. Chigumadzi weaves a narrative shaped by two ancestral forces, anti-colonial heroine Mbuya Nehanda and her own late grandmother. The book covers the time period from 1893-2017.
At only 144 pages, this is a short and concise read, but it perfectly portrays the Zimbabweans struggle for independence and is exquisitely written as well as accessible to those who may know nothing about the country's history and the long and arduous fight for liberation, human rights, political dignity and social justice. The author's writing is most visceral, and it's clear to see that she is proud of her history, family and ancestry. Told from the perspective of the marginalised and oppressed rather than from any party political point-of-view, Chigumadzi gives a voice to those who have so often been pushed aside. It not only reflects on the political history of Zimbabwe, but it also encompasses the hopes for the future.
By discussing how her late grandmother felt about the past, present and future of her country, Chigumadzi brings a personal family touch to this work but also discusses spiritual leader Mbuya Nehanda, who provided inspiration for the revolt against colonisation which began in the 1890s and has continued to inspire the people to fight for their rights ever since. The author also provides some critical analysis of the situation through the lens of Panafricanism, feminism and from political, historical, mythological and philosophical standpoints.
Above all, These Bones Will Rise Again shows the resilience and power of the human spirit to carry on hoping and praying for change which eventually came when Robert Mugabe's stranglehold over the country came to an end after almost four decades. This is an engaging and thrilling account of Zimbabwean politics which is both timely and relevant and from which I learned a lot. The only reason for not awarding it the full five stars is due to some of the Shona language, but I found I could mostly guess what was being conveyed from the context. That said, it perhaps would've been a good idea to include a glossary of terminology so that readers didn't have to interrupt the flow of the book so much. Having been one of the most corrupt countries in the world, it will take many years to be able to move away from that. We can only hope that the future will be a lot brighter for the people of Zimbabwe as this is only the start for them. Highly recommended.
Just a quick side note: "These Bones Will Rise Again" were the last words spoken by Mbuya Nehanda before she was executed in 1898 by the British for her role in the first Chimurenga. Many people believe that these last words were a prophecy. The cover art for this book actually comes from a studio photograph of Mbuya Lilian Chigumadzi, Panashe Chigumadzi's grandmother, as a young woman - the one she speaks so eloquently and emotionally about throughout the pages. I will also be using the bibliography which helpfully lists all of the interviews, books and journal articles that were referred to in the text.
Many thanks to The Indigo Press for sending me a copy of These Bones Will Rise Again. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
At only 144 pages, this is a short and concise read, but it perfectly portrays the Zimbabweans struggle for independence and is exquisitely written as well as accessible to those who may know nothing about the country's history and the long and arduous fight for liberation, human rights, political dignity and social justice. The author's writing is most visceral, and it's clear to see that she is proud of her history, family and ancestry. Told from the perspective of the marginalised and oppressed rather than from any party political point-of-view, Chigumadzi gives a voice to those who have so often been pushed aside. It not only reflects on the political history of Zimbabwe, but it also encompasses the hopes for the future.
By discussing how her late grandmother felt about the past, present and future of her country, Chigumadzi brings a personal family touch to this work but also discusses spiritual leader Mbuya Nehanda, who provided inspiration for the revolt against colonisation which began in the 1890s and has continued to inspire the people to fight for their rights ever since. The author also provides some critical analysis of the situation through the lens of Panafricanism, feminism and from political, historical, mythological and philosophical standpoints.
Above all, These Bones Will Rise Again shows the resilience and power of the human spirit to carry on hoping and praying for change which eventually came when Robert Mugabe's stranglehold over the country came to an end after almost four decades. This is an engaging and thrilling account of Zimbabwean politics which is both timely and relevant and from which I learned a lot. The only reason for not awarding it the full five stars is due to some of the Shona language, but I found I could mostly guess what was being conveyed from the context. That said, it perhaps would've been a good idea to include a glossary of terminology so that readers didn't have to interrupt the flow of the book so much. Having been one of the most corrupt countries in the world, it will take many years to be able to move away from that. We can only hope that the future will be a lot brighter for the people of Zimbabwe as this is only the start for them. Highly recommended.
Just a quick side note: "These Bones Will Rise Again" were the last words spoken by Mbuya Nehanda before she was executed in 1898 by the British for her role in the first Chimurenga. Many people believe that these last words were a prophecy. The cover art for this book actually comes from a studio photograph of Mbuya Lilian Chigumadzi, Panashe Chigumadzi's grandmother, as a young woman - the one she speaks so eloquently and emotionally about throughout the pages. I will also be using the bibliography which helpfully lists all of the interviews, books and journal articles that were referred to in the text.
Many thanks to The Indigo Press for sending me a copy of These Bones Will Rise Again. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
August 2, 2018
I am usually sceptical when it comes to new authors and Panashe Chigumadzi was not an exception. But I must confess, These Bones Will Rise Again, was a pleasant surprise. The book is short and beautifully written. A personal story interwoven with the greater historical narrative of Zimbabwe. This book is loaded with feminist, political, historical and philosophical insights.
February 19, 2021
”Chimurenga has always been the intergenerational spirit of African self-liberation."
The book begins with the November 2017 coup that wasn't a coup- a historical moment created with the backing of Zimbabwe's guns. She takes us through the history of our nation- the image in the story of our making- of first Chikura games 1897; second chimurenga and 3rd chimurenga- radical redistribution of land, hyperinflation, and economic fall of 2008 "we can barely hear ourselves through the noise of our daily struggles". What she tried to bring out most is how our history does not acknowledge the big role played by women-mbuya Nehanda spirit being carried by different mediums throughout the war and leading the people. Nehanda and her fellow mediums endorsed the comrades to the people, lead them in the right paths and places to hide and what to eat. As Panashe gathered info on past history, she realized that some of the spirit mediums families seemed to negotiate and benefit from the more material world of party politics once independence came, unlike others who wanted to uphold the spirituality more than the politics. Zimbabwean politics is a game of time, space, and its manipulations. We thought with the departure of Mugabe our lives would change but we are just where we were when we first began the wait for his departure. Loved going through my national history as narrated in this essay.
The book begins with the November 2017 coup that wasn't a coup- a historical moment created with the backing of Zimbabwe's guns. She takes us through the history of our nation- the image in the story of our making- of first Chikura games 1897; second chimurenga and 3rd chimurenga- radical redistribution of land, hyperinflation, and economic fall of 2008 "we can barely hear ourselves through the noise of our daily struggles". What she tried to bring out most is how our history does not acknowledge the big role played by women-mbuya Nehanda spirit being carried by different mediums throughout the war and leading the people. Nehanda and her fellow mediums endorsed the comrades to the people, lead them in the right paths and places to hide and what to eat. As Panashe gathered info on past history, she realized that some of the spirit mediums families seemed to negotiate and benefit from the more material world of party politics once independence came, unlike others who wanted to uphold the spirituality more than the politics. Zimbabwean politics is a game of time, space, and its manipulations. We thought with the departure of Mugabe our lives would change but we are just where we were when we first began the wait for his departure. Loved going through my national history as narrated in this essay.
November 27, 2018
Informative but as always the role of women is neglected in the struggles of African nations.
June 21, 2019
For me, the last couple of sections of this book were definitely the strongest. They are lucid and impassioned and make the book work on a number of levels. It is a revolutionary, feminist, postcolonial and analytical text all in one, combined with personal and historical narrative that is generally non-linear. Again, passages near the end (I am thinking of the author's description of her sensations attending a Stella Chiweshe mbira concert) make it clear why this can work for the book. Nonetheless, the narrative's nonlinearity and frequent straddling of the line between description and analysis for large portions at a time can make it quite confusing. This is probably truer for me as a western outsider to this narrative, and I can even understand why the author makes little attempt to give a reader like me any glossary or assistance when confronted with the large volume of Shona words, names, and phrases in the book -- the process of colonization forced billions of people to confront a bewildering world order and (putting it too mildly) didn't provide much glossing or assistance for them either. So, the book's structure and position within its context (personal, historical, political, lexical) meant that it didn't always work for me and was sometimes frustratingly hard to follow. But I appreciate the levels it does work on and the several moments in it that spoke to me too.
I also really liked the generous sprinkling of popular Zimbabwean artists and song names into the passages mostly covering the immediate post-Mugabe transition. It lets you hear and connect to the political and cultural life of young Zimbabweans caught in this turmoil, these "waves of history". There's also a good bibliography.
I also really liked the generous sprinkling of popular Zimbabwean artists and song names into the passages mostly covering the immediate post-Mugabe transition. It lets you hear and connect to the political and cultural life of young Zimbabweans caught in this turmoil, these "waves of history". There's also a good bibliography.
March 1, 2021
These Bones Will Rise Again is part of the Mood Indigo Essay Series. In this short book, Chigumadzi looks back at Zimbabwe's recent and not-so-recent history and how it is narrated. Starting with the coup-not-a-coup in November 2017 which brought the end of Robert Mugabe's thirty-year-long presidency Chigumadzi dives into the history and legacy of Chimurenga (the revolutionary struggle put very simplistic). Another starting point for her exploration is a photo of her late grandmother as a young woman, or rather the memory of said photo which Chigumadzi had lost due to a school project. Shaken by the death of her grandmother and the knowledge that she won't be able to ask her many questions about the past, Chigumadzi sets out to interview other older relatives (like her remaining grandmother). In the end, Chigumadzi weaves together family history, astute political observations, and the fascinating history of mediums and ancestral spirits, Nehanda being one of the better-known ones, focussing in on people often marginalized in history. She interrogates the roles of women or the way Shona-ness is constructed. The writing is poetical and gripping, I wanted to underline so many sentences.
January 20, 2019
This should have been read in one sitting. It took me a while to go through. Thoughts were poorly connected, and sentences poorly constructed. Local words like 'Mbuya' were freely sprinkled everywhere. I know the book is about Zimbabwe's history with a tinge of feminine power, but tbh, I still don't get what the book is about.
I hope the author grows as a writer. I guess this book imo is appealing because it's written by a black African feminine author who dares talk about some things in Zimbabwe that is not common knowledge to outsiders.
I wish the delivery, in writing, was better.
I hope the author grows as a writer. I guess this book imo is appealing because it's written by a black African feminine author who dares talk about some things in Zimbabwe that is not common knowledge to outsiders.
I wish the delivery, in writing, was better.
January 27, 2019
The lucidity of Panashe's prose as she dissects Zimbabwean history, highlighting the various counter narratives that exist, makes this book a refreshing read on Zimbabwe. These Bones Will Rise Again (@theindigopress) captures the consciousness of a generation, as well as how history influences current revolutions. Lovely blend of memoir and reportage!! .
April 6, 2022
Captivating short book which gives a better introduction to modern Zimbabwean history than I could have gained through any other source. While it’s cliche, I think it best to simply leave two quotes from the end of the book.
“The wait for his departure weighed down so heavily on our hearts and minds that it constrained the spirit of radical political imagination that has allowed us to make and remake ourselves time and again over the centuries. In the same ways we limited our political imagination to the end of colonialism, with dire consequences for our post-independence years, Mugabe’s end represented the end of our political imagination. Now that we are living through Mugabe’s end, we will come to understand that Zimbabwe’s future is not a matter of the old dying and the new being born.”
“A person is a person through others. This truth extends across time and space. We are through those who have come before us, those who have come with us and those who will come after us. Spirit possession, at the heart of Chimurenga, is an exercise in timelessness. It is those in the present communing with those in the past about the future concerning those who will come. Chimurenga has always been the intergenerational spirit of African self-liberation. It is not linear, it is bones that go into the earth and rise again and again.”
“The wait for his departure weighed down so heavily on our hearts and minds that it constrained the spirit of radical political imagination that has allowed us to make and remake ourselves time and again over the centuries. In the same ways we limited our political imagination to the end of colonialism, with dire consequences for our post-independence years, Mugabe’s end represented the end of our political imagination. Now that we are living through Mugabe’s end, we will come to understand that Zimbabwe’s future is not a matter of the old dying and the new being born.”
“A person is a person through others. This truth extends across time and space. We are through those who have come before us, those who have come with us and those who will come after us. Spirit possession, at the heart of Chimurenga, is an exercise in timelessness. It is those in the present communing with those in the past about the future concerning those who will come. Chimurenga has always been the intergenerational spirit of African self-liberation. It is not linear, it is bones that go into the earth and rise again and again.”
May 14, 2019
อ่านจบตั้งแต่เมื่อคืนละเพิ่งว่างมาบันทึก These Bones Will Rise Again เป็นงานเขียนสารคดี (non-fiction) โดย Panashe Chigumazdi นำเสนอการรื้อสร้างประวัติศาสตร์ซิมบับเวตั้งแต่การต่อสู้เรียกร้องเอกราช การเปลี่ยนผ่านสู่ประชาธิปไตย ไปจนถึงเหตุการณ์รัฐประหารเมื่อปี 2017 ผู้เขียนชี้ให้เห็นว่าสุดท้ายแล้วผู้หญิงก็ตกเป็นเครื่องมือของผู้มีอำนาจในห้วงเวลาต่าง ๆ ของประวัติศาสตร์ชาติที่ผูกโยงกับ "The Big Men"
October 25, 2018
Brilliantly written account of Zimbabwean past, present and hopes of the future, all captured through a fresh lens of feminism, Panafricanism and some sense of patriotism I guess. It was quite refreshing seeing the macro-perspective from the lense of the micro-experience and the delivery is amazing. I leave with adopting the term "radical political imagination".
March 10, 2021
This collection of essays by Panashe, triggered by the marches that precipitated the ousting of Robert Mugabe as president / dictator of Zimbabwe. Panashe discusses the Chimurenga, uprisings, that have risen up throughout what is now called Zimbabwe’s history of fighting to protect their land to get it back from the Colonisers and Tyranny.
It took me a while to get into the book, but by page 60 I was hooked. Reading about the history that I was clueless about, from a country I have visited several times and that borders my current home, was shameful. It highlights not only the political and historical events from the first encounter with the British, but also the spiritual linkages to mediums that Zimbabweans believe re-incarnate every so often and then lead the next Chimurenga. If you’ve ever watch Avatar the last Airbender, I kept thinking about that in this context.
Panashe also highlights the Gukurahundi, the massacre of the Ndebele in Zimbabwe between 1982 and 1987. The traumas meted onto Zimbabweans by Zimbabweans that is never spoken about and it made me think about how I have interacted with Ndebele Zimbabweans who may be survivors of that violence without knowing it.
Panashe also highlights the important role that women play in being custodians of history, depicts us being written out of it, it is another book that highlights the importance of us collecting our history from our parents, especially out mothers.
Read this if you live in Southern Africa, if you like historical non-fiction, if you ever made a comment about Robert Mugabe, if you know a Zimbabwean or have visited Zimbabwe or live / d there.
It took me a while to get into the book, but by page 60 I was hooked. Reading about the history that I was clueless about, from a country I have visited several times and that borders my current home, was shameful. It highlights not only the political and historical events from the first encounter with the British, but also the spiritual linkages to mediums that Zimbabweans believe re-incarnate every so often and then lead the next Chimurenga. If you’ve ever watch Avatar the last Airbender, I kept thinking about that in this context.
Panashe also highlights the Gukurahundi, the massacre of the Ndebele in Zimbabwe between 1982 and 1987. The traumas meted onto Zimbabweans by Zimbabweans that is never spoken about and it made me think about how I have interacted with Ndebele Zimbabweans who may be survivors of that violence without knowing it.
Panashe also highlights the important role that women play in being custodians of history, depicts us being written out of it, it is another book that highlights the importance of us collecting our history from our parents, especially out mothers.
Read this if you live in Southern Africa, if you like historical non-fiction, if you ever made a comment about Robert Mugabe, if you know a Zimbabwean or have visited Zimbabwe or live / d there.
December 24, 2022
"After years of staring up at the looming portrait of Mugabe waiting for our lives to change ‘when the old man goes’, a moment we came to think could only be occasioned by death, the moment has come and gone and we find ourselves where we were when we first began the wait. The wait for his departure weighed down so heavily on our hearts and minds that it constrained the spirit of radical political imagination that has allowed us to make and remake ourselves time and again over the centuries. In the same ways we limited our political imagination to the end of colonialism, with dire consequences for our post-independence years, Mugabe’s end represented the end of our political imagination."
This fascinating extended essay looks at Zimbabwean history, focusing on the stories of women who act over men who talk. Chigumadzi weaves her desire to 'know' the woman who became her Mbuya with the story of one of a Shona resistance fighter and concepts of cyclical re-emergence to examine the movement against Mugabe as part of a bigger pattern/shift. If all that sounds intimidating, this is a readable account, even if real understanding, might require more depth with the subject
This fascinating extended essay looks at Zimbabwean history, focusing on the stories of women who act over men who talk. Chigumadzi weaves her desire to 'know' the woman who became her Mbuya with the story of one of a Shona resistance fighter and concepts of cyclical re-emergence to examine the movement against Mugabe as part of a bigger pattern/shift. If all that sounds intimidating, this is a readable account, even if real understanding, might require more depth with the subject
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February 17, 2021Chigumadzi shares her reflections and search for answers in an attempt to truly understand the events that have played a hand in the shaping of her nation.
October 11, 2022
"You don't, after all, take power in order to give away power."
February 5, 2023
“If Zimbabwean politics is a game of time and space and its manipulations, different powers find the moments most suitable to their agendas, freeze them, and insist on them to the exclusion of all other time. History, in our political game, is no longer a series of recurring waves carrying us all within them as our ancestors intended, but a straightforward line of progress for the few.” These words, somewhere near the end of the compilation of the interviews, research and journeys Chigumadzi simultaneously narrates while theorizing, are fitting to describe the purpose of the heavy lifting she has done here. The powers being Manhood(and Womanhood eclipsed), Spirit and Being, Religion both anciently native and sickeningly newly western, Politics, Blackness(and the white struggle with its peculiar Zimbabwean construction), Capital and it’s -ism, Borders, Feeling, Memory(and most importantly, what is forgotten)… Chigumadzi does it all and more.
Chigumadzi skillfully paints the arc of a nation’s political history through a century that holds a country’s birth, death, rebirth, and all other things that happen at the hands of a political class focused on power and almost nothing else. She finds the line in the everyday lives of a people pulled into the turmoil of race, tribe and it’s invented inventions, wealth, and through it all tells of their attempted construction of ways of living—all the while radically centering the deep spirituality, culture and blackness of people who have to and do live lives left in the wake of constant change. Her history, Zimbabwe’s history, is told anchored on posts of her own choosing instead of those we have been told. All this leaves a deeply authentic picture of things in ways previously overlooked… a picture of the Women on whose backs a nation stands, a picture of an old Zimbabwe in the purported post-Mugabe new, a picture of a spirituality coursing through the streets of Harare and Johannesburg and London, a picture of bones buried rising again ready to be put in the ground for the hundredth time over, and ready again to rise.
If ever one is to understand what complexity is meant when one says Zimbabwe(!), it is necessary to hear her speak. A torturous, wondrous and startlingly beautiful work.
Chigumadzi skillfully paints the arc of a nation’s political history through a century that holds a country’s birth, death, rebirth, and all other things that happen at the hands of a political class focused on power and almost nothing else. She finds the line in the everyday lives of a people pulled into the turmoil of race, tribe and it’s invented inventions, wealth, and through it all tells of their attempted construction of ways of living—all the while radically centering the deep spirituality, culture and blackness of people who have to and do live lives left in the wake of constant change. Her history, Zimbabwe’s history, is told anchored on posts of her own choosing instead of those we have been told. All this leaves a deeply authentic picture of things in ways previously overlooked… a picture of the Women on whose backs a nation stands, a picture of an old Zimbabwe in the purported post-Mugabe new, a picture of a spirituality coursing through the streets of Harare and Johannesburg and London, a picture of bones buried rising again ready to be put in the ground for the hundredth time over, and ready again to rise.
If ever one is to understand what complexity is meant when one says Zimbabwe(!), it is necessary to hear her speak. A torturous, wondrous and startlingly beautiful work.
December 21, 2023
I really admire what Chigumadzi is doing with this book, and the type of compassionate ethnographic history she's carrying out is endlessly fascinating to me. The weaving of her personal family history with wider histories of Zimbabwean independence, spirit possession, and the role of African women in society is engaging, as is the way the book explores (dis)temporality. She writes with incredibly eloquence about the complexity of time and how history operates both as collective social memory and imposed restriction defined by it's omissions.
The section where she describes struggles over history called to mind my most interesting discussions with students in a way that made me miss teaching, and are worth quoting at length:
"The struggles over history are complex, because the present continuously slips into the past, marking history as always ambivalent, incomplete, a work in progress. When we pick apart linear histories of cause and effect, we are bound to discover that history doesn't march forward in a straight line of progress. Instead, history is like water - it lives between us, and comes in waves. At times, it is still and unobtrusive, and, at others, it is turbulent and threatening. Even at its most innocuous, water poses hidden dangers, enclosing contested histories, and so we are always living in the tension between water's tranquility and it's tumult. When we walk along the water's edge, it's easy to take for granted the complex process of how that water reached our feet, to overlook what it washed away, what alters and what holds in the sands of time. It is an openness to history as a series of waves, always moving, always in a state of flux, always a site of discovery in the past, present and future, and not as something stable, foreclosed, frozen in the past, that is most troubling to nationalist agendas, because it is true difficult to control."
The section where she describes struggles over history called to mind my most interesting discussions with students in a way that made me miss teaching, and are worth quoting at length:
"The struggles over history are complex, because the present continuously slips into the past, marking history as always ambivalent, incomplete, a work in progress. When we pick apart linear histories of cause and effect, we are bound to discover that history doesn't march forward in a straight line of progress. Instead, history is like water - it lives between us, and comes in waves. At times, it is still and unobtrusive, and, at others, it is turbulent and threatening. Even at its most innocuous, water poses hidden dangers, enclosing contested histories, and so we are always living in the tension between water's tranquility and it's tumult. When we walk along the water's edge, it's easy to take for granted the complex process of how that water reached our feet, to overlook what it washed away, what alters and what holds in the sands of time. It is an openness to history as a series of waves, always moving, always in a state of flux, always a site of discovery in the past, present and future, and not as something stable, foreclosed, frozen in the past, that is most troubling to nationalist agendas, because it is true difficult to control."
March 8, 2021
An essay reflection/ memoir that critically analyses Mugabe’s ousting “coup not coup” of November 2017. Panashe brings forth the pasts and presents that are omitted from history.
The power of storytelling is a an assignment left to the living for those that have passed on and it’s no surprise that the death of Panashe’s grandmother woke up a sense of duty to find answers to questions that weren’t being asked, stories unheard and lost memories of the big and small women in the history of state making.
The book holds themes like power, memory, chimurenga, colonialism, state/family history and the formidable presence of women who are forcibly silenced as is the norm. when I say I annotated a lot while reading it’s not an exaggeration because there was such wisdom in the authors writing and a lot of reflection to be made for a lot of African states and how politics is tailored to accommodate heroes and not heroines. This book is beautifully written and a brilliant educator everyone should read it to learn and be enriched. I am going to quite while I am ahead before I spoil your reading experience. I will however share some breath-taking lines from the book that will hopefully nudge you and show you how worthy a read it is.
“…history is like water it lives between us, and comes to us in waves…”
“… we are always living in the tension between water’s tranquillity and its tumult…”
“…oral tradition tells us, history lives in the mouth, and so we must draw on memory and myth to craft these alternative pasts, presents and futures.”
“A person is a person through other.”
So, let us all take up our places in the art of being human and share knowledge and stories that would not have been told.
The power of storytelling is a an assignment left to the living for those that have passed on and it’s no surprise that the death of Panashe’s grandmother woke up a sense of duty to find answers to questions that weren’t being asked, stories unheard and lost memories of the big and small women in the history of state making.
The book holds themes like power, memory, chimurenga, colonialism, state/family history and the formidable presence of women who are forcibly silenced as is the norm. when I say I annotated a lot while reading it’s not an exaggeration because there was such wisdom in the authors writing and a lot of reflection to be made for a lot of African states and how politics is tailored to accommodate heroes and not heroines. This book is beautifully written and a brilliant educator everyone should read it to learn and be enriched. I am going to quite while I am ahead before I spoil your reading experience. I will however share some breath-taking lines from the book that will hopefully nudge you and show you how worthy a read it is.
“…history is like water it lives between us, and comes to us in waves…”
“… we are always living in the tension between water’s tranquillity and its tumult…”
“…oral tradition tells us, history lives in the mouth, and so we must draw on memory and myth to craft these alternative pasts, presents and futures.”
“A person is a person through other.”
So, let us all take up our places in the art of being human and share knowledge and stories that would not have been told.
July 17, 2021
"Chimurenga has always been the intergenerational spirit of African self-liberation. It is not linear, it is bones that go into the earth & rise again & again".
I am just in awe of Panashe Chigumadzi's writing. It's lyrical, rare with emotion & peppered with so many gems of wisdom.
In this part memoir part history title, Panashe Chigumadzi lays bare two events:
the loss of a family history through Mbuya Chigumadzi's passing, her parental grandmother.
And the loss of Zimbabwe's true spirit through the distortion of Mbuya Nehanda's legacy.
Mbuya Nehanda is a mhondoro (a royal ancestor spirit) who led the first Chimurenga/Umvukela (revolutionary struggle) against the British colonisers in 1896. Her spirit has been evoked through a medium with every Chimurenga as she stated that her bones would rise again. And rise they have.
By interweaving these two histories, Mbuya Chigumadzi & Mbuya Nehanda, Panashe not only highlights the importance of Africans & their proximity to ancestral spirits but also the role of women in the Chimurenga. They are forgotten & often erased.
Panashe chooses to rewrite & remember them.
I absolutely loved this. It is a great resource at understanding Zimbabwe's Chimurengas, the latest being Mugabe's removal, Mbuya Nehanda's legacy & the ancestral spirits.
If I could, I'd call this a spiritual history on Zimbabwe's fourth Chimurenga. Definitely worth a read.
I am just in awe of Panashe Chigumadzi's writing. It's lyrical, rare with emotion & peppered with so many gems of wisdom.
In this part memoir part history title, Panashe Chigumadzi lays bare two events:
the loss of a family history through Mbuya Chigumadzi's passing, her parental grandmother.
And the loss of Zimbabwe's true spirit through the distortion of Mbuya Nehanda's legacy.
Mbuya Nehanda is a mhondoro (a royal ancestor spirit) who led the first Chimurenga/Umvukela (revolutionary struggle) against the British colonisers in 1896. Her spirit has been evoked through a medium with every Chimurenga as she stated that her bones would rise again. And rise they have.
By interweaving these two histories, Mbuya Chigumadzi & Mbuya Nehanda, Panashe not only highlights the importance of Africans & their proximity to ancestral spirits but also the role of women in the Chimurenga. They are forgotten & often erased.
Panashe chooses to rewrite & remember them.
I absolutely loved this. It is a great resource at understanding Zimbabwe's Chimurengas, the latest being Mugabe's removal, Mbuya Nehanda's legacy & the ancestral spirits.
If I could, I'd call this a spiritual history on Zimbabwe's fourth Chimurenga. Definitely worth a read.
January 6, 2020
This powerful book starts and ends with two pictures: one, lost, that of Panashe Chigumadzi's grandmother Mbuya Lilian and one, enlarged, of Mbuya Nehanda, a spirit medium (and spirit?).
Using Chigumadzi's words because I couldn't have phrased it any better: "To imagine these women is to face their questions. They are difficult. They are painful. They are necessary. We cannot turn away even as we know in our hearts that we collectively fear facing these women because they will demand questions be answered. We know that their questions will release a torrent of granite boulders that will destroy the versions of us and the nation that we hold dear even as they harm us in ways untold. The force of their questions will surely crush the old certainties cast in Zimbabwe's great house of stone. And then, what will become of us? Who will we be?".
A very insightful, interesting and daring book, even for someone (like myself) who knows very little about Zimbabwean cultures, history(ies) and politics.
Using Chigumadzi's words because I couldn't have phrased it any better: "To imagine these women is to face their questions. They are difficult. They are painful. They are necessary. We cannot turn away even as we know in our hearts that we collectively fear facing these women because they will demand questions be answered. We know that their questions will release a torrent of granite boulders that will destroy the versions of us and the nation that we hold dear even as they harm us in ways untold. The force of their questions will surely crush the old certainties cast in Zimbabwe's great house of stone. And then, what will become of us? Who will we be?".
A very insightful, interesting and daring book, even for someone (like myself) who knows very little about Zimbabwean cultures, history(ies) and politics.
November 21, 2025
Reading this book superficially, you probably won’t enjoy it. On the surface, it appears to be just a compilation of historical facts and memoir fragments.
But if you dive deep, you’ll encounter the most beautiful entanglement of spiral times, a counter-narrative of history, embodied knowledge, and ancestral spirituality.
Panashe Chigumadzi explores questions of nation-building, collective identity, and the spiritual connection between land, ancestors and the present.
From a feminist perspective, she explores how time becomes dissolved when history, the present and the future merge in the body that remembers its ancestors.
I really, really enjoyed the fusion of different literary genres, the symbolic axes that run consistently throughout and the profound exploration of circular/spiral time and embodiment. <3
______
Content notes:
But if you dive deep, you’ll encounter the most beautiful entanglement of spiral times, a counter-narrative of history, embodied knowledge, and ancestral spirituality.
Panashe Chigumadzi explores questions of nation-building, collective identity, and the spiritual connection between land, ancestors and the present.
From a feminist perspective, she explores how time becomes dissolved when history, the present and the future merge in the body that remembers its ancestors.
I really, really enjoyed the fusion of different literary genres, the symbolic axes that run consistently throughout and the profound exploration of circular/spiral time and embodiment. <3
______
Content notes:
July 8, 2020
My Bones Will Rise Again is a non-fiction book by South-African raised Zimbabwean writer Panashe Chigumadzi. The title is taken from Mbuya Nehanda’s last words to the British before being executed, “Mapfupa angu achamuka”/My Bones Will Rise Again. Chigumadzi chronicles her attempt to rediscover Zimbabwean history and her own family history through the eyes of a family matriarch. Zimbabwean history is complex and prone to distortion, and this book attempts to restore balance by introducing the views and stories of often ignored Zimbabwean women. I enjoyed some aspects of the book and I loved the intention behind it. Unfortunately, the book felt a little unfinished to me.
March 17, 2019
'... our political history is one that makes wombs of women, empties us of all human complexity, impregnates us with all that is good or wrong in our society...’ — Panashe Chigumadzi
This is a very insightful historical long essay about the womxn in Zimbabwe and in a way it also tells a story of the history of Panashe’s own life. I enjoy reading about ancestral spirits and mediums. A moving book about Black womxn and history. A definite @cheekynatives recommendation
Here is a podcast with the author: https://soundcloud.com/user-404664175...
This is a very insightful historical long essay about the womxn in Zimbabwe and in a way it also tells a story of the history of Panashe’s own life. I enjoy reading about ancestral spirits and mediums. A moving book about Black womxn and history. A definite @cheekynatives recommendation
Here is a podcast with the author: https://soundcloud.com/user-404664175...
August 18, 2019
Dit is geen roman. Meer een korte geschiedenis van Zimbabwe in de laatste jaren. De schrijfster vertelt dit aan de hand van het leven van haar grootmoeder. Ik heb een interview met deze schrijfster gelezen. Zij is een zelfbewuste, intelligente vrouw. Behoorlijk feministisch. Het leukste vond ik, dat zij zich vrolijk maakte om de Nederlandse obsessie met multiculturalisme. Zij heeft de Afrikaanse Apartheid meegemaakt en kijkt daar wel anders tegenaan. een interessant boek, maar als roman voldeed het niet helemaal voor mij.
December 7, 2023
One of our books read in "Southern Africa" history course at WWU. Its truly insightful to read how history is fought over. Southern Africans have a long history of colonial resistance and one arena of this is decolonizing historic narratives that ignore the experiences of Africans. A great documentary you can watch on Youtube: "Namibia: Genocide and the Second Reich (BBC)." In this film, whites use the unmarked graves and old concentration death camps for recreational use.
August 1, 2020
It is a very informative book, that highlights the political history of Zimbabwe by shedding light on the role women had in shaping the history of that country....I however struggled to read this book. mainly because it isn't the kind of book i would ordinarily read not necessarily because of the content.
August 30, 2018
If you don't know Zimbabwe's history, particularly the liberation struggle this is the book for you. Traces the fight for liberation from the perspective of one family and how they fought the Chimurenga.
September 9, 2018
3.5. A good (short) read! Interesting angle into Zim's history. Got me thinking quite a lot, even when I didn't necessarily agree with things. Family history gives an interesting perspective, but was particularly taken with the medium aspect.
October 13, 2018
Loved this! Panashe has a great writing style and I was immersed! Learnt some history about the country I grew up in and took a few notes on things to research for myself.
This filled me with hope for the country of my birth. Definitely 5 stars.
This filled me with hope for the country of my birth. Definitely 5 stars.
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