On the issue of whether "Zimbabwe" is a made up community: It is and it isn't. Right now, we have a movement whereby one of the traditional ethnic groups wishes to secede:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mthwakazi-Nation/162801343740250
Originally, colonial politics defined the boundaries of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe). The group that now wishes to secede was violently subdued after the anti-colonial war. It is said that 20, 000 were killed in what might be described as a genocidal act on the part of the guerrilla faction that came to power.
Even though the nature of identity is being disputed within Zimbabwe itself, it is undeniable that there is a common history shared by the peoples of Zimbabwe, based on the historical fact that boundaries were defined. Whatever people in Zimbabwe have experienced -- and whatever they now think and feel, based on what they have experienced -- is different from what those in the Republic of South Africa will think and feel. National boundaries have a psychological meaning simply because they are a historical fact.
Some of the ways that national boundaries define and help to shape and form community is in terms of what kinds of media are permitted within those boundaries. During the years of Rhodesian rule, those within the national boundaries were time-locked, in that ideologies that were not right wing and Christian were not permitted to permeate the borders. There was strong media censorship and this affected the cultures developing within the national boundaries. I would say, in general, Rhodesians were stuck in the time of about 1949*. Then suddenly the national boundaries were open to the media and other influences. "Modern" ideas began permeating. Many white Rhodesians panicked and became converts to extreme forms of evangelical Christianity, as the American missionaries began filtering in, past the old boundaries. When I left Zimbabwe in 1894, I would have to say I could not have been less prepared for the 1980s. Our media censorship had made us unaware of how much the rest of the world had moved on.
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* When I went back to Zimbabwe last year, I found elements of the society still hadn't moved on from 1949. For example, a pantomime I attended had as one of its jokes that Germans were very funny because they did the Hitler salute.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mthwakazi-Nation/162801343740250
Originally, colonial politics defined the boundaries of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe). The group that now wishes to secede was violently subdued after the anti-colonial war. It is said that 20, 000 were killed in what might be described as a genocidal act on the part of the guerrilla faction that came to power.
Even though the nature of identity is being disputed within Zimbabwe itself, it is undeniable that there is a common history shared by the peoples of Zimbabwe, based on the historical fact that boundaries were defined. Whatever people in Zimbabwe have experienced -- and whatever they now think and feel, based on what they have experienced -- is different from what those in the Republic of South Africa will think and feel. National boundaries have a psychological meaning simply because they are a historical fact.
Some of the ways that national boundaries define and help to shape and form community is in terms of what kinds of media are permitted within those boundaries. During the years of Rhodesian rule, those within the national boundaries were time-locked, in that ideologies that were not right wing and Christian were not permitted to permeate the borders. There was strong media censorship and this affected the cultures developing within the national boundaries. I would say, in general, Rhodesians were stuck in the time of about 1949*. Then suddenly the national boundaries were open to the media and other influences. "Modern" ideas began permeating. Many white Rhodesians panicked and became converts to extreme forms of evangelical Christianity, as the American missionaries began filtering in, past the old boundaries. When I left Zimbabwe in 1894, I would have to say I could not have been less prepared for the 1980s. Our media censorship had made us unaware of how much the rest of the world had moved on.
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* When I went back to Zimbabwe last year, I found elements of the society still hadn't moved on from 1949. For example, a pantomime I attended had as one of its jokes that Germans were very funny because they did the Hitler salute.
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