3. Land Alienation, Land Struggles and the Rise of Nationalism in Rhodesia

This chapter acts as a prelude which frames the examination of the second chimurenga in Chapters 4 and 5. In discussing land alienation, land struggles and the rise of nationalism in Rhodesia in the intervening period between the first and second zvimurenga, the chapter brings to the fore the deep grievances around land under colonial subjugation, which resulted in localised resistance and struggles in the Reserves, later Tribal Trust Lands. Grievances and struggles were firmly embedded in the historical memories of rural people as they engaged with guerrilla armies during the second chimurenga. The chapter shows social differentiation within the reserves and the tensions which sometimes arose because of this differentiation. In the case of both the pre-nationalist days and the days of emerging mass nationalism from the mid-1950s, the chapter stresses the ways in which Africans drew upon their localised experiences and grievances when confronting the colonial order, including the agrarian and land reconfiguration of the reserves. As well, the chapter has a specific focus on women, as they struggled not only against a colonial order but also a patriarchal order.