Southern Journal for Contemporary History

“Our Experiment”

2024-03-26T10:31:35+02:00

Ghana’s independence in 1957 was a milestone for African decolonisation, as well as for the winding up of the British Empire. While the years of Kwame Nkrumah’s government, as well as Britain’s decolonisation, have each been widely discussed, the perspective of bilateral post-colonial relations between Ghana and Britain has so far been underemphasised in literature. In this article, these relations are observed mostly from the perspective of British diplomats and civil servants who interacted with Ghana in the first years after independence between 1957 and 1966. The relationship is analysed through four most significant dimensions in the bilateral relations: Britain’s disagreement with Ghana on internal policies and international standpoints in the light of its Commonwealth membership; the economic level and the backlash to the 1961 budget, which was shaped by a British economist; the military assistance provided by Britain to Ghana, as a significant area of British influence; and the quarrel about Britain’s policies in Southern Africa, which in the course of the Rhodesia crisis led to the severing of diplomatic relations. As Ghana’s first President cracked down against internal opponents and stepped up the support for anticolonial movements and armed groups throughout the continent, Britain’s idea that Ghana might act as a role model for post-colonial relations and nation-building in Africa, as well as Ghana’s expectations for more British support, were equally disappointed.

Towards a history of xenophobia in Zimbabwe

2023-08-02T17:10:50+02:00

The article explores Zimbabwe’s history of racism, ethnicity, and other forms of “othering” from 1890 to 2020 and argues that, although scholars of Zimbabwe’s past have, hitherto, shied away from using the term, these pathologies amounted collectively to xenophobia. It calls on scholars of the country’s colonial history to investigate the degree to which the above pathologies were, arguably, xenophobic. The article argues that xenophobic tendencies in colonial and post-colonial Zimbabwe emanate from a number of key historical developments. These include the establishment of artificial colonial borders at the turn of the 19th century and the creation of an artificial nation-state called Southern Rhodesia, which engendered a new colonial identity that eventually crystallised into an exclusivist Zimbabwean nationalism and the divide and rule segregationist racial colonial policies that promoted national disharmony. Also significant was the development of the settler colonial economy and its insatiable hunger for cheap African labour, which led to labour migration from neighbouring countries and the socio-economic tensions this unleashed. Last was the role of an increasingly parochial Shona nationalism, which claimed the Shona as the real owners of the land and whose proponents advanced a particularistic rendition of the past that is known in Zimbabwean historiography as “patriotic history”. The article then concludes by sketching out the various manifestations of xenophobic tendencies in the country in the period under study. The study is essentially a reappraisal of Zimbabwean history and not a product of new research and fieldwork.

THE LAND QUESTION IN BOTSWANA: A COMMENTARY ON THE REPORT OF THE PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO THE REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION OF BOTSWANA

2023-05-26T17:41:01+02:00

The land question in Botswana dominated the public deliberations during the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Review of the Constitution of Botswana, which was appointed by the President of the Republic of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, on 17 December 2021. In the Constitution of Botswana, the subject of land is only mentioned curtly in section 8. However, in countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa, and Mozambique, national constitutions extensively deal with land issues. Batswana’s (citizens of Botswana) sustained and passionate debate suggests that they want the subject of land entrenched in the constitution should it be reviewed. The article is not a critique of the Report of the Presidential Commission in toto. It only analyses the major land issues raised and captured in it. The (illegal) selling of land; the role of the land boards and dikgosi (chiefs) in land administration; the impact of colonial land alienation; the compulsory acquisition of tribal land; the delays in land allocation; and the shortage of (serviced) land, among others, dominated the inquiries. These issues require an academic analysis to contextualise them and guide the national debate further. The article relies on the Report of the Presidential Commission, published works, and official documents from the government of Botswana. It concludes that the “absence” of the subject of land,and or land rights, in the constitution of Botswana is a concern in a liberal democratic society

Revisiting the Past: A History of European Wives in Colonial Nigeria, 1920-1960

2023-05-31T08:28:13+02:00

This article reconsiders the history of European wives in colonial Nigeria. It is an aspect of women’s studies that has elicited scholarly interest in the past three decades or so because of the peculiarities of the subject, gender and colonialism. The paper argues that the poor representations of this group in most colonial literature and male-authored memoirs were not an accurate reflection of colonial Nigeria. European women bypassed the hierarchies of Colonial Service and the trappings of imperial culture in Nigeria to create social inclusion and space. They also introduced British culture, diplomacy, cooperation and collaboration between the colonisers and the colonised. Using primary and secondary sources of data, official documents, journal articles, and internet materials to substantiate its claim, this paper reveals that European women’s history in colonial Nigeria was robust. It establishes that the policy change on White women’s exclusion in British West Africa was inevitable and existential because of interdependence, the challenges of malnutrition, and the desertion of soldiers. The paper concludes that the position of women cannot be overlooked in history, colonial society and culture.