Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- 1 A Mixed Pot: The Crafting of Identity
- 2 The Historical Landscape of Southeast Africa
- 3 Early Exchanges: Political and Economic Contexts
- 4 Ties That Bind: Social Structures and Cultural Practices
- 5 Keeping up Appearances: Identity and Adornment
- 6 Brewing Beer, Making Rain, and Holding Court
- 7 Memories and Identities in the Shadow of Ngungunyana
- 8 Past and Present in the Ndau Region
- Notes
- Glossary of Ndau and Portuguese Words
- Bibliography
- Index
- Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora
1 - A Mixed Pot: The Crafting of Identity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- 1 A Mixed Pot: The Crafting of Identity
- 2 The Historical Landscape of Southeast Africa
- 3 Early Exchanges: Political and Economic Contexts
- 4 Ties That Bind: Social Structures and Cultural Practices
- 5 Keeping up Appearances: Identity and Adornment
- 6 Brewing Beer, Making Rain, and Holding Court
- 7 Memories and Identities in the Shadow of Ngungunyana
- 8 Past and Present in the Ndau Region
- Notes
- Glossary of Ndau and Portuguese Words
- Bibliography
- Index
- Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora
Summary
We cannot say there is still Ndau. People are now modernized. Ndau is disappearing. I do not want to lie to you. … When you come here you call us VaNdau.
—Sarai Nyabanga SitholeNdau is difficult.
—Jona Mwaoneni MakuyanaThis study examines the complicated and ambiguous process of identity formation over several centuries in a corner of southeast Africa. In the region of eastern Zimbabwe and central Mozambique, the Ndau of the highlands and coastal plain drew on cultural, social, and political aspects of their identity to craft a sense of Ndauness between 1500 and 1900. The histories and material culture that shaped this sense of identity form the subject of this book. Ndau speakers came to be called Ndau long before the arrival of formal colonialism in the late nineteenth century, and I trace here the relationship between social identity and political power as far back as the fifteenth century to reveal how intriguing historical factors led to shifts in Ndauness before the arrival of missionaries and colonial officials on the continent. Drawing on rich historical data gathered from Ndau elders and gleaned in written documents, I contend that the shared Ndau identity that emerged in twentieth-century Zimbabwe and Mozambique stems from a long period of transformation that included the development of common cultural traits, mutually intelligible dialects, and a political history of both state formation and fragmentation.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Crafting Identity in Zimbabwe and Mozambique , pp. 1 - 24Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2007