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Abstract
Drawing from the last five years of chimurenga, Zimbabwe’s war of self-liberation from the early 1960s to 1980s, this paper shows that the most important aspect of technology and innovation in Africa is not the technology and innovation itself, but the African spirit of creative resilience born of the specificities of struggles its people have endured. By creative resilience is meant a phenomenon whereby, even where death is the outcome, and where the situation is insurmountable, people do not just surrender to fate, but die fighting. As a site of creative resilience, chimurenga is the ultimate site of creative labor and a vast laboratory, not simply a destination for incoming technologies, or a 'user' space but generative of its own insurgent and counter-insurgent innovations. Focusing on the communal war effort involving guerrillas and ordinary Africans in the rear bases of Mozambique and Zambia and on the front inside Zimbabwe, the paper makes its argument through a focus on healthcare innovation.
Notes
1. See Godin, “Innovation.”
2. Nass, “Zimbabwe’s Anthrax Epizootic,” 1; Nass, “Anthrax Epizootic in Zimbabwe”; see also Sterne 1967, 1493–5 and Lawrence, Foggin, and, Norval 1980, 82–5.
3. Hoffman, Taw, and Arnold, Lessons.
4. Locke and Cooke, Fighting Vehicles and Wood, “The Pookie.”
5. Lester, Protection of Light Skinned Vehicles.
6. ACIL Tasman, Bushranger Project.
7. Tilley, Living Laboratory.
8. Chung, Re-living Chimurenga; Tekere, A Lifetime of Struggle; Bhebe, Simon Vengesayi Muzenda; Mhanda, Dzino; Mutambara, The Rebel in Me and Sadomba, War Veterans.
9. For example, Smith, The Great Betrayal; Smith, Bitter Harvest.
10. Kriger, Zimbabwe’s Guerrilla War; Alexander, McGregor, and Ranger, Violence and Memory and Bhebe and Ranger, Soldiers.
11. The word ‘Shona’ is an invention of the European colonist, who corrupted the Ndebele’s reference to their eastern neighbors as abatshona (the ones who go under [retreat into caves and fight therefrom]). I prefer dzimbahwe people (those who built their houses in stone), drawing on Mufuka, Dzimbahwe, and Pikirayi, The Zimbabwe Culture. Hence my preference for vedzimbahwe (those of dzimbahwe).
12. See Ranger, Revolt; Beach, Mapondera and van Onselen, Chibaro.
13. Ranger, Voices from the Rocks; Lan, Guns and Rain and Daneel, Guerrilla Snuff.
14. See Feierman and Janzen, The Social Basis.
15. Ndlovu, “Interview: Benjamin Dube.”
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. “Nkomo, ZAPU Secretary of Administration,” 225.
21. Herald Reporter, “VP Nkomo Mourns Bango.”
22. Gwaunza, “Sakupwanya.”
23. Ndlovu, “Interview: Benjamin Dube.”
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Thomson, The Adventures of Shadrek, 280.
27. Ndlovu, “Interview: Benjamin Dube.”
28. Ndlovu and Nkomo, “Interview: Poli,” 7.
29. Ndlovu, “Interview with Regina Ndlovu,” 19.
30. Ndlovu, “Interview: Benjamin Dube.”
31. Nhongo-Simbanegavi, For Better or Worse?
32. Ndlovu and Nkomo, “Interview:Ndebele,” 11.
33. Ndlovu, “Interview: Benjamin Dube.”
34. Ibid.
35. Mutambara, The Rebel in Me, 73.
36. Huni, “Chimoio Massacre” and Mutambara, The Rebel in Me, 150.
37. “The Grim Realities of War.”
38. Huni, “Bush Doctor.”
39. Ibid.
40. “Sekeramayi, ZANU – Student in Sweden.”
41. Huni, “Chimoio Massacre.”
42. Huni, “The Gun was a Prison for Sell-outs.”
43. Mutanda, “Age Couldn’t Dissuade His War Effort.”
44. Ruvando, “Indigenous Spirits.”
45. Karsholm, “Memoirs,” 17.
46. Ruvando, “Indigenous Spirits.”
47. Huni, “Give Me My Gun”; Huni, “Commander Who Captured the First White Man” and SAHA, ZAPU, 25.
48. Huni, “Give Me My Gun” and Huni, “Face-to-Face with the Real ‘Gandangas’.”
49. Huni, “Bush Doctor” and Huni, “Commander Who Captured the First White Man.”
50. Huni, “Chimoio Massacre.”
51. Huni, “Give Me My Gun.”
52. Musungate, “Father Relives Battle of Mavhonde.”
53. Huni, “Give Me My Gun.”
54. Ibid.
55. “The Grim Reality of War.”
56. Huni, “Bush Doctor.”
57. Kadungure, “Cde Bandera.”
58. Huni, “Give Me My Gun.”
59. Ibid.
60. Huni, “Chimoio Massacre.”
61. “The Grim Reality of War.”
62. Huni, “Cde Chinx.”
63. Huni, “Chimoio Massacre.”
64. Huni, “The Rear was a Big War Front.”
65. Huni, “Give Me My Gun.”
66. “The Grim Reality of War.”
67. Dhliwayo, Endless Journey, 58, 73.
68. “Health Services at Risk” and “BP Helps Make Chemical Weapons.”
69. Mutambara, The Rebel in Me, 50–1 and Ngulube, “She Felt Being Chimbwido: Part One.”
70. Mutambara, The Rebel in Me, 51 and Dhliwayo, Endless Journey, 76.
71. Zimbabwe Not Rhodesia, 13.
72. ZIMA, “Report,” 2–3; Zimbabwe Not Rhodesia, 16.
73. Sellström, Sweden and National Liberation.
74. ZIMA, “Report,” 2–3.
75. Ibid., 4.
76. Ibid., 4.
77. Zimbabwe Medical Drive, 1. ZMD was a Seattle-based group of Zimbabweans and North Americans raising money and educating Americans on the Zimbabwean struggle for self-liberation.
78. ZMD Poster; ZMD, “Benefit Rummage Sale.”
79. C-U Coalition against Apartheid.
80. Zimbabwe Not Rhodesia, 16.
81. Kriger, Zimbabwe’s Guerrilla War, 62.
82. ZANU Support Committee, Medical Aid to Zimbabwe.
83. Kriger, Zimbabwe’s Guerrilla War, 62.
84. Mavhunga, “Vermin Beings,” 166–8 and Mutambara, The Rebel in Me, 202.
85. Daneel, Guerrilla Snuff, 9.
86. Parker, Assignment Selous Scout, 170–1; “The Grim Reality of War.”
87. “The Grim Reality of War”; Zimbabwe Not Rhodesia, 7.
88. Nass, “Zimbabwe’s Anthrax Epizootic,” 1; Nass, “Anthrax Epizootic in Zimbabwe”; see also Sterne 1967: 1493–5; Lawrence, Foggin, and, Norval 1980, 82–5.
89. Davies, “A Major Epidemic of Anthrax Part I”; Davies, “A Major Epidemic of Anthrax Part II.”
90. Parker, Assignment Selous Scouts, 176.
91. “Interview: Dr. Timothy Stamps” and Siamonga, “Rhodesian Landmines.”
92. Lan, Guns and Rain, 5.
93. Daneel, Guerilla Snuff, 157.
94. Lan, Guns and Rain, 5.
95. Daneel, Guerilla Snuff.
96. Damasane, “Spirituality.”
97. Alexander, McGregor, and Ranger, Violence and Memory, 170–1. Contrary to Brickhill, “Daring”.
98. Mutanda, “Muumbe” and Lan, Guns and Rain, 4.
99. Mutanda, “A Combatant’s Reflections.”
100. Ibid.
101. Mutanda, “No Walk.”
102. Mukwenje, “My Liberation War Experience: Part Four.”
103. Dhliwayo, Endless Journey, 79.
104. Rhodesian Army, Soldier’s Handbook, 40–1, my emphasis.
105. Daneel, Guerrilla Snuff, 137.
106. Bhebe, The ZAPU and ZANU Guerrilla Warfare and McLaughlin, On the Frontline.
107. Daneel, Guerrilla Snuff, 38.
108. Lamont, Speech from the Dock, 68–70.
109. Huni, “Chitepo’s Death.”
110. Herald Reporter, “Tswarayi Hero Status Clarified.”
111. Huni, “Give Me My Gun.”
112. Ibid.
113. Ndlovu, “Interview: Thadeus Parks Ndlovu,” 5.
114. Huni, “Gabarinocheka.”
115. Huni, “Give Me My Gun.”
116. Sunday News Reporter, “Dube’s Military Exploits.”
117. Mutambara, The Rebel in Me, 105.
118. Huni, “Bush Doctor” and Huni, “Cde Chinx.”
119. Ibid.
120. Huni, “Bush Doctor.”
121. Mwale, “Stark Reminder.”
122. Huni, “Chitepo’s Death”; Huni, “Cde Chinx” and Chipamaunga, A Fighter for Freedom.
123. Zimbabwe Not Rhodesia, 13.
124. ZIMA, “Report,” 5.