Privatisation and displacement of armed struggle archives in Zimbabwe.
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| Title: | Privatisation and displacement of armed struggle archives in Zimbabwe. |
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| Authors: | Ndlovu, Heather1,2 heatherndlovu@gmail.com, Bhebhe, Sindiso3 sbhebhe@csu.edu.au |
| Source: | Journal of the South African Society of Archivists. 2025, Vol. 58, p53-72. 20p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Archives, Access to archives, Anti-imperialist movements |
| Geographic Terms: | Zimbabwe |
| Abstract: | Access to the armed struggle archives in Zimbabwe has always been a challenge. The armed struggle heritage risks being a history without archives. Archives of the armed struggle are rarely found at the National Archives of Zimbabwe. The exceptions are only the oral archive of the armed struggle, collected by the National Archives of Zimbabwe, to address the paucity of archival documents about the liberation struggle. The political parties involved in the armed struggle keep their war of liberation archives in their party-political structures, as with the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). Some archives were migrated before independence in 1980, as in the case of the Rhodesian Army Archive, while others were confiscated by the ruling government, as exemplified by the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZPRA) archive. Using the lens of the critical archival praxis as the theoretical framework, this conceptual paper critically analyses the privatisation of the armed struggle archives through a literature review. The persistent theme that runs through this phenomenon is the deliberate controlled access to no access. The study was guided by the research objectives, which sought to assess the archive of the liberation struggle and politics of memory; examine the expropriation of the Rhodesian Army Archive and the custody question; analyse archival repatriation of the Rhodesian Army (RAA) amidst provenance issues, and assess the privatisation of the archives of Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) amidst patriotic history in Zimbabwe. Further to that is the confiscation, privatisation, sanitisation, and propagandisation of the armed struggle archives by those in power. This paper recommends collaborative partnerships between the National Archives of Zimbabwe and stakeholders in custody of the privatised armed struggle heritage to safeguard and promote enhanced access to liberation struggle archives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Journal of the South African Society of Archivists is the property of South African Society of Archivists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 191637751 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Privatisation and displacement of armed struggle archives in Zimbabwe. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ndlovu%2C+Heather%22">Ndlovu, Heather</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo><i> heatherndlovu@gmail.com</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Bhebhe%2C+Sindiso%22">Bhebhe, Sindiso</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo><i> sbhebhe@csu.edu.au</i> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+the+South+African+Society+of+Archivists%22">Journal of the South African Society of Archivists</searchLink>. 2025, Vol. 58, p53-72. 20p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Archives%22">Archives</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Access+to+archives%22">Access to archives</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Anti-imperialist+movements%22">Anti-imperialist movements</searchLink> – Name: SubjectGeographic Label: Geographic Terms Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Zimbabwe%22">Zimbabwe</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Access to the armed struggle archives in Zimbabwe has always been a challenge. The armed struggle heritage risks being a history without archives. Archives of the armed struggle are rarely found at the National Archives of Zimbabwe. The exceptions are only the oral archive of the armed struggle, collected by the National Archives of Zimbabwe, to address the paucity of archival documents about the liberation struggle. The political parties involved in the armed struggle keep their war of liberation archives in their party-political structures, as with the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). Some archives were migrated before independence in 1980, as in the case of the Rhodesian Army Archive, while others were confiscated by the ruling government, as exemplified by the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZPRA) archive. Using the lens of the critical archival praxis as the theoretical framework, this conceptual paper critically analyses the privatisation of the armed struggle archives through a literature review. The persistent theme that runs through this phenomenon is the deliberate controlled access to no access. The study was guided by the research objectives, which sought to assess the archive of the liberation struggle and politics of memory; examine the expropriation of the Rhodesian Army Archive and the custody question; analyse archival repatriation of the Rhodesian Army (RAA) amidst provenance issues, and assess the privatisation of the archives of Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) amidst patriotic history in Zimbabwe. Further to that is the confiscation, privatisation, sanitisation, and propagandisation of the armed struggle archives by those in power. This paper recommends collaborative partnerships between the National Archives of Zimbabwe and stakeholders in custody of the privatised armed struggle heritage to safeguard and promote enhanced access to liberation struggle archives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of the South African Society of Archivists is the property of South African Society of Archivists and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=191637751 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.4314/jsasa.v58i1.5 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 20 StartPage: 53 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Archives Type: general – SubjectFull: Access to archives Type: general – SubjectFull: Anti-imperialist movements Type: general – SubjectFull: Zimbabwe Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Privatisation and displacement of armed struggle archives in Zimbabwe. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Ndlovu, Heather – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Bhebhe, Sindiso IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Text: 2025 Type: published Y: 2025 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 10122796 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 58 Titles: – TitleFull: Journal of the South African Society of Archivists Type: main |
| ResultId | 1 |
