GUNS AND RAIN: GUERILLAS AND SPIRIT MEDIUMS IN ZIMBABWE (David Lan).   Term Paper ID:29986 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Review of Lan's book on Zimbabwe during the anti-Colonial struggle for independence (1966-1980).... More...

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Paper Abstract: Review of Lan's book on Zimbabwe during the anti-Colonial struggle for independence (1966-1980). Focuses on the way in which African religion (Spirit Mediums) of the Shon people joined forces with the military. Transformation of guns/death to life-giving forces and independence through the Mediums. History of Zimbabwe. Government administration of the country. Paper Introduction: David Lan’s Guns and Rain: Guerillas and Spirit Mediums in Zimbabwe examines both the larger culture of this African nation and the particular ways certain cultural vectors came together during the anti-colonial struggle for independence that extended from 1966 to 1980 during which thousands of the country’s peasants (who were living traditional lives in many ways set fundamentally apart from the formal political life and struggles of the urban population) joined with the pro-independence guerillas to provide both practical help and psychological support. This support was spearheaded throughout the country by hundreds of spirit mediums, the religious leaders of the Shona people. It was through the support of these mediums, Lan makes clear, that the scale of the war expanded into a wide-scale act of co Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The 12 members of the House of Assemblyare elected by direct popular vote. For the purposes of local administration Zimbabwe is divided intoeight provinces, each administered by a commissioner appointed by thecentral government. Roman Catholics,Anglicans, Methodists, and Presbyterians are large groups, but manyindependent churches are also active and probably becoming more so.Approximately 4 percent of the people of Zimbabwe follow traditionalreligions, and many of those who profess to be Christians also probablyfollow traditional religious practices either in addition to Christianityor in day-to-day life in lieu of it. Changamire conquered most ofthe Mutapa Empire at the end of the 17th century. It is important to acknowledge these urban centersbecause they are a defining part of the culture of Zimbabwe in the 2 th -and 21st - centuries, and all aspects of the culture are now defined bothin terms of the fact that there is a split between rural and urban life andalso the fact that individuals have to try constantly to mend this split intheir own lives. Lan's work, while primarily an examination of the war of independence,is also a general ethnography in that it provides a general background tothe cultural structures of the country. The formal political structure of the country is a familiar one forpost-colonial governments in Africa. And a woman loses the right to cultivateher fields after her husband's death - even the right to put forth her ownlabor is denied to her. Otherleading crops include peanuts, potatoes, beans, and oranges. The president appoints the vice president and a cabinet.Legislative power in Zimbabwe is vested in a parliament that consists of aHouse of Assembly and a Senate. The earliest known civilization in Zimbabwe was based on theexploitation of rich deposits of gold. The two leading political parties were, until December 1987, theruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and themain opposition group, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), unitedas ZANU-PF in 1987 and 1988. The parliament sits for a maximum of fiveyears. The newcomers may have been the Karanga, who arebelieved to be the ancestors of the modern Shona. The most important Bantu languages are Shona and Ndebele. Zimbabwe's capital and largest city is Harare (formerly known asSalisbury) and the country has another of other major urban centers,including Bulawayo, an important railroad junction and manufacturingcenter; Gwelo, or Gweru, a mining center; Umtali, or Mutare, located in anagricultural and lumbering region; and Que Que, or Kwekwe, an industrialand mining center. Smith, declaredindependence on November 11, 1965. Foreseeing his defeat, Prime Minister Smith inMarch 1978 signed an accord with three relatively moderate black leaders. Thissupport was spearheaded throughout the country by hundreds of spiritmediums, the religious leaders of the Shona people. Women are expected to bevirgins when they marry and to be monogamous after marriage. London: James Curry. During the mfecane, the great migrations of the 183 s, the Ngoni, ontheir march north, destroyed Changamire, and the Ndebele soon after settledin the western part of the country. At the beginning of the 14th century a large centralized state,later known as the Mwene Mutapa Empire, came into being. The Portuguese, who gained a toehold on the Mozambique coast shortlyafter 15 , sent missionaries to Mwene Mutapa, and by 1629 they had reducedthe once powerful empire to a vassal state. These demands were renewed after the war, and in 1923 theBritish proclaimed Southern Rhodesia, as the country had become known, aself-governing British colony. By about 11 they haddeveloped important trade in gold and ivory with ports in present-dayMozambique. Women are believed to have no knowledge of the past -and knowledge of the past is the basis for all authority. (1985). Before World War I (1914-1918) the white settlers had begun to demandself-government. Bantu invaders conquered the areaperhaps as early as AD 8 and began the great Zimbabwe complex, now inruins, near Masvingo. These occupationsindicate not only a great deal about the staple diets of the people buttheir inclusion in international economic activities. Pressured by South Africa totake a more conciliatory stance, Smith initiated talks with black leaders.In late 1976 Nkomo and Robert Mugabe, both of whom lived in exile, formedthe Patriotic Front, which in 1977 and 1978 began a guerrilla campaign tooverthrow the Smith regime. Executive authority in Zimbabwe is vested in apresident, who is nominated and elected to a six-year term by the membersof parliament. After two years of abortivenegotiations, the white government, led by Ian D. Mining of chromium, iron, asbestos and cobalt is very important,but manufacturing is also well developed, although more than two-thirds ofZimbabwe's economically active population is engaged in agriculture. There are noindividual ritual roles open to women and even most roles as mediums areclosed to them. The bulk of Zimbabwe's population is formed by two major Bantu-speaking ethnic groups: the Mashona (who are also called Shona) whoconstitute at least 7 percent of the total population, and the Ndebele (orMatabele), who constitute about 15 percent of the total and areconcentrated in the southwestern regions. It was through the support of these mediums, Lan makes clear, that thescale of the war expanded into a wide-scale act of collaboration betweenthe living and the dead, between generations of ancestors and generationsof their descendants. While Lan's exploration of the ways in which religious and militaryforces come together is fascinating (and has many parallels in bothChristianity and Islam), his discussion of gender (which is almostunrelated) is also deeply compelling. Much of the population in Zimbabwe is formally educated, unlike thepopulations in traditional pre-196 s ethnographies. From 1953 to 1963 it was a member of theFederation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. These forms of local government reflect even moredeeply than the national government traditional tribal loyalties anddivisions and the ways in which power is accumulated amongst certainfamilies through the demonstration of personal attributes includinggenerosity and courage. David Lan's Guns and Rain: Guerillas and Spirit Mediums in Zimbabweexamines both the larger culture of this African nation and the particularways certain cultural vectors came together during the anti-colonialstruggle for independence that extended from 1966 to 198 during whichthousands of the country's peasants (who were living traditional lives inmany ways set fundamentally apart from the formal political life andstruggles of the urban population) joined with the pro-independenceguerillas to provide both practical help and psychological support. Morethan half the population is nominally Christian. English is the official language of Zimbabwe, and continues to be animportant part of the linguistic mix even in the post-independence state ofthe country. Theprincipal cash crop is tobacco, which is grown mainly in the northern andcentral regions. Guns and rain: Guerillas and spirit mediums in Zimbabwe. In the mid-197 s the dissolution of Portugal's empire in Africa leftRhodesia in an increasingly isolated position. Higher educational institutions include anumber of teachers' colleges and several agricultural and technical schoolsas well as the University of Zimbabwe at Harare. Asettlement was reached at a conference in London later in 1979, and Britainresumed control of the country. Other cash crops include coffee, cotton, and sugarcane,maize and other food crops such as millet, sorghum, and wheat. Primary education inZimbabwe is both free and compulsory, which shapes people's ability andinclination to interact with non-traditional cultural and socialinstitutions and practices. A man'sproperty is inherited only by his sons. The book focuses on one area of operation in theZambezi valley, taking its title from Lan's explanation of the meaning ofboth war and independence for the Shona people, who came to independencethrough the guns used by the nationalist guerillas as well as the mediumsof the spirits of the Shona royal ancestors, who are the bringers of rainin a part of the world in which rain is vital and eternally life-giving.The war became a convergence of forces in which the guns that brought deathwere transformed by the help of the mediums into life-giving forces as welland independence - a political category that has initially meant somethingforeign to the natives, became part of the ancestral practice of bringinglife. Only men can inherit or attain positions of authority withinthe lineage system. Livestockraising and dairying are also of major importance. This extension of theeconomy of the household into the economy of the world at large has shiftedtraditional cultural categories without entirely transforming them. The average life expectancy in the late 198 s was 63 years for womenand 59 years for men; the infant mortality rate was 67 per 1 livebirths. ReferencesLan, D. This formal political structure has not replaced traditional tribalstructures but exists as a sort of parallel system of power in whichtraditional power systems and beliefs have been reified and reaffirmed inthe post-colonial world. After a rapidterritorial expansion in the 15th century, this polity split, and asouthern kingdom of Changamire was established. These parties play an important part inLan's narrative, even though formal political parties are generally absentfrom ethnographies. Subsequent white settlement and encroachment on native lands undercompany auspices brought warfare with both the Ndebele and the Shona thatcontinued until 1897. According to the constitution thatwent into effect in 198 , Zimbabwe is a sovereign republic and guaranteesthe fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual, regardless of race,tribe, or place of origin. This is a relatively healthy population for a developing country,and this is an important part of the story of pro-independence resistance.The essential cohesiveness of traditional culture and the not un-relatedhealth of the people in general made resistance a political possibility.Without these conditions, no amount of skillful cultural manipulation byguerillas acting with or against the traditional spiritual leaders couldhave brought about the same results. The country also has smallminorities of Europeans, Asians, and persons of mixed race that are in ofmuch more recent stay in the country and are of little importance inunderstanding traditional categories and practices. African nationalists, led notably byJoshua Nkomo, opposed the federation, but their movements were banned bythe white government. Zimbabwe has one of the most diversified economies of any Africannation. The 2 seats formerly reserved forwhite members were abolished late in 1987. A woman may leave property to adaughter, but it is then given without the ceremony that accompanies thetransferal of property to sons. Women in Shona society are given veryfew rights. The Senate has 4 members: 24elected by members of the House of Assembly, 1 elected by traditionalchiefs (5 from among the Mashona and 5 from the Ndebele), and 6 appointedby the country's president. In 1888 King Lobengula of the Ndebelegranted mining rights to the British colonialist Cecil Rhodes, and thefollowing year Rhodes obtained a charter for his British South AfricaCompany. A new opposition party, the Zimbabwe UnityMovement, was established in 1989. On marriage, women adopt the clan name of their husband.Men may have more than one wife and many affairs. When the federation was dissolved in 1963, the white settlers pressedfor independence, which the British government refused to grant withoutsafeguards for ultimate African control. The fact that so much ofthe population is educated does not - as Lan makes clear - mean that theyhave turned away from the traditional religion but rather that they havelearned to use it (and perhaps to believe in it) in more sophisticated andmore complex ways. In the free elections of February 198 Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) won a landslidevictory. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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