Conceptualizing Ndebele particularism in the context of the Zimbabwean crisis.

Abstract

This research was carried to understand the impact of the Zimbabwean crisis on the intersections between ethnic and national identities. This research therefore investigates the escalation of ethno-particularism amongst some Ndebeles in the post-2000 implosion of the economic, constitutional and social crises by analyzing how media literature projected Ndebele particularism to contest issues of nationalism, citizenship and nationality in the Zimbabwean nation-state project. A historical background of Ndebele particularism and its ambivalent relationship to both ZANU PF’s nationalism and the Zimbabwean nation traced from the rise of early African nations in the 1950s to the events of struggle and the attainment of Independence and to the feelings of persecution and marginality by some Ndebeles that characterize the political discourse of Matabeleland and have been intensified by the Zimbabwean crisis. This research therefore revealed findings that may help in the de-escalation of ethnic particularism in Zimbabwe and assist in the rehabilitation of multiple identities to create common citizen nation identity which accommodates plurality and respects difference.