This book is designed as a tribute and response to Yvonne Vera's famous novel Butterfly Burning, which is set in the Bulawayo townships in 1946 and dedicated to the author. It is an attempt to explore what historical research and reconstruction can add to the literary imagination.
Responding as it does to a novel, this history imitates some fictional modes. Two of its chapters are in effect 'scenes', dealing with brief periods of intense activity. Others are in effect biographies of 'characters'. The book draws upon and quotes from a rich body of urban oral memory. In addition to this historical/literary interaction the book is a contribution to the historiography of southern African cities, bringing out the experiential and cultural dimensions, and combining black and white urban social history.
TERENCE RANGER is Emeritus Rhodes Professor of Race Relations, University of Oxford.
Zimbabwe: Weaver Press
Details
First Published: 16 Sep 2010
13 Digit ISBN: 9781847010209
Pages: 272
Size: 23.4 x 15.6
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: James Currey
Subject:
African StudiesBIC Class: GTB
Details updated on 05 Sep 2010
Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Prelude: Bulawayo 1893-1930
- 3 The landscapes of Bulawayo
- 4 The first fires: December 1929
- 5 City versus state 1930-1946
- 6 Mr Black Bulawayo 1930-1948
- 7 The feminisation of black Bulawayo 1948-1960
- 8 Black Bulawayo transformed
- 9 Black Bulawayo burns 1960
- 10 Postlude: Bulawayo after 1960
