This article was downloaded by: [Brought to you by Unisa Library]On: 09 December 2013, At: 01:55Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

The Journal of Imperial andCommonwealth HistoryPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fich20

Crossing the Zambezi: The Politicsof Landscape on a Central AfricanFrontierSabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni aa Ferguson Centre for African & Asian Studies, The OpenUniversityPublished online: 16 Feb 2010.

To cite this article: Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2010) Crossing the Zambezi: The Politics ofLandscape on a Central African Frontier, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 38:1,164-166, DOI: 10.1080/03086530903538343

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03086530903538343

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (theContent) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fich20http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080/03086530903538343http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03086530903538343http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditionshttp://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Crossing the Zambezi: The Politics of Landscape on a Central African Frontier

JOANN MCGREGOR

London and Harare, James Currey and Weaver Press, 2009

v237 pp., ISBN: 978-1-84701-402-3 (James Currey cloth 50.00); ISBN: 978-1-77922-077-6 (Weaver Press paper)

164 Book Reviews

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Bro

ught

to y

ou b

y U

nisa

Lib

rary

] at

01:

55 0

9 D

ecem

ber

2013

Crossing the Zambezi: The Politics of Landscape on a Central African Frontier is a well

written and informative historical-geographical study of one of the relatively grey

areas in Zimbabwean historical studies. The book deals with a frontier region with

multi-layered histories mediated by pre-colonial experiences of violence, right

across the colonial period with its imperial-inspired ideologies of civilising mission

and developmentalism premised on taming the environment as well as those people

considered primitive and up to post-colonial politics with its violent power struggles

interlaced with attempts to win the hearts and minds of various peoples of the

Zambezian frontier region. There is no doubt that McGregor is a daring and versatile

historical geographer capable of handling and understanding a complex tapestry of

human relations, landscape, politics, development, as well as identity and memory.

The book succeeds to a large extent in showing the complex ways in which the

course and flow of the Great Zambezi River produced a particular human history,

fashioned and influenced particular ways of economic and political survival as well

as particular cultural practices. McGregor persuasively demonstrates how a particular

landscape produced a riverine people with a unique riverine culture. This is a point

that she clearly states in the introduction of the book as contributing to long-standing

debates over the relationship between geography and history, landscape and power.

While the book is focused on the stretch of the river, extending from Victoria Falls

downstream into Lake Kariba, that forms the present-day border between Zambia and

Zimbabwe, McGregor reveals that this small stretch has a rich history that deepens our

understand of present-day identities and particular forms of politics. In the book we

learn about the predatory activities of the centralised political formations of the

Ndebele, Lozi and Kololo and how they related to the river people comprising the

Leya, Nambya, Dombe, Goba, Tonga and even Korekore. These were decentralised

communities. We also learn about the complex unfolding of colonial encounters,

beginning with the arrival of David Livingstone and the explorers and on up to the

concession-seeking period and the eventual colonisation of the frontier region along-

side the interior. What is distinctive about McGregors book is its superb blending and

engagement with historical chronology and minute details without loosing the

thematic as well as the complex imbrications of the cultural and political into the

landscape and geography.

The book is based on a rich and creative use of archival, oral and secondary litera-

ture. In ten chapters, one learns of the river peoples deployment of memory to make

claims and back up politics of recognition, of the violence of the early colonial state as

it tried to bring colonial order in the frontier, how the building of the Victoria Bridge

and the Kariba Dam formed a basis of communal grievance that fed into nationalist

mobilisations of the 1960s and 1970s, how evictions formed the greatest travesty of

justice in the memory of the people acting as the prime memorial site and how the

knowledge of the river made the local people useful in facilitating the crossing of

the Zambezi River by ZIPRA (Zimbabwe Peoples Revolutionary Army) forces. One

also learns about how the Victoria Falls grew into a resort town and popular tourist

destination, and how the rise of a black-educated elite played a central role in the

revival of Tonga and Nambya identities upon which the seeds of nationalism sprouted.

The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 165

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Bro

ught

to y

ou b

y U

nisa

Lib

rary

] at

01:

55 0

9 D

ecem

ber

2013

The book further explores the roots of a politics of recognition and entitlement that

became louder after the achievement of independence and benefited from neo-

liberal discourses of rights and the flourishing of NGOs that sponsored local develop-

ment projects in Binga. In short, the book makes a solid contribution to a deeper

understanding of the various viewpoints of different actors in the Zambezi frontier

region at different historical junctures up to the present when Binga became a

fertile support-base for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Overall, McGregor must be commended for producing a lucidly written and easy to

read study that creatively deals with and brings together various themes of geography,

colonisation, displacement, evictions, landscape, culture, politics, economy, tourism

and identity to inform people-lived experiences in a frontier region. The book is rec-

ommended for all those interested in history, geography, development and ecological

studies.

SABELO J. NDLOVU-GATSHENI

Ferguson Centre for African & Asian Studies, The Open University

# 2010, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni

166 Book Reviews

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Bro

ught

to y

ou b

y U

nisa

Lib

rary

] at

01:

55 0

9 D

ecem

ber

2013