2017 Blog Review

2017 Blog Review

By Brian Maregedze

As the year started uncertainties on the New Curriculum clouded the first month of the year. There was the implementation of the long awaited recommendations of the Nziramasanga commission of enquiry. The readership and popularity of this blog increased, with 2016 having an average readership of 1 940 per month whilst in 2017 followers, readers have increased to an average readership, viewership of over 20 000 per month. More interesting is that some high school students, teachers have managed to embrace E-learning using this blog for their respective arts subjects. Focus had been generally on History and Divinity when the blog was born, however, Sociology, Family & Religious Studies have been added to the list. What are some of the topical issues posted and the future prospects for readers?

Over the thirty articles have been posted with demands rising, email responses from teachers and students increasing. The following posts have been outstanding receiving many comments from readers countrywide;

Discuss Hosea’s marriage and his message
History of Zimbabwe Advanced Level Notes
Understanding Family & Religious Studies Vol. 1, Book Review
Advanced Level Sociology Seminar a success at Kondo High School in Guruve
Sampling Techniques with Brian Maregedze
Family & Religious Studies Revision Questions (Advanced Level)
A Reconstruction of Paul’s Life and the nature of his Ministry
History Major Career Opportunities
A True prophet of Robert Mugabe’s demise in 2017-Makandiwa or Ken Yamamoto?
Emmanuel Makandiwa and Zimbabwe’s succession storm revisited, 2017
Latest Book. Great Zimbabwe: Who Built it and Why?

The above posts dominated in terms of responses for the year 2017 and more articles will be posted in 2018. Dealing with question and answers as usual will be carried out. Critical analysis on developments within the History, Div/F&RS and Sociology shall be dealt with in detail. Over twenty schools were visited in Harare and some beyond as a result of internet use and finding the blog useful for examination preparation and daily class researches. With a passion to provide an alternative space for students, teachers to interact and learn this platform is serving many and more shall be dealt with in the coming.  Some challenges encountered by readers include failure to access this blog and some students, teachers would make attempts to re-send to their friends, colleagues using other social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook. The blogger will definitely organise with readers to visit more places physically in 2018. As we prepare for 2018, lets send our important areas of study, topics so that they are dealt with in detail. FARE thee well 2017.

Economic History-A Degree to Pursue

Economic History- A Degree to Pursue

By Brian Maregedze

A number of humanities,arts candidates at Advanced level struggle in deciding which programme/s to pursue for their tertiary studies. Today's blog post offers students, parents, among other interested parties to learn and understand that there are many opportunities to exploit. What is Economic History? What are its demands and career opportunities available in Zimbabwe and beyond? The foregoing lines shall assist in responding to all these questions.

DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
University of Zimbabwe

Honours Degree
in Economic History
Defining Economic History:
   >Economic History is the study and understanding of economic processes from both the recent and distant pasts

Duration of programme:
4 years
Entry Requirements

Normally the applicant must obtain a Pass in ‘A’ Level Economic History, or History, Sociology, Geography or Economics and any other subject approved by the Board.
Applicants with either a post ‘A’ Level relevant qualification or with relevant work experience may be admitted with approval of Senate.

Potential Job Market

A  graduand in Economic History is an informed economic analyst trained to interpret from an economic vantage point. For this reason, Economic Historians are  eligible for employment in the following sectors

Ministries and government departments engaged in Economic Planning, Industrial development, Labour issues, Agriculture, Mining etc
NGO Sector
Banking sector as an economic advisor/planner/analyst
International organisations and corporations such as SADC, the AU, UN and their Subsidiaries.
Ministry of Education – Economic History has recently been introduced into the secondary/high school education system
Good students in Economic History get scholarships in post-graduate studies with international universities and become employed as academics with prestigious institutions.

Facts about the Department of
Economic History, UZ

The Department of Economic History is housed under the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zimbabwe.
In Zimbabwe, Economic History is offered as a stand-alone Degree only at the country’s prestigious University of Zimbabwe
The Department has Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with Lund University, Sweden and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, which allow for student and Lecturer exchange programmes between universities.
MOU’s with local organisations have been signed to help students access industrial attachment smoothly.
The Department boasts of many of its products who are academics and professionals in prestigious institutions
Students in the Department are trained to be alert and critical economic thinkers.
The Department has vibrant academic engagements through seminar presentations held at least twice monthly during the semester. Local and international presenters participate in these seminars.
The Department is affiliated to an international organisation called Rethinking Economics (RE) through its members who are part of Economic Thinkers (ET) – ZimChapter, a local branch of RE. RE finances local events such as workshops and conferences.
Economic History gives you the best of two worlds i.e. Economics and History and allows for flexibility and greater opportunities from these worlds.

The Mandate of the Department of Economic History

To be the number one department in producing well-rounded graduate that are critical economic thinkers.
To be internationally recognised as one of the best departments in African and International Economic History.
To be an economic think tank for the country, the continent and the world at large.
To contribute positively towards the economic planning and development of the country.

Highlights of courses offered in the Programme:

Introduction to Economic History

Introduction to Research Methods in Economic Studies

Theories and Concepts of Development

Introduction to Gender in Economic History

Development of Economic Thought                                       

Economics for Economic Historians

Economic History of the Developing World                                  

Industrialisation of the First World

The Zimbabwean Pre-colonial Economy                                                    

Women in Pre-colonial Societies   

Sustainability and Economic Development

Historiography of the Zimbabwean Economy

Wealth, Poverty and Inequality

Slavery and Slave Trade in the World

Histories of Labour Policies in Africa

Development and Livelihoods in the Third World

Intermediate Research Methods: Concepts And Techniques

The Zimbabwean Economy Since 1965

Gender and the Labour Market

Labour Movements: Comparative Studies

Food Security: A Comparative Study

Natural Resources and Economic Development in the Third World

Economic Crises and Crisis Economies

Business History of Africa

Advanced Seminar Series: Development of Industry & Mining

Advanced Seminar Series on Land and Environment

Advanced Seminar on Gender

Rural and Urban Development in Africa

Banking History of Africa

Religion and Economic Development

Migration and Development in Africa

Economic Co-operation in Africa

For more information contact us on:

Department of Economic History
University of Zimbabwe
P O Box MP167, Mt Pleasant, Harare
Tel:          +263 4 303211 Extn: 14064/5
Cell:    +263 772 584 701
    +263717245382
Email.    econhist@arts,uz.ac.zw
               ushehwedu@gmail.com

Divinity, Sociology and History A'level: Latest Book. Great Zimbabwe: Who Built it and Why?...

Divinity, Sociology and History A'level: Latest Book. Great Zimbabwe: Who Built it and Why?...: Latest Book. Great Zimbabwe: Who Built it and Why? Cosmas Nyamutswa, Themba Books, Harare, 2017, $USA/ZIM BOND 20.00 Book Review By Brian...

Latest Book. Great Zimbabwe: Who Built it and Why?

Latest Book. Great Zimbabwe: Who Built it and Why?

Cosmas Nyamutswa, Themba Books, Harare, 2017, $USA/ZIM BOND 20.00

Book Review

By Brian Maregedze

The Great Zimbabwe has been a subject of various interpretations, debates revolving on who built it and the purpose for its construction has been a thorny issue in historical and archaeological studies not leaving out anthropological studies among others. Cosmas Nyamutswa ‘s almost a decade research on the Great Zimbabwe promises much and yet delivers little as this review shall critically unpack. A Zimbabwean pilot by profession, Cosmas Nyamutswa made the effort to do it the antiquarian way which is rather not new in historical studies, however the question remains, how different is he from other researched works on the Great Zimbabwe? To what extent does the book achieve its main objective of offering a possibility for coming up with reasonable, acceptable arguments on who built the Great Zimbabwe and why? Captain Cosmas Nyamurswa pushes for the need to have a refocus on T. N Huffman’s initiation ceremony argument on why Great Zimbabwe was built. The circumcision theory is put forward by the author which then strengthens his position on who built it and why. This book is no doubt a worth read for anyone and everyone interested in the Zimbabwean story, for the soapstone so called Zimbabwe bird explanation is put into question. I intentionally note, so-called Zimbabwe bird since there is another explanation offered by this new 2017 publication. Another explanation on the phalli found at Great Zimbabwe is put into scrutiny thereby making attempts to debunk from the conventional view of the bird/s. How convincing is the circumcision theory on the Great Zimbabwe?

On 26 October 2017 presenting in the Department of History at the University of Zimbabwe, Captain Cosmas Nyamustwa disappointingly started by retrieving a statement mistakenly attributed to Dr. Plan Shenjere-Nyabenzi written in his book noting that, “archaeologists know 100% about Great Zimbabwe. The debate on Great Zimbabwe is a done deal… There is really nothing to debate”. This statement no doubt is fallacious and it has no substantial grounding in academic discourse. Having said that, the author went on disclose that he is neither a historian nor an archaeologist but rather a professional trained pilot who last studied History at form two. The zeal for writing the book is inspired by the search of identity from the author, the Lemba people. The 270 page book is categorised into four parts, part one has four chapters which deal with the historiography of the Great Zimbabwe. It interesting to note that, the antiquarian tradition can be easily gleaned from the author’s introductory chapter analyzing the exogenous and endogenous explanations on the Great Zimbabwe. The historiography is sometimes narrative in a boring way, capturing the narratives that have been put across by early antiquarians, explorers, missionaries, travelers as well as other Zimbabwean scholars who have contributed to this discourse. The author surprisingly claimed that, “little is known about the history of Great Zimbabwe monument” and sometimes calling the literature “disappointingly little”. However, some reference is made by the author from archaeological and historical studies which are recent studies from scholars like Innocent Pikirayi, Shadreck Chirikure, Gerald C. Mazarire among others which is a sign of reading from the author. This is paradoxical in a way, as the author self-contradicts himself by arguing initially that the literature is disappointingly little without espousing how little is disappointingly little. The last chapter of the book, Great Zimbabwe is African has some of the opinions of the author based on his research on what has to been done in order to address issues that he found in need of further research.

Also observable is that, the author argues that his book calls for, “the need to have a theory that is coherent and at the same time liberates the Great Zimbabwe discourse from sterile polarization within which it has become trapped”. The novice author, although he observes the challenge at hand, his approach also falls into the same trap he claims he intends to debunk. To a professional Historian, citing T. Hawkes, a post-structuralist, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni on Zimbabwe’s pre-colonial history opines the need not only read sources readerly but also writerly. Readerly is when a reader remains passively oriented towards a text, reading it straight, without making any attempt to interpret it. Treating a text as writerly, involves creative and critical interpretation, making the text one’s own, and relating it to other experiences. In this case, the interdisciplinary approach becomes vital which therefore necessitates Joost Fontein an anthropologist’s PhD thesis cum book, The Silence of the Great Zimbabwe: Contested Landscapes and the Power of Heritage which also deals with the Great Zimbabwe vital.

Captain Cosmas develops his Circumcision theory on the Great Zimbabwe based on his search for his people’s History, the Lemba whom he claimed in the introduction of the book as a secretive people thus other researchers on the Great Zimbabwe have been left with no much information. From a point of privilege of background and also departing from issues initially researched by archaeologists, T.N Huffman and Peter Garlake the author follows their path but in greater detail. Two maps are used by the author demonstrating the Indian Ocean Trade as well as that of Zimbabwe including Archaeological sites, whilst the forty one photographs are claimed to have been used in the lists of photographs, a page which is not numbered after the contents page shows a photograph labelled, Replica of the Original Canonical Tower built by the author at his Borrowdale house, the other which isn’t referenced is that of a womb, a fetus. These photographs may need a more follow up from the author as they to some extent portray the methodological challenges that an amateur historian may encounter. It is also imperative for readers to find out more about the circumcision theory from the book as this space is limited to give a glimpse of the aspect at hand.
Moving on, a saddening aspect within the book is that the author assumes the following fallacies; there is no doctoral thesis in Zimbabwe on builders and usage of Great Zimbabwe, tourism authorities are involved in marketing Great Zimbabwe without its knowledge, Great Zimbabwe narratives have to be monolithic, obsession with the so called scientific approach to the Great Zimbabwe. These issues can be learned by going through Zimbabwe’s education system such that the exhibition of alienation is closed on the part of the author.

However, a closer reading of the book sometimes reflects a bitter voice who is not only calling for attention but relevance that is the need to have Mwenye voices which he argues to be missing in Zimbabwe’s History in general. This can be followed from the preface of the book when in 2008 the author was sitting with his father asking questions about his family background, he goes on to note that, “…all l had wanted to do initially was draw up my family tree for the benefit of my family. But as l worked on the material l found it fed into my interest in explaining Great Zimbabwe. I came to feel l had stumbled on something very important”.

All in all, it is advisable for the author to note that, ignorance is evil, for with it, you may find yourself denigrating the Zimbabwe’s secondary education and tertiary institutions on the Great Zimbabwe without pursuing its literature in detail which is disastrous. Fortunately l remember so well and it is my hope that on 26 October 2017, new optic lenses of reasoning, approaches, (re)interpretations, where imparted on the author by the University of Zimbabwe’s department of History practitioners for they posited constructive arguments. The book is still useful no doubt for it points to an author who is in search of relevance in Becoming Zimbabwe borrowing from Brian Raftopoulos and Alois Mlambo’s (edited) publication. Thus in the quest for becoming Zimbabwe/ean, the academy, the University of Zimbabwe can also be seen as promoting, providing space/s for airing out various viewpoints. Also, a reading of the book assists in understanding the circumcision theory on the Great Zimbabwe.

Brian Maregedze writing in his own capacity, is a young historian, academic currently pursuing his post graduate studies focusing on African History at the University of Zimbabwe. He is a holder of B.A Honours degree in History, B. A. A major in History and Religious Studies all from the University of Zimbabwe.