IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jodeso/v25y2009i1p107-120.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Contesting the Myth of ‘A People’s War’ in Bruce Moore-King’s White Man Black War (1989)

Author

Listed:
  • Maurice Taonezvi Vambe

    (Department of English Studies, University of South Africa.)

Abstract

White writing in post independence Zimbabwe has received little critical attention. Yet, there has been a steady and sometimes interrupted output from white writers; the themes in their fiction have ranged from nostalgia for a bygone Rhodesia, the horrors of the war and post independence betrayal. The aim of this article is to explore the idea of the myth of ‘a people’s war’ in White Man, Black War (1989), a novel written by a former Rhodesian white soldier. Bruce Moore-King’s novel engages the myth of ‘a people’s war’ that was used by Ian Douglas Smith to persuade and ‘call-up’ white people to fight the black liberation forces in Rhodesia. White Man Black War questions the myth of whiteness as equal to civilization that was propagated by white Rhodesian leaders, especially between 1965 until 1980. The novel contests the myth of white invincibility and reveals how mytho-poetic discourses of ‘civilization’, ‘standards’ and ‘anti-communism’ were popularised by the Rhodesian government. The third myth that Moore-King’s novel exposes for critical scrutiny is also the one based on the policy of national reconciliation introduced by the then prime minister of a new Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe. When White Man Black War is re-read today in the aftermath of the economic war of the Third Chimurenga (2000–2008) the novel comes across as a satire whose object of laughter are both blacks and whites. This observation is in-spite of the fact that White Man Black War does not totally succeed in dismantling all the political scaffolds of the myth of ‘a people’s war’ as constructed and believed by a significant portion of whites and some blacks in Rhodesia.

Suggested Citation

  • Maurice Taonezvi Vambe, 2009. "Contesting the Myth of ‘A People’s War’ in Bruce Moore-King’s White Man Black War (1989)," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 25(1), pages 107-120, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:25:y:2009:i:1:p:107-120
    DOI: 10.1177/0169796X0902500105
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0169796X0902500105
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0169796X0902500105?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:25:y:2009:i:1:p:107-120. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.