Crossing the Boundary: Memories and Narratives of a River Valley Landscape during Zimbabwe's War of Liberation, c. 1976-1980

This paper discusses a history of the liberation struggle in Zimbabwe focusing on a particular aspect and group of people. It focuses on a river landscape found in the Dandawa chiefdom, located southwest of Hurungwe district, in northwestern Zimbabwe. During fieldwork, the river landscape appeared central in explaining relations at various levels, notably among people themselves, between the people and the guerrillas and between the guerrillas and the Rhodesian security forces. It shaped relations and defined geographical space in a particular way during the war period. The river landscape is used to interpret activities of the liberation struggle in this chiefdom. The paper is about how people remember and construct narratives of the struggle in relation to the river landscape. It traces these memories arguing that landscapes carry not only shared experiences, but different memories as well. It illustrates how this landscape conditioned confrontations and movements of actors during the liberation struggle.