Date: Monday 21st February, 6.30pm
Venue: Brunei Suite, SOAS, Thornhaugh St, London WC1H0XG
Speaker:
- Blessing-Miles Tendi (D.Phil) – Author of
Respondents:
- Clare Short – UK Secretary of State for International Development (1997-2003).
- Sue Onslow – Head of the Africa International Affairs Programme, London School of Economics.
- Tiseke Kasambala – Human Rights Watch.
Chair:
- Jocelyn Alexander – Professor of Commonwealth Studies, University of Oxford
Event description:
Making History in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe – Politics, intellectuals and the media by Blessing-Miles Tendi – featuring former Secretary of State for International Development, Clare Short
The crisis that has engulfed Zimbabwe since 2000 is not simply a struggle against dictatorship. It is also a struggle over ideas and deep-seated historical issues, still unresolved from the independence process, that both Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF regime and Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC are vying first to define and then to address.
This book traces the role of politicians and public intellectuals in media, civil society and the academy in producing and disseminating a politically usable historical narrative concerning ideas about patriotism, race, land, human rights and sovereignty.
It raises pressing questions about the role of contemporary African intellectuals in the making of democratic societies. In so doing the book adds a new and rich dimension to the study of African politics, which is often diluted by the neglect of ideas.
The discussion will be followed by a drinks reception.
Source: Royal African Society
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