Thread by @VascoDaGappah

To control a people, first study them. The Rhodesians excelled at this. This is NADA, the annual of the Rhodesian Internal Affairs Ministry. Published between 1923 and 1979, it had scholarly work on “native affairs” from anthropologists, sociologists, native commissioners etc.

In these volumes are essays on elopement in Shona law, notes on Amandebele regiments, the Nambiya people of Hwange, the Chihota Dynasty, kugarira customs, polygyny among the urban Shona and Ndebele, a history of the Hlengwe people, succession, the Korsten baskemakers (Mapostori.

I hope to collect all 56 issues. To an amateur social historian like me, this is gold dust. A lot of it is interpretation but even more is based on oral interviews. These men and women were thorough. My favorite NADA contributor is Sister Mary Aquinas Weinrich, a Catholic nun.

I also love to read Gordon Chavunduka’s contributions, Michael Gelfand, Fr Hannan SJ, and CJK Latham. I get my NADAs from Alois Mhashu at Avondale Fleamarket. If you come across any, especially the early editions from the 1920s, , please hit me up — I would be ETERNALLY grateful!

A coda: Those who did secondary school Shona in the 80s and 90s will recognize this familiar Mbuya who graced the cover of our textbook DENHE RERUZIVO. The photograph and subject are both uncredited, but I hope it evokes some warm memories for those to whom she is familiar!