“We died for this country!”: verbal and practice talk among liberation war veterans in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This article explores the world of the veterans of Zimbabwe’s War of Independence, con- structed in the rhetoric and language of valour, in which the veteran portrays her/ himself through speech. The paper specifically focuses on the mouth of the veteran and the words they speak of themselves and their heroic world. I examine how a war veteran’s masculinity is affirmed through speeches and fantasy in the construction of an ideologically charged masculinity in Zimbabwean politics. While the veterans portray themselves as champions of their world attained through expropriation, they are simultaneously not immune to failure in getting what was promised during the war by their generals. They are not immune to suffering. Because of their disappointment, veterans have become not only violent and apprehensive, but also creative in their quest for rewards and recognition in society. They therefore deploy a rhetoric of hostility against their generals and against those they perceive as enemies. What words do their mouths utter? I thus explore how a veteran’s mouth and that of his general, both of whom have taken part in discourses of masculinity, which in turn have served as a weapon of expropriation, are used.