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NADA and Mafohla: Antiquarianism in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe with Special Reference to the Work of F.W.T. Posselt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

D.N. Beach
D.N. Beach*
Affiliation:
University of Zimbabwe
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Extract

One of the casualties of the transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe in 1980 was the journal NADA, which came to an end with the breakup of the government ministry that sponsored it. NADA originally stood for Native Affairs Department Annual and ran to 57 issues between 1923 and 1980. Essentially, it was intended to be the Southern Rhodesian equivalent of the Uganda Journal or Tanganyika Notes and Records, and it is not surprising that out of the 912 articles published in it at least 40% were by identifiable officials of the Native Affairs Department or its successor, the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Out of another 37% of contributors classifiable as ‘general,’ a considerable number were undoubtedly NAD officials hiding behind uncrackable pseudonyms and initials, while others in this category were policemen, forest and game rangers, education and agricultural officers, and so forth. Consequently, the journal always had a fairly ‘official’ image, in spite of editorial disclaimers, and this image became the more pronounced after the Rhodesian Front gained control of the government, with more official reports and statements filling the pages.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 13 , 1986 , pp. 1 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1986

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References

NOTES

1. By 1979 the Ministry of Internal Affairs had become the Ministry of Home Affairs, but this Ministry was broken up into smaller components in 1980, and the last issue of NADA was published by the Division of District Administration, Ministry of Local Government and Housing.

2. There is an index up to 1978 in the NADA of that year, while a letter in NADA, 11/3 (1976), 370 explains anomalies in the numbering system.

3. Ranger, T.O., “The Mobilization of Labour and the Production of Knowledge: The Antiquarian Tradition in Rhodesia,” The Journal of African History, 20 (1979), 507–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4. Bullock, C., “Bushman Paintings, Zimbabwe and Romanticists,” NADA, 26 (1949), 50–53.Google Scholar

5. Bogomas, E.V.M., “New Light on the Mystery of Zimbabwe,” NADA, 39 (1962), 85–91.Google Scholar

6. Idem., “The Witch-Doctor in Central Africa,“ NADA, 9/4 (1967), 44.

7. Idem., “The African Totem,” NADA, 10/2 (1970), 118–22.

8. Idem., L'heritage de Zimbabwe (Lille, 1975).

9. Ranger, , “Antiquarian Tradition,“ 512.Google Scholar

10. Ibid., 512–23.

11. Blake–Thompson's surviving correspondence in the National Archives, Zimbabwe, Historical Manuscript Collection, Hist. Mss. TH 10/1-15, is not particularly extensive for thirty years of writing, and Roger Summers was the only academic who frequently corresponded with him after 1950. R. Howman (personal communication) commented that he only wrote for publication when under pressure from someone like Raymond Dart or Summers, and his limited output bears this out: “Native Herbal Medicines,” NADA, 9 (1931), 93–99Google Scholar; “Their Dress Tells the Tale,” Africa Revealed By Word and Picture, 4/2 (September 1937), 18–20, 4/3 (October 1937), 14–17, 5/1 (January 1938), 15–17, 5/2 (February 1938), 19–21, 5/3 (March 1938), 12–14, 5/4 (April 1938), 10–11, 15, 5/5 (May 1938), 16–17, 34, 5/6 (June 1938) 29–30, 39; 5/7 (July 1938), 34–5Google Scholar; “Physical Appearances of Some Mashona Totemic Groups,” NADA 25 (1948), 29–33Google Scholar; “Some Notes on African Ritual Sacrifice,” NADA, 34 (1957), 123–25.Google Scholar

12. R. Howman used two fragments of “lore” from Blake-Thompson in his “The Native Labourer and his Food,” NADA, 19 (1942), 18, 21Google Scholar, but was of the opinion that “few whites knew of him, and to ascribe the role of chief expert to him is an absurdity” (Personal communication). Also see Howman, , “Foreword to the Reprint Edition” in Posselt, F.W.T., Fact and Fiction (Bulawayo, 1978).Google Scholar

13. F.W.T. Posselt or “Mafohla” (his African name) published the following works: “The Social Conditions of the Natives of Mashonaland,” Proceedings and Transactions of the Rhodesian Scientific Association, 12 (1912/1913), 119–34Google Scholar; “Mzilikazi: the Rise of the Amandebele,” Proceedings and Transactions of the Rhodesian Scientific Association, 18/1 (1919–1920), 3–22Google Scholar and as a pamphlet (same title), (Bulawayo, 1919); “Notes on Some Tribes of Southern Rhodesia,” The Rhodesian Services Record, 3/10 (August 1922), 8–9, 3/12 (October 1922), 9–10Google Scholar; “Mambo and his Court,” Rhodesian Services Record, 4/1 (November 1922), 10–11, 4/2 (December 1922), 6–7, 4/3 (January 1923), 9–10, 4/5 (March 1923), 2–3, 4/6 (April 1923), 10–11, 4/8 (June 1923), 5–7Google Scholar and as a pamphlet (same title) (Salisbury, 1923); “Nkulumana: the Disputed Succession,” NADA, 1 (1923), 29–42Google Scholar; “The Banyemba Legend and Ceremony,” NADA, 2 (1924), 11–13Google Scholar; “Logic,” NADA, 2 (1924), 62Google ScholarPubMed; “Chaminuka the Wizard,” NADA, 4 (1926), 35–37Google ScholarPubMed; “A Raid and What Led to it,” NADA, 4 (1926), 102–03Google Scholar; “The ngozi of Chinyowa,” NADA, 4 (1926), 104–06Google Scholar; “Native Marriage,” NADA, 4 (1926), 51–52Google Scholar; “Mashona Folklore,” NADA, 5 (1927), 35–39Google Scholar; “Marondera,” NADA, 5 (1927), 47–48Google Scholar; A Survey of the Native Tribes of Southern Rhodesia (Salisbury, 1927)Google Scholar; “Some Notes on the Religious Ideas of the Natives of Southern Rhodesia,” South African Journal of Science, 24 (1927), 530–36Google Scholar; “Native Marriage,” NADA, 6 (1928), 67–73Google Scholar; “The Curse of Chigodoro,” NADA, 6 (1928), 20–23Google Scholar; “The Watawara and the Batonga,” NADA 7 (1929), 80–93Google Scholar; Fables of the Veld (London, 1929)Google Scholar; “The Story of the Princess Mepo,” NADA, 7 (1929), 115–17Google Scholar; “Anticipated,” NADA, 8 (1930), 29Google ScholarPubMed; “Ku Tiza Botso,” NADA, 7 (1929), 123–24Google Scholar; “Life on the By-Ways of Rhodesia,” NADA, 9 (1931), 2–529Google Scholar; “Some Observations on Punishment,” NADA, 9 (1931), 81–83Google Scholar; Fact and Fiction (Bulawayo, 1935)Google ScholarPubMed; “The Tree in the Religious Ritual of the Bantu in Southern Rhodesia,” Man, 39/110 (1939), 127Google Scholar; “The Land of Magic: the Nata River and Lake Makarikari,” NADA, 16 (1939), 3–12Google Scholar; “Native Education,” NADA, 16 (1939), 99–106Google Scholar; Autumn Leaves (Bulawayo, 1943)Google ScholarPubMed; Upengula the Scatterer (Bulawayo, 1945)Google ScholarPubMed; (with N.H.D. Spicer) “Nofiswa the King's Favourite,” NADA, 27 (1950), 78–82.Google Scholar

12. Notably, H. Kuper, J. van Velsen, K.R. Robinson, and N. Sutherland-Harris.

13. The Sunday Mail (30 June 1978).

14. For example, as a Zulu-speaker he regretted that missionary teaching in Ndau was eliminating Nguni in the southeast, Fact and Fiction, 22.

15. Ibid., 134-35, 160.

16. National Archives, Zimbabwe S.138/22, Chief Native Commissioner to Minister of Native Affairs, 11 December 1929.