Guns and guerrilla girls : women in the Zimbabwean National Liberation struggle / by Tanya Lyons.

Abstract

This study investigates the roles and experiences of "women warriors" in Zimbabwe's anti-colonial national liberation war, and reveals certain glorifications which have served to obscure and silence the voices of thousands of young girls and women involved in the struggle. The problems associated with the inclusion of women in an armed/military guerrilla force are discussed, and the (re)presentation of women in discourses of war, fictional accounts, public and national symbols and other multiple discursive layers which have re-inscribed the women back into the domestic examined. The Zimbabwean film Flame highlights the political sensitivity of the issues, including accusations of rape by male comrades in guerrilla training camps. An overview of women's involvement in Zimbabwean history, anti-colonial struggle, and the African nationalist movement provides the background for a critique of western feminist theories of nationalism and women's liberation in Africa. Historical records are juxtaposed with the voices of some women ex-combatants who speak their reasons for joining the struggle and their experiences of war. White Rhodesian women's roles are also examined in light of the gendered constructions of war.