Memory and archives: documenting white minorities in post colonial Zimbabwe

Abstract

Archives and societal memory are contested territories, archives are selective memory and the voices of the elites overshadow those of minorities and the underrepresented. The archives of Zimbabwe are inherently colonial like most former colonies and attempts at addressing the colonial imbalance (Oral History Programmes) has resulted in the marginalisation of the white community as both a racial and numerical minority. The study sought to ascertain the strategies employed by the White Community in the archiving of their Historical Manuscripts (HM). Data were collected from the management committees of former white community institutions, and individuals with knowledge on white minority archives in Zimbabwe using interviews. The findings of the study established that the records of the white community are stored and preserved in undetermined conditions, their format nature and quantity unknown and thus vulnerable to neglect and decay. The major recommendation arising out of the study is that intervention strategies are required to ensure that records originating from the White settler associations are collected and preserved so that they will ultimately contribute to an integrated societal memory in Zimbabwe.