Chapter 9 Names they left behind: Remembering the times with the White farmers in some parts of Chimanimani and Chipinge in Zimbabwe

Abstract

For nearly a century while the people of Zimbabwe lived under colonial rule, they interacted with White people in all sorts of manners. Black-White relationships were characterised by, among other things, name labelling, whether the interaction took place in urban, rural or farm environments. This chapter intends to focus attention on the lasting impact of the interactions that existed between White people and Blacks who worked on or lived next to White owned farms. The argument raised here is that Black people reacted in their own way to the treatment they received and to the behaviour and habits of the White people who lived in their neighbourhoods, who employed them or who carried out commercial business in the vicinity. The African people’s powerful reaction to what they regarded as misdemeanours was to give Whites names and the interesting thing about those names is that they have become a permanent feature in the lives of the people long after those targeted by the linguistic onslaught are gone. This chapter will discuss names given in response to the kind of treatment Blacks received from White farmers, names that defined Black people’s perceptions of the qualities and behaviour of some White individuals, and names given based on the reconstruction of the White men’s original names to fit into the phonology of the local language. Most of the names to be discussed in this chapter are obtained from Rusitu Valley, in Chimanimani and Chipinge, where they have become part of the history and geographical terrain of the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe.