Abstract:
Because masculinities and femininities are socially and culturally constructed, they
often play significant roles in constructing identities and distinguishing one another.
Femininities and masculinities therefore play a key role in nation-building and in the
sustenance of national identities. In this article I explore, through the autobiographies
of two luminaries of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, how individual politicians
configure their own gender identities and consequently the masculine and feminine
identities of others. I posit that the autobiographical mode allows for intimate
gendering of the liberation discourse. I also argue that Tekere celebrates the heroic
masculine self, preferring military femininities to domestic ones. He privileges his
own masculinity while “feminising” Robert Mugabe. Chung debunks the perceived
manliness of political struggle and its representations by hailing the participation of
women in the struggle for liberation. Her narration of their femininity is in relation to
the nation and is structured around the struggle for national liberation, female
emancipation and nation-building. Typical of female life-writing, Chung exhibits a
relational sense of identity in which the autonomous self is subordinate to or
subsumed in the collective. Hers becomes a projection and celebration of heroic
femininities. I conclude this article by asserting that masculine and feminine
identities in Zimbabwe’s political discourse remain bound up with the historical
processes of colonial and nationalist liberation struggles.
