Violence & memory: one hundred years in the "dark forests" of Matabeleland

"Violence has powerfully shaped the history and memory of the past in Matabeleland, from the wars of colonial conquest in the 1890s to the devastating post-colonial violence of the 1980s. The story told in this book concerns the remote, forested wilderness of the Shangani Reserve. It is the story of the settlement of a disease-ridden frontier and its transformation, first into the rural heartland of a nationalist movement, and later into a refuge for post-liberation 'dissidents'." "Silence has surrounded the history of this region of Zimbabwe, and this silence has produced a profound sense of exclusion from national memory. This book helps to break that silence and redress the imbalances of national history."--BOOK JACKET.