The patriotic present: The urgency of now in zimbabwe’s “new dispensation”

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the history of Zimbabwe has been a central aspect of what it means to be Zimbabwean. In particular, the liberation struggle, which resulted in the end of white minority rule, served as the standard by which belonging to Zimbabwe could be determined. Robert Mugabe, leader of ZANU PF (after 1987) and Zimbabwe since 1980, was a key figure around whom Zimbabwe’s past was constructed and a narrative of nationhood described by Ranger as “patriotic history” could be institutionalised. With the removal of Mugabe in November 2017 came a new framing of Zimbabwe’s politics as a “New Dispensation” seeking to break from Mugabe’s past radical nationalism with the hope of rekindling old alliances with Western Europe and the United States. A new narrative reinforced by the mantra of letting “bygones be bygones”, “openness for business”, change, novelty and virtuousness came to replace the old anti-West conservatism synonymous with Mugabe’s call for former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to “keep [his] England, and let [him] keep [his] Zimbabwe”. I call this new narrative “the patriotic present” and argue that it builds on the method of patriotic history but charts a different discursive path which encompasses the adoption of social media.