This brief commentary takes its inspiration from the opening address delivered byJohn Hoffman, and printed in these pages; that is, progress is usefully understoodas a contradictory, contested and ambiguous process. But rather than attempt acomprehensive survey of the past 40 or so years of academic analyses ofZimbabwe’s pasts, what follows has as its focus the emergence of ‘patriotichistory’ and particularly its nationalist antecedents. These are critically examined.Although not concerned with the generality of recent studies that are neithernationalist nor materialist in orientation, this paper sketches in outline the rise,fall and rise of radical accounts. It ends by suggesting how such analyses might betaken forward.
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