HEALING THE WOUNDS OF WAR - MEMORIES OF VIOLENCE AND THE MAKING OF HISTORY IN ZIMBABWE MOST RECENT PAST

How does a society less than two decades after a liberation war which involved large sections of the population come to terms with the memor ies of violence and war - a war in which there was no clear distinctio n between insurgent and counter-insurgent, liberator and oppressor and in which the majority of the casualties can be found among the rural civilian population? This was a predicament not exclusive to Zimbabwe; but one which also applies to Mozambique, South Africa and, more rece ntly, to Rwanda. Since its independence Zimbabwe has been a prime exam ple of successful reconciliation, Ranger has argued that spiritual hea ling has contributed importantly to coming to terms with the trauma of war through turning violence into history. Here it will be argued tha t an analysis of the intersections between memories of violence, heali ng, and history reveals a twofold process. Social healing is made poss ible by a shift from conviction and compensation to revealing without convicting. At the same time healing provides an arena for communities in which competing and contesting memories of violence are renegotiat ed, Through these processes sense is being made of the past; history i s being made.