Working with the Isaacmans

By Margaret Kamba

I think it is true that opportunities come but once in a lifetime, and mine was working with Professor Allen Isaacman and his wife Barbara.

The principle of not asking how much or what’s in it for me brought me the opportunity of rubbing shoulders with the two collators of African history and learning a lot from them.

Their challenge to go after the books, (liberation war heroes and heroines) before they die, is something that I have set out to do before our children have nothing to read about of what happened to bring independence to Zimbabwe.

Our history is distorted, and many have twisted it to their favour in order to achieve a hidden agenda.

The white man has also written from his own viewpoint, and unfortunately, this is what most of our bookstores have for us to read.

Despite the encouragement to have the heroes and heroines of our liberation struggle write about their accounts, it is only a few who have done that with most of them citing their discomfort at reliving the horrific memories of the past.

It is true that many were maimed, killed whilst others were injured as they fought to deliver freedom from colonial rule.

The accounts, most if not all of them, brew some kind of rage in one, what more the men and women who for many years braved the wrath of the Smith regime.

The two, Allen and Barbara, work hand in glove, you will be surprised at their efficiency. Where Barbara has missed it as she types the narrations into her laptop, Allen takes time to bring her up to speed. Very few people will share the same vision and achieve it.

Professor Allen Isaacman is an American historian who specializes in the social history of Southern Africa. He is a Regents Professor of History at the University of Minnesota.

Some of his publications include the following:

Isaacman, Allen. “Toward a Social and Environmental History of the Building of Cahora Bassa Dam.” Journal of Southern African Studies (2000).
Slavery and Beyond:: The Making of Men and Chikunda Identities. Heinemann, Isaacman, Allen, 2006.
Isaacman, Allen. Cotton is the Mother of Poverty: Peasants, Work and Rural Struggle in Colonial Mozambique, 1938-1961. Heinemann, 1996.
Samira Machel: A Life Cut Short. Barbara Isaacman, Ohio University Press, Isaacman, Allen, 2020.
Dams, Displalclement, and the Delusion of Development. Barbara Isaacman, Ohio University Press, Isaacman, Allen, 2013.
Elusive Histories: Clandestine Labor Migration from Mozambique to Colonial Zimbabwe 1900-1980. Ohio University Press, Isaacman, Allen, forthcoming.

The hours spent during the interviews in preparation for another book was history in the making for me.

Together with the two, we wrote down the history of how the late visionary leader, Mozambique President Samora Machel, was instrumental in Zimbabwe’s attainment of independence.

Those who gave these accounts among them, His Excellency, President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, were very clear that without President Machel and Mozambique, Zimbabwe’s attainment of independence would not have been possible.

The line of questioning of the Isaacmans literally had His Excellency, President Mnangagwa wipe all the questions I wanted answered and even more.

It was that kind of interview you came out of and wish you could fly. I did not have to pass a note to ask them to fill in the gaps because every question had been answered.

The 30 minutes of that interview were explosive, enlightening, and made me understand the man Samora Machel and why he was indeed a man of the people.

To Allen and Barbara, the core reason for this work is for the younger generation in Mozambique to know about their history and how their leader was instrumental in the liberation of Southern Africa.

During other interviews, I could hear Allen and Barbara share the history of the MMZ, BZ, and ZZ, which they know very well. One had to just figure out the Shona terminology, but otherwise, they were on track.

Believe me, I am trying to uncover as much history about the liberation struggle as I am because I don’t feel right about explaining who peppa Pig is to my children.

Having to listen to the Isaacmans narrating some of what I have had no idea about is quite embarrassing, let alone the places they have been in my country.

The wealth of historical data with the two is beyond imaginable, going down to even knowing about the spirit mediums of this country.

“We write and teach about this history, but we learn it from the books themselves. You have your history and must write it from your viewpoint and not ours. Sit down with these people before they die and write their stories so that the younger generation will have something to read about what happened,” Allen said.

Barbara lamented that “a lot of these heroes are dying without their stories being written, so it is important that you gather as much as you can before they go.”

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