When he came, with a doctorate in history from Oxford University, to teach history at our local university, he was initially appointed to teach “medieval and early modern history” – of Europe. He soon became more interested in African history, and recent history at that. By the time he was deported, he had made his own contribution to the history of Zimbabwe’s struggle and his reputation remained as a light for many students in a dark age.
He came from a Britain that had seen recent struggles for human rights and the rise of the Labour Party, within which he stood in the tradition of the Fabian Society, advocating non-violent action and gradualism in the struggle for political and economic equality. Universal adult suffrage had been achieved in 1930, when women over 21 years of age and under 30 were finally allowed to vote.
The Second World War, 1939-45, had been fought in the name of defending democracy against Hitler’s dictatorship, and was followed by six years of Labour government, which saw a “Welfare State” established in an attempt to eliminate poverty. The government realised that the other citizens of the British Empire could not be denied the rights for which British workers had fought so hard. After India, Burma and Sri Lanka got independence in 1947, the end of the empire was in sight.
The young Terence Ranger began teaching at what is now UZ in 1957, the year of Ghana’s independence soon followed by that of most other African countries. A Conservative British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, acknowledged this in 1960, but the Rhodesian settler regime, under Prime Minister Edgar Whitehead, tried to resist or at least delay the inevitable.
Ranger quickly joined those who resisted social apartheid within the university, and this led him deeper into African politics. He was deported in 1963. Whitehead who feared Ranger’s “liberalism”, was replaced the next year by Winston Field, leader of the even more right-wing Rhodesia Front, and the country entered a long period of darkness, which has not yet been fully dispersed.
Whether lecturing in Dar es Salaam, Manchester or Oxford, Ranger kept his interest in Zimbabwe and did all he could to support students who were increasingly driven to seek higher education overseas. As the liberation war intensified, he and his wife Shelagh took on more work to help the many refugees who fled to the Frontline states and further afield. At independence, Ranger had the pleasure of seeing many of his students take influential positions in the University and in government.
With his experience of raising support among the British public for Zimbabwe’s struggle, he set out to turn this support to the benefit of Zimbabwe’s reconstruction and development. Thus the Britian-Zimbabwe Society was formed, with the help of National Hero Guy Clutton-Brock. This society brings together people, whether they are Zimbabwean or British, who are interested in solving Zimbabwe’s problems and has active members in both Zimbabwe and UK.
After he retired from his professorship at Oxford, he took a post at UZ. In those years he was a welcome father figure and useful contributor at debates and cultural events at the Book Cafe.
As a true academic, he was not just a teacher. He continued learning all his life. In his later years he learned and shared things about Ndebele history under colonialism and during the war to complement his earlier studies which helped make the world aware of the Shona story.
As a true human being, he built bridges between people, regardless of colour, race or the policies of their governments. May he rest in peace. May his spirit live on.
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis