Historian documents, promotes national heritage Rob Burrett

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
MR Rob Burrett is a Bulawayo-based historian and has published several books documenting the country’s cultural heritage.

His works cuts across politics, tourism and culture among others.

In the book published in 2017, titled Masvingo Memories, he writes about President Mnangagwa as a youth and how he was involved in sabotage work against the colonialists.

In the same book, he documents the late former Vice-President Simon Muzenda’s contributions towards liberating the country and his post-independence role.

So diverse are his writings that some of Mr Burrett’s books touch on tourist attractions such as Khami Ruins, Matobo Hills as well as the City of Bulawayo and the foundations of the Zimbabwe railway network.

Mr Burrett has documented rock paintings and lobbies for their preservation
He has also written about the Ndebele people among other societal groups in the country.

Mr Burrett, a former teacher in Marondera, said having lived in a small town he appreciates diverse heritage as opposed to big cities like Harare dominating the national narrative.

He said he draws inspiration from his life experiences as he has lived in both small and big towns in the country.

Mr Burrett said while the dominant narrative about Zimbabwe is about the capital city, Harare, there is need to tell the Zimbabwean story in its wholesome including tales from smaller towns.

“The smaller towns have their own history, you see I have written on Masvingo, simply because we don’t need to have Harare dominating the story all the time. Every single little town and village has its story. We need to make sure that we don’t lose it while propping up one narrative of Harare. This does not make Harare inferior at the same time,” he said.

On Tuesday, he donated to Chronicle some of his works saying the publication can utilise the books as references.
The publication used the opportunity to chat with him about his works.

Mr Burrett said he prefers to do his work quietly but believes it’s important to document history and promote national heritage.

He said there is more to learn from history even if the past can be upsetting.

“It gives us roots, our roots; it’s not always what we like. Sometimes we find that our history is very controversial. It offends us but only by understanding what offends us can we really move on. A lot of stuff that I can write can offend you in terms of racism but we need to ask why people were making such economic, social or religious reasoning. If we ignore the things that we do not like then it comes back and bites us. We need to understand what is in our past,” said Mr  Burrett.

“In the books I have written, I try to take a wider perspective using the available data. One of the big issues is that certain communities have no written information as they have left it to oral traditions, so I try to integrate as much information as possible.”

Mr Burret said he is researching on the country’s-coloured community.

“I’m going to deal with another difficult historical concept, our coloured community, whatever that is. I mean what is the definition, how are they different and their different stories, that is going to be much more family histories to talk about the trauma of being identified as a coloured,” he said.
Known as mixed race, coloured people fall under minority groups in the  country.

Recently, Government took a decision to provide them with new national IDs to address some of the challenges they encounter in enjoying their rights.

Mr Burrett said following President Mnangagwa’s visit to Bulawayo in June where he presided over the Bulawayo Arts Festival and toured the Heritage Corridor, he gave the President one of his books which documented his role in fighting the repressive Smith regime.

He said there is also a need for the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority to promote cultural tourism, particularly in partnership with the education ministry.

“Cultural tourism is a good way of increasing the participation of younger citizens in tourism. It doesn’t require serious expenses, national parks and cross-cultural tourism is a big thing in Europe, we can learn from that,” said Mr Burrett.

“I’ve always had this passion to document our heritage. I’ve worked for the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, I have worked for the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. I’m particularly interested in popularising our heritage.” — @nqotshili

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