David Norman Beach
Born28 June 1943
Midlands, England, UK
Died15 February 1999
NationalityZimbabwean
CitizenshipZimbabwe
Alma materUniversity of Cape Town
Known forPrecolonial history of the Mashona[1]
Scientific career
FieldsHistory of Zimbabwe
Oral history
InstitutionsUniversity of Cape Town
University of Zimbabwe[2]

David Norman Beach (28 June 1943 15 February 1999) was a Zimbabwean historian.[2] He worked at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the University of Zimbabwe and pioneered the documentation of oral traditions in Zimbabwe.[1] In his work on Great Zimbabwe, Beach has promoted the interpretation of the different complexes as dwellings of successive rulers, opposing the structuralist tradition favoured by historians such as Huffman.[3] When Zimbabwe became independent in 1980, Beach took up Zimbabwean citizenship. When asked about his work, Nolan Chipo Makombe said "he is a comrade."[4] In 1983 when an interviewer from London referred to David Beach as British while interviewing Charles Utete, Utete responded dramatically saying "He (Beach) belongs to us, he does not belong to you. He is a Zimbabwean, period." Utete went on to say "He is not British, he is not Rhodesian, he is Zimbabwean. He is a comrade."[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Pikirayi, I (1999). "David Beach, Shona history and the archaeology of Zimbabwe" (PDF). Zambezia. Harare: University of Zimbabwe. 26: 135–144. ISSN 0379-0622.
  2. 1 2 Malaba, M.Z. (1999). "David Norman Beach, 19431999". Africa. Edinburgh University Press. 69 (3): 448–449. JSTOR 1161217.
  3. Beach, David (1998). "Cognitive Archaeology and Imaginary History at Great Zimbabwe". Current Anthropology. 39: 47–72. doi:10.1086/204698. S2CID 143970768.
  4. Nolan Chipo Makombe interview with ZBC TV, 1993
  5. Missionaries, Migrants, and the Manyika: The Invention of Ethnicity in Zimbabwe by T. O. Ranger
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