Terence "Terry" Osborn Ranger (29 November 1929 – 3 January 2015) was a prominent British
Africanist, best known as a
historian of Zimbabwe. Part of the post-colonial generation of historians, his work spanned the pre- and post-Independence (1980) period in Zimbabwe, from the 1960s to the present. He published and edited dozens of books and wrote hundreds of articles and book chapters, including co-editing ''The Invention of Tradition'' (1983) with
Eric Hobsbawm. He was the Rhodes Professor of Race Relations at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
and the first Africanist fellow of the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...
.
Biography
Born in
South Norwood
South Norwood is a district of south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon, Greater London and formerly in the historic county of Surrey. It is located 7.8 miles (12.5 km) south-east of Charing Cross, north of Wood ...
,
south-east London
Greater London is divided into five sub-regions for the purposes of the London Plan. The boundaries of these areas were amended in 2008 and 2011 and their role in the implementation of the London Plan has varied with each iteration.
Purpose
Sub- ...
,
Terence Ranger was educated at the
Royal Grammar School High Wycombe
The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe, is a selective boys' grammar school situated in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. As a state school, it does not charge fees for pupils to attend, but they must pass the 11 plus, an exam that lots of p ...
(1940–42), then
Highgate School in
north London
North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.
The term ''nor ...
. As an undergraduate he studied History at
Queen's College,
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
, and went on to complete his PhD at
St Antony's College, Oxford, focusing on 17th-century Ireland, under the supervision of Professor
Hugh Trevor-Roper
Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton (15 January 1914 – 26 January 2003) was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford.
Trevor-Roper was a polemicist and essayist on a range of ...
. In 1953 he married Shelagh Campbell Clarke, with whom he had three daughters.
In 1957 he moved to modern-day
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
, at the time
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kno ...
, to take up a lectureship at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (now the
University of Zimbabwe
The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the University ...
) after reading an article by Basil Fletcher, the vice-principal of the university, in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' newspaper. Ranger became interested in African history and developed views that were considered radical by the white government of the time, leading the Rhodesian authorities to restrict his movement to within a three-mile radius of his home. He was deported in 1963 and took up a lectureship at the
University of Dar es Salaam
The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in ...
in Tanzania, where his colleagues included
John Lonsdale
John Lonsdale (17 January 1788 – 19 October 1867) was an English clergyman, who was the third Principal of King's College, London, and later served as Bishop of Lichfield.
He was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, an ...
,
John Iliffe and
John McCracken. During this time Ranger wrote ''Revolt in Southern Rhodesia, 1896–97: A Study in African Resistance'' (1967), which showed how Africans lived before the arrival of
Cecil Rhodes and his
Pioneer Column in 1890 and attempted to explain why the country's two main tribes, the
Shona
Shona often refers to:
* Shona people, a Southern African people
* Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today
Shona may also refer to:
* ''Shona'' (album), 1994 album by New Zealand singer Shona Laing
* Shona (given name)
* S ...
and
Matabele, rose up against the European settlers, and ''The African Voice in Southern Rhodesia'' (1970), both of which were influential in the development of
African nationalism.
In 1969, Ranger moved to the US to work at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
(UCLA), where he mostly researched African religion. He moved back to the United Kingdom in 1974 to take up a professorship at the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...
where his research focused on Zimbabwe. In 1980, Ranger founded the Britain Zimbabwe Society with
Guy Clutton-Brock, of which he was president (2006–14). During 1980–82 he was President of the
African Studies Association of the UK
The African Studies Association of the United Kingdom (ASAUK) formed in 1963 "to advance African studies, particularly in the United Kingdom, by providing facilities for the interchange of information and ideas and the co-ordination of activities ...
(ASAUK) and from 1981 to 1982 President of the
Ecclesiastical History Society. During this time he also published his widely influential work ''
The Invention of Tradition'' (1983) in collaboration with
Eric Hobsbawm.
[
With the change of regime Ranger was allowed back into Zimbabwe, which allowed him to undertake research for his book ''Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War'', a comparative account of the ways in which ideas were formed among rural people, which was published in 1985. In 1987, he was appointed Rhodes Professor of Race Relations at ]Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
. In the 1990s he undertook two research projects on the history of the Matabeleland
Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi ...
region of Zimbabwe, ''Voices from the Rocks'' (1999) and ''Violence and Memory'' (2000), as well as ''Are We Not Also Men?'' (1995), a biography of the Zimbabwean Samkange dynasty (the most well-known member of which is Stanlake J. W. T. Samkange
Stanlake John William Thompson Samkange (1922–1988) was a Zimbabwean historiographer, educationist, journalist, author, and African nationalist. He was a member of an elite Zimbabwean nationalist political dynasty and the most prolific of the fi ...
), drawing on their extraordinary collection of personal papers.
Ranger retired in 1997 but continued as an emeritus fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford, and spent time at the University of Zimbabwe
The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the University ...
, where he undertook research for his book ''Bulawayo Burning'' (2010), which explores Bulawayo
Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...
's urban cultural history. Upon returning to the UK, he published influential articles on Zimbabwe's economic crisis and worked with Zimbabwean refugees coming to the UK, becoming a founding trustee of the charity Asylum Welcome, along with his wife Shelagh, and wrote more than 170 reports addressed to the Home Office regarding asylum cases.
In retirement, Ranger was made a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies
The Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS) is in the former SS Philip and James Parish Church on Woodstock Road, Oxford, England, opposite Leckford Road. It was established in 1983.
The centre exists to provide education for church leaders ...
. In 2013 he published his memoir, entitled ''Writing Revolt''. He was the first Africanist fellow of the British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...
and the first historian of Africa to sit on the board of the historical journal '' Past & Present''. He died at his home in Oxford on 3 January 2015 at the age of 85.["Tribute to Terence O. Ranger"]
''ACAS Review'' 89 (incl. bibliography), 8 April 2015."Terence Ranger, historian of Zimbabwe, dies"
Zimbabweland, 5 January 2015.
Selected bibliography
Complete bibliography in ''ACAS Review'' 89.
* ''Revolt in Southern Rhodesia, 1896–97''. London: Heinemann (1967, 2nd edn 1979).
* ''Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War in Zimbabwe: A Comparative Study''. Oxford:
James Currey
James Currey is a former academic publisher specialising in African Studies which since 2008 has been an imprint of Boydell & Brewer. It is named after its founder who established the company in 1984. It publishes on a full spectrum of topic ...
(1985). .
* Editor, with
Ngwabi Bhebe, ''Soldiers in Zimbabwe's Liberation War''. Oxford: James Currey (1995).
* ''Are We Not Also Men? The Samkange Family and African Politics in Zimbabwe, 1920–64''. Oxford: James Currey (1995).
* Editor, with Ngwabi Bhebe, ''Society in Zimbabwe's Liberation War ''. Oxford: James Currey (1996).
* ''Voices From The Rocks: Nature, Culture and History in the Matopos Hills of Zimbabwe''. Oxford: James Currey (1999).
* With Jocelyn Alexander and
JoAnn McGregor
Jo-Ann Stores, LLC, more commonly known as Jo-Ann (stylized as JOANN), is an American specialty retailer of crafts and fabrics based in Hudson, Ohio. It operates the retail chains ''JOANN Fabrics and Crafts'' and ''Jo-Ann Etc''. The headquarter ...
, ''Violence and Memory: One Hundred Years in the "Dark Forests" of Matabeleland''. Oxford: James Currey (2000).
*
References
Further reading
*
External links
Britain Zimbabwe Society*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranger, Terence
1929 births
2015 deaths
Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford
Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford
British historians
Fellows of St Antony's College, Oxford
Fellows of the British Academy
Historians of Africa
Historians of Zimbabwe
History of Zimbabwe
People educated at Highgate School
People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
People from South Norwood
Presidents of the African Studies Association of the United Kingdom
Presidents of the Ecclesiastical History Society
University of Dar es Salaam faculty
University of Zimbabwe faculty