Zoë R. Groves - Malawian Migration to Zimbabwe, 1900–1965: Tracing Machona

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This book would not exist were it not for the support and encouragement of many people. Thanks to Saul Dubow and Richard Drayton, and to the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on the proposal and the final manuscript. I am grateful to the members of the editorial team at Palgrave Macmillan who have enabled this process to go smoothly. Tracing Machona developed out of my Ph.D. thesis and doctoral research at Keele University, which was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). David Maxwell introduced me to Zimbabwean history as an undergraduate at Keele and inspired me to pursue African history to masters and doctoral level. I would like to thank David for his guidance and generous support throughout my academic studies and early career. I would also like to acknowledge the friendship and support of Shalini Sharma, my second supervisor at Keele, and many others from the Keele Postgraduate Association community.

Outside of Keele, I was immensely grateful to John McCracken for his advice and support when I began this research, and for introducing me to colleagues from the History department at the Chancellor College, University of Malawi. Kings Phiri, Hendrina Kachapila-Msosa, Wapulumuka Mulwafu and Wiseman Chijere Chirwa were welcoming and supportive during my visits to Zomba from 2007 onwards. This research would not have been possible without their support and guidance. Thanks to the staff at the Malawi National Archives in Zomba for their assistance on various trips to the archive reading rooms. Thanks also to the staff from the district offices who assisted Lucy Phiri and I with our oral history research. I would also like to thank my Chichewa teachers Alick Bwanali and Arnold Mboga. Learning Chichewa was a challenging but rewarding experience and taught me so much about Malawi, as well as enabling the research process to go more smoothly. Thanks to Lucy Phiri for being an excellent research assistant and for facilitating the interviews in Malawi in 2008. I am also grateful to Darlen Dzimwe for her enthusiasm and support with my research in 2018, for a behind the scenes tour of Lilongwe market and for teaching me how to cook nsima. I look forward to working together again on future research projects.

In Zimbabwe, I would like to thank Gerald Mazarire, Joseph Mujere, Anusa Daimon, Nicholas Nyachega, Tinashe Nyamunda, Ushehwedu Kufakurinani and others from the History and Economic History departments at the University of Zimbabwe. Special thanks to Margaret Goreraza and Fortune Sithole for their research assistance and for conducting the oral history interviews in Harare. Nicholas Nyachega was a valued research companion during a later trip to Harare and I am grateful for his support and astute observations. Thanks to my Chishona teacher, Mickias Musiyiwa, at the University of Zimbabwe, and to the staff at the National Archives of Zimbabwe. Thanks also to Ngwabi Bhebe, Faith Ntabeni-Bhebe and Ropa for welcoming me into their family home on numerous visits to Harare.

Back in the UK, I would like to thank the staff and archivists at Rhodes House Library, the National Archives at Kew, the School of Oriental and African Studies library, the Centre for African Studies, Edinburgh University, and finally, the Institute of Education Archives at UCL. I am grateful to Kathryn Hannan from the Institute of Education Archives for her help in obtaining a copy of a photograph from the Margaret Read Collection that appears in chapter two.

Between 2011 and 2013, I was fortunate to spend two years as a postdoctoral researcher at Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER), in Johannesburg. During this time, I benefitted a great deal from discussions with my mentor Belinda Bozzoli, as well as members of the Zimbabwe Reading Group, colleagues at the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS), in the History Department and History Workshop group. Thanks to Sarah Nutall and Achille Mbembe for allowing me to stay in their house when I first arrived in Johannesburg, and big thanks to my housemates in Melville, including Nicky Falkof and Sophie Boullion. Thanks to everyone at WISER, and to Eric Worby, Arianna Lissoni, Catherine Burns, Keith Breckenridge, Andrew Macdonald, Prinisha Badassy, Mucha Musemwa, Stacey Sommerdyk and Joel Quirk. Special thanks to Liz Gunner for her friendship and enjoyable walks and conversation on the Melville koppies.