Cover not available

Article published In: Naming and Labelling Contexts of Cultural Importance in Africa
Edited by Nico Nassenstein, Sambulo Ndlovu and Svenja Völkel
[International Journal of Language and Culture 10:2] 2023
► pp. 240–254

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

A chameleonic evolution of a people’s wishes, identity, and aspirations

An onomastic reading of Highlanders FC names and nicknames

 | Great Zimbabwe University
Published online: 3 May 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijolc.00053.dub
Abstract
Highlanders Football Club is the oldest football club in Zimbabwe. The formation of the club is intertwined with the history of the Ndebele nation. The club has changed names in response to various environments over the years, starting from being called Lions Football Club to acquiring its current name. The football club has always been associated with Ndebele royalty, an issue that excites varied responses to its presence. The supporters of Highlanders Football Club have given it quite a number of nicknames that are, mainly, endearments. The names and nicknames both bear the wishes and aspirations of the football team and its supporters. Highlanders Football Club has become a form of identity, culture, and ideology to its supporters. This chapter discusses messages that are conveyed by the names and nicknames of Zimbabwe’s oldest football club from an onomastic perspective. Bearing in mind the fact that onomastics is an interdisciplinary field, the chapter appreciates the deep-seated social and political issues that these names and nicknames raise and the aim is to bring them to the surface. It is also the aim of the chapter to unravel the myth around the craze that seems to engulf the supporters of this football club by examining the messages carried by its names and nicknames that have kept changing over the years.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Brief background of the Ndebele nation
  • 3.Highlanders Football Club names
  • 4.Highlanders Football Club nicknames
  • 5.Conclusion
  • References
References (31)
References
Bieber, J. 2010. Soweto. Auckland Park: Jacana Media.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chikwava, B. 2011. City portrait: Bulawayo. Wasafiri 26 (3). 61–62. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chiweshe, K. M. 2017. The people’s game: Football fandom in Zimbabwe. Bamenda: Langaa Research and Publishing Common Initiative Group.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Choto, T., M. K. Chiweshe & N. Muparamoto. 2019. Football fandom, ethno-regionalism and rivalry in post-colonial Zimbabwe: Case study of Highlanders and Dynamos. Soccer & Society 20 (1). 153–167. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dube, L. 2018. Justice according to Nsoyenyoni: An analysis of conflict resolution in AbaseGuswini LeZothamlilo and its implications for the current justice system in Zimbabwe. South African Journal of African Languages 38 (1). 73–78.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2019. The dialectics and politics of football as revealed in the names and nicknames of three selected Zimbabwe stadiums. In H. Byer, M. Brenzinger, T. Duplessis & P. Raper (eds.), Critical toponomy: Place names in political, historical and commercial landscapes, 177–188. Bloemfontein: SunMedia.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guzura, T. & J. Ndimande. 2015. Highlanders football club and Ndebele identity amongst fans in Zimbabwe. Afro Asian Journal of Social Sciences VI (4). 1–23.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hadebe, S. 2001. Isichazamazwi SesiNdebele. Harare: College Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2001. Songs of Lovemore Majayivana and Ndebele oral culture. In R. Kaschula (ed.), Oral African literature: Functions in contemporary contexts, 16–27. Claremont: New Africa Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2020. The ethnicization of political mobilization in Zimbabwe: The case of pro-Mthwakazi movements. In S. J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni & P. Ruhanya (eds.), The history and political transition of Zimbabwe from Mugabe to Mnangagwa, 155–180. Cham: Springer International Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Khumalo, L. 2004. Language contact and lexical change: A lexicographical terminographical interface in Zimbabwean Ndebele. Lexikos 141. 105–117.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mangena, T. & S. Ndlovu. 2016. Figurative and symbolic function of animal imagery in packaging human behaviour in Ndebele and Shona cultures. South African Journal of African Languages 36 (2). 251–256. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mangeya, H. 2018. Shona-Ndebele symbolic ethnic violence in institutions of higher learning: An analysis of male toilet graffiti at Midlands State University. (A paper presented at the Afrocentricity International Conference, 9 November 2018, Midlands State University, Zvishavane – Zimbabwe).
Mashiri, P. 2004. More than mere linguistic tricks: The sociopragmatic functions of some nicknames used by Shona-speaking people in Harare. Zambezia XXXI (i/ii). 22–45.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mokala, N. T. 2020. Basotho naming systems and practices: A sociolinguistic-onomastics approach. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation 3 (4). 220–227.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moyo, T. 2002. Aspects of nicknames among the Tumbuka. Names 50 (3). 191–200. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Msimanga, A. 2000. The role of birds in the culture of the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe, OSTRICH 71 (1–2). 22–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ncube, L. 2014. The interface between football and ethnic identity discourses in Zimbabwe. Critical African Studies 6 (2–3). 192–210. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2018. ‘Highlander Ithimu yezwe lonke!’: Intersections of Highlanders FC fandom and Ndebele ethnic nationalism in Zimbabwe. Sport in Society 21 (9). 1364–1381. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ndimande-Hlongwa, N. 2010. Nicknames of South African soccer teams and players as symbols of approbation in a multilingual and multicultural country. South African Journal of African Languages 30 (1). 88–97. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ndlovu, T. M., D. Ndlovu & B. S. Ncube. 1995. Imikhuba Lamasiko AmaNdebele. Gweru: Mambo Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. 2008. Who ruled by the spear? Rethinking the form of governance in the Ndebele State. African Studies Quarterly 10 (2 & 3). 71–94.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nyambi, O. 2020. A divided nation? Ethnicity, name-calling and nicknames in cyber Ndebele soccer discourse in Zimbabwe. National Identities 22 (1). 23–40. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oosthuizen, M. P. 1996. Uchibidolo: The abundant herds a descriptive study of the Sanga-Nguni cattle of the Zulu people with special reference to colour-pattern terminology and naming-practice. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pannenborg, A. 2012. Big men playing football: Money, politics and foul play in the African game. Leiden: African Studies Centre.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roberts, R. S. 2010. Alban Njube Lobengula, Iqanda le Ngwenya: A chronicle of a royal heir’s exile and despair. Heritage of Zimbabwe 291. 1–32.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rubenson, S. 1965. The lion of the tribe of Judah Christian symbol and/or imperial title. Journal of Ethiopian Studies 3 (2). 75–85.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shava, S. & S. Masuku. 2019. Living currency: The multiple roles of livestock in livelihood sustenance and exchange in the context of rural indigenous communities in Southern Africa. Southern African Journal of Environmental Education 351. 1–13. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sibanda, A. 2012. ‘Bosso it’s not inside, it’s still on top, Cremora’, Bulawayo 24 News, May 14 2012. [URL] (accessed 09/05/21).
Starks, D. & K. Taylor-Leech. 2011. A research project on nicknames and adolescent identities. New Zealand Studies in Applied Linguistics 17 (2). 87–97.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tendi, B. M. 2020. The army and politics in Zimbabwe: Mujuru, the liberation fighter and kingmaker. New York: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue