Janine Mitchell
Published: 21 January 2019
The potential of the biofiction genre as a method of combining original archival research with creative writing to produce a narrative which self-reflexively explores the boundary between biography and fiction.
University of Stirling
The potential of the biofiction genre as a method of combining original archival research with creative writing to produce a narrative which self-reflexively explores the boundary between biography and fiction.
Peter Mackay, originally from Doune, played a key role in the liberation struggle in Southern Africa. Mackay assisted major political figures such as James Chikerema, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and Robert Mugabe during a time when they faced increasing restrictions, deportation and imprisonment. He trafficked political refugees to safety and transported weapons to Rhodesia’s guerrilla forces along a route known as the Freedom Road.
Despite this, Mackay has gone virtually unnoticed in the vast literature of African nationalism in Central Africa and the liberation of Zimbabwe. Mackay’s role as speechwriter, journalist and photographer, his organisation of the Selima Conference, at which the Capricorn Society was founded, his role in Salisbury’s March of 7000, a direct precursor to Robert Mugabe’s election as public secretary of the NDP and the formation of ZAPU, and his humanitarian work in Omay are just some of the contributions which remain undocumented outside Mackay’s memoir.
First published: 21 January 2019