The article discusses nostalgia as a purposeful narrative strategy adopted in order to authenticate Lawrence Vambe’s narrative in a colonial context. I argue that nostalgia for Vambe is not just a narrative technique, but a practice in self-authentication and marketing. Focusing on Vambe’s use of ‘selective nostalgia’, I offer a reading of his memoir as an anti-colonial personal discourse opposed to the dominance of imperial narratives and colonialism in Africa’s socio-political, economic and cultural realms. This approach reveals the utilitarian nature of the memoir, and speaks to the intentionality and functionality of text.

中文翻译：

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劳伦斯·万贝的《命运多舛的人：罗德岛前后的津巴布韦》中的怀旧与自我认同

这篇文章将怀旧作为一种有目的的叙事策略，以在殖民背景下验证劳伦斯·万贝的叙事。我认为对 Vambe 的怀旧不仅仅是一种叙事技巧，而是一种自我验证和营销的实践。关注 Vambe 对“选择性怀旧”的使用，我将他的回忆录作为反殖民个人话语来阅读，以反对帝国叙事和殖民主义在非洲社会政治、经济和文化领域的主导地位。这种方法揭示了回忆录的功利性，并说明了文本的意图和功能。