Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe: News, Stories and Analysis.

‘I Wanted to See if I Could Pull Off Writing an Interdisciplinary Book’ Fareda Banda’s First Draft

Fareda BandaOctober 6, 2023

Zimbabwean academic and author of African Migration, Human Rights and Literature, Fareda Banda, wanted her book to explore the refugee/migration issue from the perspective of one whose people were being dehumanized: ‘I was also curious about whether literature could reach places or invoke emotions such as empathy, that law and policy did not seem to be doing.’

Best of 2023: First DraftFirst DraftInterviewsOctober/November 2023Zimbabwe

‘Writing a Book Is Both a Solitary and Collaborative Effort’ Farai Mudzingwa’s First Draft

Farai MudzingwaSeptember 1, 2023

Zimbabwean author, Farai Mudzingwa’s debut novel, Avenues by Train, was inspired by his interest to correct the false dichotomy between modernity and African cultural expression that exists in colonial texts: ‘I wanted to explore how cultures with disrupted spirituality and culture reconcile with modernity. There is a historical context to who we are at present as a people which is erased but necessary for our grounding today.’

August/September 2023First DraftInterviewsZimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s Next Hero? Zimbabwe Celebrates Heroes’ Day on Their Way to the Polls

Victoria AuduAugust 15, 2023

Later this month, Zimbabwe will elect a new president. The options include a 45-year-old youth leader and the 80-year-old sitting president, who has been in politics longer than the youth leader has been alive.

August/September 2023Zimbabwe

‘Politics Is Not Moral Charity’ Blessing Simura’s First Draft

Blessing SimuraApril 22, 2022

Since the Ukraine crisis, writer and author of ‘The Age of Great Power Rivalry’, Blessing Simura, has been thinking a lot about Western diplomacy. Read our interview.

April/May 2022First DraftInterviewsZimbabwe

This photo is for our interview with Simukai Chigudu

‘I Liked to Think of Myself as a Cool, Distant Observer of the World’ Simukai Chigudu’s First Draft

Simukai ChiguduNovember 19, 2021

Academic and author of The Political Life of an Epidemic: Cholera, Crisis and Citizenship in Zimbabwe, Simukai Chigudu, is expanding his writing beyond traditional academic work and into narrative nonfiction. Read our interview.

First DraftInterviewsOctober/November 2021Zimbabwe

Lessons of Discord The Repressive Dimensions of Pan-African Nationalism

Brooks MarmonNovember 11, 2021

Pan-Africanist political organization in the 1950s and 1960s played a mutually reinforcing role in driving the advocacy that ended both colonial rule in Africa and legal racial discrimination in the American South. Read more.

AngolaGhanaOctober/November 2020South AfricaZimbabwe

What #FreeJacobZuma Exposed Jacob Zuma and the Undoing of South Africa

Boetumelo Julianne NyasuluOctober 25, 2021

Unlike his predecessors, Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma had a presidency coloured by a messy personal life and corruption charges. Read more.

October/November 2021South AfricaZimbabwe

The Revolution Is a Song! Music in Africa’s Liberation and Freedom Struggles

Karsten NokoOctober 13, 2021

In their contributions to local African resistance, musicians today such as Uganda’s Bobi Wine, who face increasingly autocratic governments, draw from the legacies of older artists such as Fela Kuti, Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba. Read more.

NigeriaOctober/November 2021South AfricaZimbabwe

Genesis of a Revolutionary Robert Mugabe’s Political Formation

Brooks MarmonSeptember 8, 2021

Robert Mugabe, the dictator who ruled Zimbabwe for more than three decades, had revolutionary beginnings. He was shaped by a tumultuous brew of pan-African nationalism, associated authoritarianism, and his own startling yet grossly under-discussed political rise. Read more.

August/September 2021South Africavol5-no3Zimbabwe

Gender, Anti-Colonialism and Nationalism The Anti-Colonial Legacies of African Women

Nnenna Ifeanyi-AjufoSeptember 8, 2021

That women’s participation in anti-colonial and nationalist struggles may not be as obvious in existing literature does not mean such participation was peripheral. Read more.

August/September 2021CameroonEthiopiaInternational Women's Day - EssaysKenyaNigeriaSouth Africavol5-no3Zimbabwe