Culture, politics and material landscaping as strategies of belonging: the case of ex-farm workers of foreign origin in Bushu communal areas, Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

This article examines the movement of former farm workers of foreign origin (mainly from Malawi, and a few from Mozambique) into the Bushu communal areas of Shamva District in Mashonaland Central Province in Zimbabwe subsequent to the disruptions caused by the state’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme beginning in the year 2000. It focuses more specifically on the project of belonging pursued by these ex-workers and their families in Bushu and the various non-economic strategies adopted in constructing this project. This project involves potentially transitioning from their historical status as farm people, people of foreign origin and cultural-ethnic strangers to becoming authentic autochthonous communal villagers. While these ex-farm labourers seek to actively immerse themselves in the milieu of Bushu, they also maintain – to some extent – a separate cultural identity, thereby developing their own unique version of communal-area belonging.

RÉSUMÉ

Cet article examine le mouvement des anciens travailleurs agricoles d’origine étrangère (majoritairement du Malawi et certains du Mozambique) dans les zones communales de Bushu, du district de Shamwa, dans la province centrale du Mashonaland au Zimbabwe, suite aux perturbations causées par le programme de réforme agraire accélérée de l’État à partir de l’année 2000. Il se concentre plus spécifiquement sur le projet d’appartenance poursuivi par ces anciens travailleurs et leurs familles à Bushu et sur les diverses stratégies non-économiques adoptées pour construire ce projet. Ce projet a pour implication une transition potentielle de leur statut historique de fermiers, de personnes d’origine étrangère et d’étrangers culturels et ethniques vers celui d’authentiques villageois communautaires autochtones. Alors que ces anciens ouvriers agricoles cherchent à s’immerger activement dans le milieu de Bushu, ils conservent également – dans une certaine mesure – une identité culturelle distincte, développant ainsi leur propre version de l’appartenance à la zone communale.

KEYWORDS:

• Zimbabwe
• belonging
• Bushu
• ex-labourers
• fast-track land reform

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Zimbabwe
• appartenance
• Bushu
• anciens ouvriers agricoles
• réforme agraire accélérée

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 This article is part of a larger and ongoing research project. One recently published article (Chadambuka and Helliker 2022) focuses on economic strategies of belonging for this group of former farm labourers in Bushu communal areas. In a second published article (Chadambuka and Helliker 2023), we discuss the ways in which these former farm labourers negotiated access to land in Bushu.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Patience Chadambuka

Patience Chadambuka is a researcher, lecturer and Acting Chairperson in the Department of Community Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, at the Midlands State University, Zimbabwe. She holds a PhD in sociology from Rhodes University, South Africa. She researches and writes on land, livelihoods, ethnicity and gender. She has been awarded international research grants on climate change and disability studies.

Kirk Helliker

Kirk Helliker is an Emeritus Research Professor in the Department of Sociology at Rhodes University in South Africa, where he heads the Unit of Zimbabwean Studies, which he founded. He publishes widely on Zimbabwean history, politics and society and has supervised a significant number of PhD and MA students. His most recent co-edited books, all published in 2023, are: Tonga Livelihoods in Rural Zimbabwe; Lived Experiences of Borderland Communities in Zimbabwe: Livelihoods, Conservation, War and Covid-19; and Making Politics in Zimbabwe’s Second Republic: The Formative Project by Emmerson Mnangagwa.