Diaspora citizenship in practice: identity, belonging and transnational civic activism amongst Zimbabweans in the UK

ABSTRACT

This article develops the notion of diaspora citizenship to analyse domains of transnational action by Zimbabwean migrants in the UK by focussing on their political and civic practices. I argue that diaspora citizenship is enmeshed with a sense of belonging and active practices of civic engagement in both host and homeland. A transnational lens allows us to look at how diasporic citizenship can provide a banner of mobilisation, not just for undocumented or irregular migrants in relation to rights in countries of settlement, but also for a range of diasporic activists whose formal citizenship is not fully recognised in countries of origin. Diaspora citizenship therefore becomes a recognisable sphere of practice in both the hostland and homeland. The article draws on interviews conducted in the UK and Zimbabwe and follows a multi-sited methodology that entailed tracing and assessing UK-based diaspora groups’ transnational networks and activities in Zimbabwe. The article therefore contributes to broader theoretical debates about citizenship and diaspora by exploring the potential utility of the concept of diaspora citizenship.

KEYWORDS:

• Zimbabwe
• diaspora
• activism
• citizenship
• belonging

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend my gratitude to JoAnn McGregor for feedback on earlier drafts. My thanks also to the two anonymous reviewers for their very useful and constructive feedback that helped shape the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 More here on a joint protest by ZHRO and the MDC (a political party) at the Zimbabwean Embassy in August 2017 in commemoration of the International Day of the Victim of Enforced Disappearances: http://newzimbabwevision.com/zhro-mdc-in-joint-protests-at-the-zimbabwe-embassy-in-london-on-30th-of-august-2017/. In addition, there was also a joint protest in February 2017 titled ‘Rise Up Diaspora’ which was a joint demonstration of the Zimbabwe Vigil Coalition, ROHR Zimbabwe, ZHRO and Zimbabwe Yadzoka demanding activists in Zimbabwe be freed and also human rights. Also see here for a protest in support of the march to remove Robert Mugabe as President in Zimbabwe: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/zimbabwe-latest-huge-crowds-gather-outside-london-s-zimbabwe-embassy-amid-news-mugabe-will-be-officially-dismissed-on-sunday-a3695051.html.

2 ZCI’s Facebook page can viewed through this link: https://www.facebook.com/ZimbabweCitizensInitiative/.

3 Words spoken by Kingstone Jambawo at the launch of the organisation in England.

4 Interview with Garai. Manchester. September 5, 2017.

5 Interview with Timothy. Manchester. October 27, 2017.

6 Interview with Tafara. Manchester. November 5, 2017.

7 Interview with Garai. Manchester. September 5, 2017.

8 Interview with Sam. Manchester. November 16, 2017.

9 Interview with Sam. Manchester. November 16, 2017.

10 Ziso's interactive map can be viewed here: https://zimbabwecitizensmovement.ushahidi.io/views/map.

11 Ushahidi, which translates to ‘testimony’ in Swahili, was developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election violence in 2008. Since then, their crowdsourcing tools have been used around the world to help people raise people’s voices and to map ‘hotspots’ in times of crisis. See here for more: https://www.ushahidi.com/about.

12 From the Ziso/iLihlo website https://zisoilihlo.com/.

13 Interview with Kundai. Manchester. December 12, 2017.

14 Interview with Nakai. Harare. February 8, 2018.

15 See here for a post-election violence monitoring report from 2018 prepared by the Forum using data from Ziso/Ilihlo inter alia: https://www.hrforumzim.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Report-on-the-Post-elections-violations-.pdf.