White Zimbabwean farmers’ unstable mobilities, identity and history in Douglas Rogers’ The last resort: a memoir of Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

White displacement as a consequence of Zimbabwe's land reform programme resulted in white economic and social mobilities and the need to reconfigure identities and preserve white Zimbabwean farmers’ history and memory as reflected in Douglas Rogers’ The last resort: A memoir of Zimbabwe (2009). This dislocation provokes a fear of loss of memory and history in the white Zimbabwean community and therefore triggers a desire to preserve history and memory, which are central in identity formation. In addition, the preservation of history and memory acts as an important site for the contestation of the land reform programme, identity and belonging.

KEYWORDS:

• History
• identity
• memory
• displacement
• mobility

Notes on contributors

Terrence Musanga teaches in the Department of English and Communication, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe and is a Research Associate in the Department of English, University of the Free State, South Africa. His areas of research include Migration and Identity issues in Zimbabwean Literature, post-colonial and film studies.