Indigeneity, belonging, ‘madness’ and ‘corruption’: Brett Muvet and the white man’s identity crisis in post-2000 Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

The article examines instances of white-talk in indigenous Shona language in post-2000 Zimbabwe. Grounded in concepts of whiteness, identity, citizenship and belonging, it interrogates discourses in videos produced and circulated by a white man – Brett Muvet – in Shona via YouTube. Through interrogating the ‘I’- ‘You’ and ‘Us’ – ‘Them’ dichotomies in his political commentary, the article interrogates how the white man seeks to re-insert himself in the national project. The findings demonstrate that for Brett whiteness is the point from which the world unfolds. His ‘talk’ demonstrates, regardless of claims to indigeneity, the white man’s problem of belonging in the post-colony.

KEYWORDS:

• Citizenship
• indigeneity
• belonging
• identity
• Zimbabwe
• whiteness

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. Ex-Rhodies sis short cut for Ex-Rhodesians, the former white minority racist rulers who lost power in the 1980 election. The election was part of the provisions of the 1979 Lancaster House Treaty which was meant to end the 1960s-70s liberation war.

2. See links at the end of the paper.

3. Gukurahundi (the rains that washes away the chaff) was a military operation in Matabeleland that scholars assert resulted in the massacre of about 20,000 civilians by the Fifth Brigade.