‘Tapanduka Zvamuchese’: Facebook, ‘unruly publics’, and Zimbabwean politics

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the role that a Facebook account operating under the name Baba Jukwa played in the run up to the Zimbabwean 2013 election. It argues that Baba Jukwa was able to convoke an ‘unruly public’ that was situated in opposition to the state-controlled public sphere, and one that was transnational in its reach. Through a close examination of the posts by Baba Jukwa and the debates they generated, it uncovers the key features of this public, namely, the use of symbolically laden pseudonyms, the emergence of a vernacular discourse that was articulated in multiple registers, and the prevalence of conspiracy theorizing. The paper also highlights the way that these publics are inflected by older socio-cultural and political practices, and the efforts of participants in the public to creatively fused the past and the present.

KEYWORDS:

• Unruly publics
• conspiracy theory
• speech registers
• Zimbabwe
• pseudonyms

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Moyo, “Repression, Propaganda”; Manganga, “The Internet”.

2 Peel, “Exile and the Internet”; Mano and Willems, “Debating Zimbabweanness”; Moyo, “Repression, Propaganda”; Manganga, “The Internet”; Alexander and McGregor, “Representing Violence”.

3 Habermas, The Structural Transformation.

4 Alexander and McGregor, “Representing Violence”; Mano and Willems, “Debating Zimbabweanness”.

5 Mutsvairo and Sirks, “Examining the Contribution”.

6 Mujere and Mwatwara, “Citizen Journalism”.

7 Mare, “Baba Jukwa”.

8 Luke, McCullogh, and O’Hare, “Unruly Publics”.

9 Zayani, Networked Publics; Papacharissi, Affective Publics; Boyd, “Social Sites”; and Luke, McCullogh, and O’Hare, “Unruly Publics”.

10 Dean, “Why the Net”.

11 Hess, “Resistance Up in Smoke,” 429–30.

12 Mouffe, “Which Public Sphere,” 58.

13 Ibid., 63.

14 Gardiner, “Wild Publics”; Luke, McCullogh, and O’Hare, “Unruly Publics”.

15 Gardiner, “Wild Publics,” 38.

16 The repressive laws that were passed include the Broadcasting Services Act of 2001, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act of 2002, the Public Order and Security Act of 2002, and the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act of 2004.

17 Moyo, “Repression, Propaganda”.

18 Luise, Speaking with Vampires.

19 See Rödlach, Witches, Westerners, and HIV and Isak, “Dr. Wouter Basson, Americans, and Wild Beasts”.

20 Waters, “Conspiracy Theories”; Turner, “Under the Gaze”.

21 Silverstein, “An Excess of Truth,” 646.

22 Turner, “Under the Gaze”.

23 Ibid., 664.

24 Ibid., 665.

25 The Herald, 15 June 2015, https://www.herald.co.zw/relief-for-baba-jukwa-suspects/, retrieved 17 May 2018.

26 Amai is the Shona word for mother, and baba is the word for father.

27 Hess, “Resistance Up in Smoke,” 427.

28 Newell, The Power to Name.

29 Ibid., 16.

30 Pfukwa, “Onomastic Innovation”.

31 Raftopoulos, “The Crisis in Zimbabwe,” 214.

32 Warner, “Publics and Counterpublics,” 55.

33 Fontein, “Anticipating the Tsunami,” 388. See also Mbembe, On the Post Colony.

34 Report of the Portfolio Committee on Mines.

35 See The Standard, 28 April 2013.