 ‘This is Our land’A.S. Mlambo
Journal of Developing Societies, 2010, vol. 26, issue 1, 39-69 Abstract: This study seeks to trace the role of race in the evolution of the land question in Zimbabwe from Occupation to the ‘fast-track land reform programme’ of 2000 and beyond to explore the extent to which the era of colonial domination made the racialization of the land issue in the post-colonial period almost unavoidable. It contends that Mugabe’s use of race to justify the campaign to drive whites from the land from 2000 onwards was facilitated (in part) by the fact that race had always been used by the colonial authorities as a decisive factor in land acquisition and allocation throughout the colonial period and that using the alleged superiority of the white race, colonial authorities alienated African land for themselves without either negotiating with the indigenous authorities or paying for the land. Consequently, Mugabe’s charge that the land had been stolen and needed to be retaken clearly resonated with some segments of the Zimbabwean population enough to get them to actively participate in the land invasions of the time. Keywords: racialization; acquisition; land reform; settler population; Chimurenga; reconciliation; colonialism; land tenure; Social Darwinism; reserves; apportionment; communal areas; Land Tenure Act; Lancaster House; commercial farmer (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:26:y:2010:i:1:p:39-69 DOI: 10.1177/0169796X1002600103 Access Statistics for this article More articles in Journal of Developing Societies |
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