Echoes of Violence: Intergenerational Trauma, Fear, and Political Apathy Among Zimbabwean Youth Post-2008 Electoral Violence

Gilbert T. Zvaita () and George C. Mbara
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Gilbert T. Zvaita: International Centre of Nonviolence, Durban University of Technology, ML Sultan Road, Durban 4001, South Africa
George C. Mbara: Department of Politics and International Relations, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2092, South Africa

Social Sciences, 2025, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: Zimbabwe’s 2008 electoral violence created lasting societal impacts, yet the psychological consequences for youth, particularly through intergenerational effects, remain under-explored. This study examines how memories of this violence are transmitted to contemporary youth, including those born after 2008, and influence their political attitudes and participation. The study employed a qualitative approach in Harare’s Mbare suburb, utilising 20 in-depth interviews and four (4) focus groups, which were analysed through a trauma-informed lens. Findings indicate that youth inherit ‘traumascapes’ from elders, which cultivate fear, silence, and political apathy. Parental warnings and experiences link activism directly to vulnerability, prompting youth to adopt disengagement or performative allegiance as survival strategies amidst structural impunity and socio-economic precarity. Unresolved, intergenerationally transmitted trauma perpetuates cycles of civic disempowerment. The study concludes that post-conflict recovery in Zimbabwe requires moving beyond institutional reforms to prioritise psychosocial healing and demands that transitional justice frameworks explicitly address these inherited psychological wounds.

Keywords: Zimbabwe; intergenerational trauma; political violence; youth; political apathy; fear; psychosocial impact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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