Changes in the Linguistic Landscape Resulting from Zimbabwe’s Post-2000 Land Reforms: Recasting the First and Second Chimurenga Narratives

Abstract

This article examines changes in the linguistic landscape of Zimbabwe which resulted from the post-2000 land reforms. When veterans of Zimbabwe’s War of Liberation assumed occupancy of former white-owned farms, they immediately pronounced their take-over of the land through changes in place names. The resultant toponyms are anchored in the discourses of the First and Second Chimurenga. Through recasting the Chimurenga (war of liberation) narrative, the proponents of the post-2000 land reforms endeavoured to create a historical continuum from the colonisation of Zimbabwe in 1890 to the post-2000 reforms, which were perceived as an attempt to redress the historical anomaly of land inequality. This study, which focuses on the changes in the linguistic landscape of Gutu District, Masvingo Province, made use of in-depth interviews, document study and observation as data generation methods. The theoretical underpinnings are based in post-colonial theory with a particular focus on the concept of onomastic erasure.