The Consequences of Violent Politics in Norton, Zimbabwe

Abstract

The lasting consequences of violent politics in Zimbabwe cannot be fully grasped without exploring both their institutional and material contexts and local interpretations of the meaning of particular acts of violence. Drawing on narratives of political violence from the town of Norton, three points are made. First, the extreme electoral violence of 2008 was interpreted by opposition members as an almost inexplicable moment of rupture. As a result, it damaged social relations in lasting ways. Second, the powerful link between the ruling party's coercive politics and people's livelihoods in a context of economic collapse meant that violence had deeply damaging effects on every aspect of people's lives from which many have not yet recovered. Third, regardless of their party affiliation, people's political relations with Zimbabwe's Inclusive Government, established in 2009, have been powerfully shaped by their understandings of the material and other obligations constituted through violence and suffering in previous years.