Zimbabwe’s Minority Communities in Britain Reliving Colonial and Post-colonial Memories

Abstract

By focussing exclusively on Whites, Coloureds (mixed race) and Asians, the chapter demonstrates that the Zimbabwean immigrant community in Britain is not a monolithic group of Blacks, but a racially diverse community. Analysing the diaspora interactions of communities considered more privileged than Blacks during the colonial era provides a perspective on the complexities of eradicating historically constructed racial prejudices. The chapter develops an argument showing how imported historical prejudices and identities that had been constructed during different phases of Zimbabwe’s history led to imagined ethnic and racial boundaries which placed limits on interracial interactions. The ultimate consequence had been the creation of separate insular Zimbabwean immigrant communities of Whites, Coloureds and Asians which rarely organised or participated in interracial events. Neither did they participate in Black-led national events.