Zimbabwean Migrants Research Articles

Living with uncertainty: disappearing modernities and polluted urbanity in post‐2000 Harare, Zimbabwe

Most studies of Zimbabwean migration and the country’s politico‐economic crisis focus on the material aspects of these two issues. In this article, through dual‐sited ethnographic work, I illustrate the symbolisms and meanings that are entangled within political and economic decline in urban Zimbabwe. Using data from fieldwork in Zimbabwe and South Africa, I argue that ‘crisis’ has carried with it a re‐configuration of the meanings associated with urbanity. This leads to a contradiction between how the state and citizens view ‘proper’ modernity. In combination with political factors, the state’s attempts to maintain modernity have led to a paradigm of pollution being associated with poor urbanites. This symbolism and its correspondent reality were found to have influenced the migration of informants in South Africa. It is thus not only economic and political relations that are at stake in present‐day Zimbabwe.

The Right to Rights?

This article examines the disjuncture between the theory of international refugee protection, human rights and citizenship rights and their practice. Drawing on data from a sub-sample of 500 Zimbabwean migrants taken from a larger survey of 1000 Zimbabweans in South Africa and the UK, it explores the labour market and transnational lives of undocumented migrants and compares them with migrants with other immigration statuses. The article demonstrates that while the protection and rights frameworks exist, in reality undocumented migrants cannot access protection and/or rights.

The Impact of Poverty on Women's Psychosocial Well-being: Narratives from Zimbabwean Migrant Women in South Africa

The study investigated the psychosocial impact poverty has had on Zimbabwean migrant women. The sample comprised 7 female participants (3 professional teachers and 4 informal traders) who had migrated to South Africa because of poverty. Their age ranged from 16 to 55 years. In-depth interviews were conducted using an interview guide. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The migrant women's health and well-being were compromised from poverty related experiences while sojourners.

Competitive Labour: Divisions between Zambian and Zimbabwean Workers1

By the late nineteenth century, Victoria Falls was a popular travel destination for Europeans, South Africans, and Americans who hoped to find adventure amidst what they deemed a wild physical and cultural landscape. Although a tourism industry was first established on the northern side of the Zambezi (Zambia), the southern side of the Falls (Zimbabwe) quickly joined in commercial development. Victoria Falls is now one of the most visited sites in Africa, and labour patterns around this site continue to be strongly influenced by developments in the tourism industry. Because the waterfalls served as a natural border between Northern and Southern Rhodesia, the colonial policies and development strategies on either side led to different commercial activities. The imbalanced nature of the development of tourism at this border continues to affect the working lives of local populations today. The Zimbabwean side of the border dominated the tourist market for decades, and Zambians living just across the Zambezi often crossed into Zimbabwe hoping to find employment or customers for their goods. Over the past eight years though, that trend has reversed, and Zimbabweans living in the border town of Victoria Falls Town are flooding Zambia's tourist town of Livingstone. The recent economic, political, and social upheavals in Zimbabwe are forcing Africans in this area to search for employment, stability, and resources on the Zambian side of the border. In this article, I focus on the rather strong tensions between Zimbabweans and Zambians and men and women who are trying to earn money around the Falls, specifically in Victoria Falls Town, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia. I am particularly focused on those who earn money by working in what some scholars identify as the ‘informal sector’, or less commonly as the ‘semi-formal sector’. It is clear that gender and nationality are playing an increasing role in the competition among workers, and that the intensity of such tensions are reaching a boiling point. In the tense political landscape of the region, the contemporary divisions between (and among) Zimbabweans and Zambians serve as a reminder that the problems in Zimbabwe are quite clearly not contained within that country's borders. This analysis also contributes to a growing literature on Zimbabwean migrants living and working outside of Zimbabwe. Most studies on the Zimbabwean Diaspora focus on the activities of Zimbabweans in South Africa, which is host to the largest number of migrants, and Britain, where a strong network of Zimbabweans exists. No studies dealing explicitly with Zimbabweans in Zambia are available, yet this is an increasingly popular destination of Zimbabweans forced to flee their country but without the means to travel abroad or too afraid to go to South Africa. This article adds another dimension to the growing attention on Zimbabwe's economic refugees.

Associational links with home among Zimbabweans in the UK: reflections on long‐distance nationalisms

AbstractIn this article, I provide an overview of the character of associations formed in Britain by Zimbabweans in the context of the mass exodus that gathered pace from the late 1990s. I discuss the politicization of the Zimbabwe diaspora, which infuses many aspects of associational life beyond specifically political organizations, and also emphasize the importance of Zimbabwean church fellowships. I offer an historical explanation for the strength of nationalism expressed in the diaspora and the absence of ‘translocal’ associations characteristic of other African diaspora groups, such as hometown associations, and explore reasons why burial societies, which have been centrally important for Zimbabwean migrants in other periods and contexts, are less prevalent in Britain. I build my argument on an historical discussion of continuities and changes in the associational forms characteristic of labour migrancy and urbanization within the southern African region. I emphasize the legacies of a strong segregationist settler state, the mobilizations and international solidarities of the protracted struggle for independence, the Christianization of elite African culture in Zimbabwe's cities, and the international politics of the recent multifaceted crisis. My discussion of the associational expression of ‘long distance nationalisms’ is based on interviews conducted in 2004–5, participation in diaspora meetings and events, and reading of diaspora media and websites. In the article I aim to highlight the specific social histories of association and the political context of diaspora formation, which are essential for understanding the nature of institutions connecting with home, and ideas about home itself.

Perceptions of Risk Level of Precaution Used to Prevent HIV/Aids Infection. A Study of Zimbabwean Migrant Women Living in Johannesburg

Perceptions of Risk Level of Precaution Used to Prevent HIV/Aids Infection. A Study of Zimbabwean Migrant Women Living in Johannesburg

Responding to Zimbabwean migration in South Africa: evaluating options

Zimbabwean migration into South Africa represents a challenge to standard global models for responding to large-scale migration flows. South Africa's existing legal and institutional infrastructure for migration management and refugee protection is not adequate for responding to this challenge and yet the country has not planned or implemented alternative responses. The paper outlines the complex ‘mixed’ nature of current Zimbabwean migration to South Africa and describes how South Africa's range of legal and institutional responses are ineffective in protecting both South Africa's national interests and the rights of Zimbabwean migrants. After presenting a series of factors against which future responses should be evaluated, it lists various possible forms of response, including legal and humanitarian interventions, and discusses their respective appropriateness in the South African context. Finally, the paper suggests six possible policy scenarios, taking into account institutional and political realities on the ground in South Africa.

‘Joining the BBC (British Bottom Cleaners)’: Zimbabwean Migrants and the UK Care Industry

This article contributes to the literature on ‘global care chains’ by examining the narratives of Zimbabwean women and men working as carers in the UK. It investigates why social care has become an important focus of employment for Zimbabweans, and explores the means by which migrants of different legal status have negotiated work in a diverse sector. The article explores the experiences of a highly educated, middle-class migrant group, who left their country in the context of deepening economic and political crisis. Some Zimbabweans have been able to use transnational mobility and care work as a means of coping, finding opportunities to meet family obligations and personal ambitions, while entrepreneurs have found openings to set up in business as care agencies, providing work for their compatriots and others. Yet the article also emphasises the stress and deskilling most Zimbabwean care workers have experienced in trying to support themselves and dependents through excessive hours of low-status and often poorly paid work, the strain of working in strongly feminised and racialised workplaces, and the insecurities and abuse produced by informality, including ‘tied’ and other forms of labour exploitation. There is a need for greater attention to be paid to the dynamics of race and gender in social care workplaces, and to means of securing the rights of migrant careworkers, who are playing an increasingly important role in caring for some of the most vulnerable members of British society.

Emigration from Zimbabwe: Migrant Perspectives

Abstract This article explores migration from Zimbabwe to the UK and South Africa and the experiences of the receiving countries from the perspective of the migrants. It provides a critical examination of the impact of structural barriers in both the UK and South Africa on the economic experiences of migrants. The effects of immigration status, due to the exclusion of asylum‐seekers in the UK and the presence of undocumented migrants in the UK and South Africa, is explored in relation to employment and remittance activities. The clear evidence of the deskilling taking place among the majority of Zimbabwean migrants – and its impact on remittances and other forms of transnational support – is also examined. The article concludes that any real commitment to alleviating global poverty on the part of the world's migrant receiving countries must include a re‐examination of barriers to employment, education and the use of skills, since these barriers not only have a short‐term impact on remittances to the sending country and fiscal capacity to contribute in the receiving country, but will also impact on longer‐term development should the migrants return to their country of origin.

The Fight for Control of African Women's Mobility in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1900-1939

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Fight for Control of African Women's Mobility in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1900-1939Teresa A. BarnesTeresa A. Barnes Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Signs Volume 17, Number 3Spring, 1992 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/494750 Views: 104Total views on this site Citations: 29Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1992 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Loreen Chikwira, Roda Madziva Transnational Families and Complex Gender Relations: Zimbabwean Migrant Women Living in the United Kingdom, (Jan 2023): 39–52.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15278-8_3Amon Simba, Dina Modestus Nziku Women Entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe, (Jun 2022): 251–269.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98966-8_12Miles Larmer Living for the City, 6 (Aug 2021).https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108973120Sandra Bhatasara Women, Land and Urban Governance in Colonial and Post-colonial Zimbabwe, (Nov 2020): 207–224.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52504-0_13Kirk Helliker, Sandra Bhatasara, Manase Kudzai Chiweshe Land Alienation, Land Struggles and the Rise of Nationalism in Rhodesia, (Jan 2021): 37–67.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66348-3_3Isaac C. 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‘They Treat Us Like Dogs’: Demographic Claustrophobia and the Zimbabwean Struggle for Space on the Streets of Gaborone, Botswana

Over the course of the past decade the outflow of Zimbabwean migrants into neighbouring Southern African countries has prompted widespread attention in academic circles and international media. Narratives of xenophobia, violence and conflicts over access to jobs and resources have been widely disseminated, especially in South Africa. This essay, however, places the emphasis on Botswana. The text emphasises the everyday experiences and encounters of Zimbabweans and Batswana on the streets of Gaborone. First, I historicise the tensions between Batswana and other immigrants and explore the current contours of the conflict from the Batswana perspective. Second, I present a depiction of the daily life of Zimbabwean job seekers who frequent the street corners of the White City neighbourhood. Through the use of ethnographic data and interviews, I offer a means to explore broader theoretical issues of biopolitics, securitisation and citizenship.