Death, denial and dissidents: white commercial farmers’ discursive responses to mass violence in Zimbabwe, 1970-1980
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Date
2015
Authors
Pilossof, Rory
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
This article investigates how white farmers in Zimbabwe reacted to two violent
episodes in Zimbabwe’s recent history: the liberation war in the 1970s and the violence
of Gukurahundi in the 1980s. The foregrounding of violence against white farmers by
white farming representatives and mouthpieces in the 1980s was in direct contrast
to the almost complete lack of acknowledgement of ‘terrorist’ casualties during the
liberation war, and was a deliberate strategy on behalf of white farmers to recast
themselves as an ‘endangered’ species that needed government protection. This
article analyses how the discursive strategies of narrative violence changed for white
farmers from the 1970s to the 1980s. The changing social and political contexts meant
that white farmers had to adapt the tactics employed for narrating and discussing
violence, with silencing and selective remembering as key components throughout
this troubled period.
Description
Keywords
White farmers, Zimbabwe, Liberation war, Violence
Citation
Pilossof, R. (2015). Death, denial and dissidents: white commercial farmers' discursive responses to mass violence in Zimbabwe, 1970-1980: special issue. Acta Academica: Silence after violence and the imperative to'speak out', 47(1), 161-181.