UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Modern Languages Volume 1 of 1 The impact of Zimbabwe’s ‘crisis’ on three transnational families situated in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United Kingdom. by Jenny Cuffe Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2017 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT This thesis examines the impact of national crisis in Zimbabwe at the start of the millennium on three families from different ethnic groups and backgrounds, exploring how they situated themselves within the broad political and historic context. The use of linked life stories offers an inter-generational perspective, which crosses gender and geographic borders and encompasses personal, family and historical time. By viewing ‘crisis’ through the prism of the extended family, I argue that individual responses are shaped by a family’s ‘culture’, in other words its history, myths and values, and by a person’s role and status within the family, which is in turn determined by gender, age and generation. This will, I hope, add a new dimension to transnational family studies while contributing to more recent work on ‘crisis migration’. It shows ‘crisis’, not as a specific set of events bounded by history and geography, but as a multi-faceted, dispersed and evolving experience with profound consequences for the lives of individuals and even, perhaps, the future of the extended family. FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Modern Languages) Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy THE IMPACT OF ZIMBABWE’S ‘CRISIS’ ON THREE TRANSNATIONAL FAMILIES SITUATED IN ZIMBABWE, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM Jennifer Mary Cuffe Table of Contents List of Tables ................................................................................................................. v List of Figures ............................................................................................................. vii DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP ................................................................................... ix Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... xi Definitions and Abbreviations .....................................................................................xiii Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................... 15 1.1 Economic, social and political upheaval ..................................................................... 15 1.2 Family focus .............................................................................................................. 17 1.3 Linked lives – the use of narrative .............................................................................. 18 1.4 Meaning of ‘crisis’ ..................................................................................................... 21 1.5 Structure of thesis ..................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 2: Literature Review .................................................................................. 25 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 25 2.2 Patterns of migration ................................................................................................ 27 2.2.1 Migrants as ‘transnationals’ ......................................................................................... 29 2.2.2 Diasporas ...................................................................................................................... 31 2.2.3 Complex and dynamic migration.................................................................................. 34 2.2.4 Crisis migration ............................................................................................................. 36 2.2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 38 2.3 A family perspective .................................................................................................. 39 2.3.1 The ‘African’ family ....................................................................................................... 40 2.3.2 Changing patterns of Zimbabwean family life ............................................................. 41 2.3.3 The impact of ‘crisis’ ..................................................................................................... 44 2.3.4 Transnational families .................................................................................................. 46 2.3.5 Gendered family roles .................................................................................................. 48 2.3.6 Kinship ties: a mixed blessing? ..................................................................................... 51 2.3.7 Imagining ‘home’ .......................................................................................................... 53 2.3.8 Migrant children ........................................................................................................... 55 2.3.9 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 3: Methodology ........................................................................................ 59 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 59 i 3.2 Choosing participants................................................................................................ 59 3.3 Fieldwork as relationship building ............................................................................. 60 3.4 Ethical considerations ............................................................................................... 62 3.5 Life stories ................................................................................................................ 64 3.6 Family maps ............................................................................................................. 66 3.7 Analysing the data .................................................................................................... 68 3.8 Presenting the families ............................................................................................. 69 Chapter 4: Thwarted progress- Fungai’s family ....................................................... 71 4.1 The Baobab tree ....................................................................................................... 71 4.2 An ‘African’ family .................................................................................................... 73 4.3 ‘I will do it myself’ ..................................................................................................... 76 4.4 Shaping and interpreting national ‘crisis’ ................................................................... 78 4.5 Family roles .............................................................................................................. 83 4.5.1 Elders ............................................................................................................................ 84 4.5.2 Wives and mothers ...................................................................................................... 87 4.5.3 Young adults ................................................................................................................. 90 4.5.4 Children ........................................................................................................................ 92 4.6 Re-assessing the family ............................................................................................. 95 4.6.1 The stayers’ perspective .............................................................................................. 95 4.6.2 The migrants’ view ....................................................................................................... 97 4.7 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 101 Chapter 5: Reawakened trauma - Dwana’s family ................................................. 103 5.1 Minority status ....................................................................................................... 103 5.2 Starting from scratch .............................................................................................. 106 5.3 A troubled history ................................................................................................... 108 5.3.1 Words that betray ...................................................................................................... 111 5.3.2 Absence of trust ......................................................................................................... 113 5.4 Family ties and tensions .......................................................................................... 115 5.5 Family scattering .................................................................................................... 118 5.6 Exile ....................................................................................................................... 121 5.6.1 Seeking asylum in the UK – Dwana’s story ................................................................ 121 5.6.2 Broken ties ...............................................................................................................