Zimbabwean Communities in Britain

Imperial and Post-Colonial Identities and Legacies

Christopher Roy Zembe

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9783319896830
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: History

This book examines why Zimbabwean immigrants in Britain should be viewed as a product of ethno-racial identities and prejudices developed and nurtured during the colonial and post-colonial phases of Zimbabwe's history. In the absence of shared historic socio-economic or cultural commonalities, the book will tackle the key question: 'Are Zimbabweans in Britain demarcated by race and ethnicity an imagined community?' Through an analysis of personal interviews, and secondary and primary sources, it identifies and engages historical experiences that had been instrumental in constructing diasporic identities and integration processes of Zimbabwean immigrants. With most literature tending to create perceptions that Zimbabwean immigrants are a monolithic community of Blacks, the book's comparative analysis of Blacks, Whites, Coloureds and Asians unveils a multi-racial community fragmented by historic racial and ethnic allegiances and prejudices. It is essential reading for scholarsand researchers interested in migration, African Diaspora, and colonial and post-colonial studies.

© The Author(s) 2018

Christopher Roy ZembeZimbabwean Communities in Britainhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89683-0_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction: Contextualising Debate

Christopher Roy Zembe¹

(1)

School of Humanities, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

Christopher Roy Zembe

Email: [email protected]

End Abstract

The trajectory of political and socio-economic events during the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial phases of Zimbabwe’s history has made it profoundly misleading to present the Zimbabwean diaspora as monolithic. Instead, the book will establish how the historical influences through which ideas of belonging came to be defined created a diverse and multifaceted community demarcated by imaginary ethnic and racial boundaries. The arrival of the Ndebele and British colonisation in the nineteenth century marked the start of new forms of socialisation that facilitated the creation of an environment in which ethnic and racial prejudices and allegiances would thrive throughout the phases of Zimbabwe’s history. The impact of ethno-racial tensions would not only be restricted within the confines of Zimbabwean borders but was to be exported to the diaspora.

This book’s study of the Zimbabwean diasporic community in Britain is set within the historiographical paradigms, which not only trace the history of African immigration in Britain, but also the experiences of non-European immigrants as they interacted with British society. Focussing on Zimbabweans in Britain as a case study offers an alternative perspective on Black British migration history by moving away from the traditional areas of Black immigration study such as eighteenth-century slavery and post-1945 African Caribbean migration . With a lot of work on the African immigrant community focussed on West Africans, the book also offers a new concentration on African migration from Southern Africa. ¹

Emergence of African Immigrant Community

There is archaeological and literary evidence that traces the longevity of Africans resident in Britain to the ‘Romano-British period’ (Edward in Gundara and Duffield 1992; Killingray 1994; Fryer 1984). David Killingray affirms the early presence of Africans in the British Isles by identifying ‘trading, raiding and slaving sea routes’ as being responsible for bringing Africans especially from North Africa to Britain in the Middle Ages (Killingray 1994: 3). He pointed out how Africans would arrive in a variety of roles mainly as seaman, slaves or manual labourers. The expanding maritime and slave trade allowed the trend to continue until the early nineteenth century when slavery was made illegal.

The growth of the African immigrant population in Britain did not cease with the end of slave trade. The ‘Scramble for Africa’ in the late nineteenth century (in which the British were leading participants) started the process of new forms of socialisation between the colonisers and the colonised indigenous communities which would influence future migration patterns of Africans who were not directly linked with slave mercantile trading. These were individuals from the elite community of students or businessmen who had the linguistic and literary competency to interact with British socio-economic structures.

With pre-emigration exposure to Westernisation , it is therefore not surprising that publications by leading academics on Afro-British history, notably Anthony Kirk-Greene, Hakim Adi, John Hargreaves and Marika Sherwood unveil a confident and educated African community from the late nineteenth century by examining issues related to African student communities or individuals, pan-Africanism , diaspora political activism and political refugees . For example, Adi in his essay, ‘West African Students in Britain, 1900–1960: The Politics of Exile’ chronicles pan-Africanist political activism of West African students in Britain. Maintaining the theme of pan-Africanism, Adi further explores how refugee or asylum seeker migration statuses encouraged the development of pan-Africanism within the exiles from the later decades of the nineteenth century into the twentieth century (Adi in Manz and Panayi 2013).

However, despite the historiographical recognition of the presence of Africans in Britain since the Middle Ages, they only counted a few thousand in 1951; 11,000 according to David Killingray (1994). It was only after the end of World War Two when a new trend in Britain’s immigration started to emerge with the arrival and permanent settlement of a significant number of African immigrants . There was an inextricable link between decolonisation and post-war increase of Africans in Britain. As the British Empire in Africa collapsed, Africans, as pointed out by Robert Davison, joined other Commonwealth immigrants from the West Indies and South Asia migrating to Britain (Davison 1966). The inevitable consequence was that the African population in Britain continued to grow throughout the post-war decades of the twentieth century with the arrival mainly of students and political refugees from both English and non-English speaking states (Killingray 1994). By the end of the twentieth century, Africans had established themselves as a noticeable community of non-European migrants when the 1991 census recorded over 207,000 residing in Britain (Killingray 1994). This was the census in which for the first time individuals were invited to record their ethnic origin.

This trend of African migration (of which Zimbabweans had been active participants) into Britain continued into the twenty-first century as part of what Kathy Burrell describes as ‘an increasingly globalised world’ (Burrell 2006: 2). The 2011 census affirmed the extent to which Africans had become a significant immigrant community within Britain’s twenty-first century demography by recording 989,000 residing in the country—that is, 1.7% of the population in England and Wales (Office of National Statistics 2011 Census). Zimbabwean immigrants were emerging to be an integral component of the post-war Afro-British community.

Zimbabweans in Britain

The noticeable rapid rise of the Zimbabwean population in Britain illustrated in Fig. 1.1 demonstrates how Zimbabweans had always embraced Britain as a migration destination in both the colonial and post-colonial era. Zimbabwe’s special relationship with its colonial master had always been cemented by what Robin Cohen identifies as ties of kinship, economic interdependence, preferential trade arrangements, sport, tourism, education and academic certification (Cohen 1994). Even at independence in 1980, Cohen states how White Zimbabweans of British descent continued to cling to their passports as a means of affirming their British identity and hedging their political bets should they be forced to migrate in the future (Cohen 1994).

Fig. 1.1

Zimbabwean population in Britain 1971–2011

(Source Office of National Statistics 2011 and International Organisation of Migration 2006)

For most Blacks with no ancestral links with Britain, the distance between the two countries did not deter them from migrating. As a former colonial master that had economically benefitted from Zimbabwe’s resources, there were perceptions within Black African communities that Britain ‘owed’ them and therefore they had the right to migrate as economic immigrants, political asylum seekers or political refugees (Pasura 2014). Inevitably, Zimbabweans’ migration to Britain, triggered by a diverse range of circumstances, resulted in the immigrant community being classified as visitors, students, those with dual nationality or ancestral heritage, political asylum seekers and those on work permits.

Leading social scientists on Zimbabwean immigrants such as Alice Bloch, JoAnn McGregor , Dominic Pasura and Beacon Mbiba were the quickest in recognising the growth of the contemporary post-independence Zimbabwean community in Britain, whose notable expansion was from the 1990s. They were exploring interrelated themes which included reasons for migration , socio-economic integration , diaspora activism of home politics and transnationalism. Alice Bloch’s paper ‘Emigration from Zimbabwe: Migrant Perspectives’ provides a comparative analysis of Zimbabweans in Britain with those in South Africa by examining how the Zimbabwean community she describes as possessing a ‘higher average level of qualifications’ than other immigrants in their countries of settlement faced deskilling as they struggled to find employment suitable to their qualifications (Bloch 2006).

JoAnn McGregor also gives an insight into the economic integration of the Zimbabwean diaspora community in Britain by unveiling how the care sector had been the largest recruiter of contemporary first-generation Zimbabweans determined to find employment so as to circumvent the trappings of immigrant poverty and meet their transnational obligations (McGregor 2007). Beacon Mbiba reinforces the economic integration of Zimbabwean immigrants in Britain by identifying how blocked mobility in Britain’s labour market persuaded some within the community to be entrepreneurial by opening businesses (Mbiba 2011). Dominic Pasura covers social aspects of the Zimbabwean diaspora community by exploring issues related to religious identities , changes in domestic gender roles, transnational engagements such as political activism in home politics and sending remittances back home (Pasura 2014).

This academic research into Britain’s Zimbabwean population has been significant, though not exhaustive. This is because, besides mainly focusing on post-colonial immigrants, the emerging academic discussions tend to focus on Black Zimbabwean immigrants with very little, if any, acknowledgement of Whites, Coloureds (Mixed Race ) and Asians. Since each racial community migrating had a background of different historic experiences, the imported identities and prejudices of Zimbabwe’s minority communities should therefore not be trivialised when seeking to understand the construction of relations and their social and economic integration processes.

This limited academic attention on Zimbabwe’s minority communities in Britain also mirrors how they found themselves on the periphery of the historiography or academic research on colonial and post-colonial Zimbabwe. Whilst there has been detailed historiographical focus on construction of the White community in the colonial era, Coloureds and Asians failed to attract the attention of historians. This is despite Floyd Dotson and Lillian Dotson’s book The Indian Minority of Zambia, Rhodesia and Malawi recognising the emergence of the Asian community at the turn of the twentieth century (Dotson and Dotson 1968).

As for Coloureds , their early presence in colonial Zimbabwe had been recognised by John Pape who pointed out that by 1930, 1138 Coloured children with White fathers had been enumerated by the colonial government (Pape 1990). James Muzondidya provides an insight into how this growing Coloured community constructed its identity amidst marginalisation in both colonial and then in post-colonial Zimbabwe (Muzondidya 2005). Julie Seirlis’ essay ‘Undoing the United Front? Coloured Soldiers in Rhodesia 1939–1980’ further explores the extent to which Coloureds ’ participation in Rhodesia ’s military operations against the nationalist-led liberation struggle was not only fully appreciated by the Rhodesian government, but it also carried the potential of undermining Coloureds ’ claim to citizenship in post-colonial Zimbabwe (Seirlis 2004).

Contextualising Ethno-Racial Conflicts

Despite Shari Eppel’s affirmation that contemporary Zimbabweans are still a product of prejudices, identities and unresolved conflicts of race and ethnicity rooted in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial events, much of the literature has also downplayed the presence of Zimbabwe’s past when explaining ethnic or race relations between ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction: Contextualising Debate
• 2. Emergence of Ethno-Racial Prejudices and Identities, 1800s–1970s
• 3. Constructing Post-colonial Ethnic and Racial Relations
• 4. Intercommunal Tensions: Post-1980 Black Immigrant Community in Britain
• 5. Zimbabwe’s Minority Communities in Britain Reliving Colonial and Post-colonial Memories
• 6. Historical Influences on Zimbabwean Economic Integration in Britain, 1990s–2000s
• 7. Zimbabweans Negotiating Social Interactions Within British Society, 1990s–2000s
• 8. Rhodesian Discourse and Transnational Zimbabweans in Britain, 1970–1980
• 9. Summary and Conclusions
• Back Matter