Mugwagwa, J; Masamha, R; (2019) Different, resilient and relevant: A conversation about time and space for the Zimbabwean diaspora. [Lecture]. Presented at: Britain-Zimbabwe Society Research Day, Oxford, UK.

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Abstract

This paper revisits the roles that Zimbabwean diaspora populations can play in shaping economic development trajectories in Zimbabwe. Building a case for recognition and harnessing of the difference, resilience and relevance of these populations, this paper argues for a conversation around time and space as vantage points of knowledge co-location and co-creation which can be leveraged at different scales to enhance individual and societal progress. Using a case study of Zimbabweans in the UK, we explore people’s current locations in different professional settings, how they had to adjust from different or similar roles that they played in Zimbabwe and how this adjustment process could be a source of lessons as Zimbabwe adjusts into a new political atmosphere. In particular, one adjustment that was inevitable was the mindset on the time resource, in professional as well as the wider social spaces. We envisage these adjustments and shifts to be tangible assets that would enable a different, yet relevant contribution to an evolving Zimbabwe by the diaspora. The idea of difference, resilience and relevance have long permeated the stories of Zimbabweans in the diaspora. As a diaspora population Zimbabweans regularly share experiences of sustained struggle, of constant compromise, that demonstrate a different kind of resilience, of battles to stay relevant against often challenging situations.

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