Paper long abstract:

This paper draws on the research carried out for my MA thesis which explored the connections between political change and the use and formation of landscape in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo. The research draws on current post-colonial themes within geography that seek to deconstruct the landscape revealing colonial and broader power relationships and the marginalised voices lost to history. This paper considers not only the landscapes of white authority and black resistance but also the more subtle social groupings that can be revealed through understanding the way landscape is formed and represented. My work shows how the examination of landscape representations through imagery, cartography and literature reveal a more complex landscape than can be uncovered by focusing on traditional binaries of race, gender, domination and resistance. My research shows that landscape can be an important tool for exploring the problems of a post-colonial country as well as for challenging accepted categories within academia. Drawing on the work of a range of geographers, social scientists and anthropologists, many of which are African specialists I argue that understanding the construction and representation of landscape in Zimbabwe can help to paint a more complete picture of colonial society and its diverse range of actors, as well as helping us to understand something of the current problems facing the country.