Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the social life that obtains at rural bus stations using Chidamoyo Township, in North-western Zimbabwe as its case study. It argues that such stations are places to loiter, get entertainment, engage in diverse kinds of interactions and argue about anything, and places of memory.

Paper long abstract:

Rural areas in Zimbabwe had their road infrastructure developed during the colonial era when Africans were forcibly moved into reserved areas. Buses and bus stations immediately followed becoming an everyday feature. Bus stations found at rural shopping centres gradually developed into prominent interactive spaces. Such township bus stations became points of social relations and activities, points of connection, places of conflict and contestation, places of memories and above all as places of the development of a township lingo that feeds into the local language and creating generational divisions. Using the concept of the everyday this paper examines how the 'practice in the day-to-day reality' at the bus station informs and shapes rural people's agency and entertainment. It moves away from the economic argument about bus stations to emphasise the social side that perceives people coming simply to loiter, debate about buses and cars, catch rumours and news from the cities. It argues that rural bus stations are points of expectations, just watch the sun go down and identify new faces or visitors in or to the locality. Rural bus stations tell a story about the time of the season and the level activity is seasonal. It argues that such stations are points of entertainment and diverse interactions. The paper analyses these arguments using information from fieldwork carried in Rengwe between 2011 and 2012 and uses Chidamoyo Township to understand the interactive processes that happen at and around bus stations. Its focus is the socio-historical development of rural bus stations.