Suchergebnisse

Zimbabwe's catastrophic cholera outbreak of 2008-9 saw an unprecedented number of people affected, with 100,000 cases and nearly 5,000 deaths. Cholera, however, was much more than a public health crisis: it represented the nadir of the country's deepening political and economic crisis of 2008. This study focuses on the political life of the cholera epidemic, tracing the historical origins of the outbreak, examining the social pattern of its unfolding and impact, analysing the institutional and communal responses to the disease, and marking the effects of its aftermath. Across different social and institutional settings, competing interpretations and experiences of the cholera epidemic created charged social and political debates. In his examination of these debates which surrounded the breakdown of Zimbabwe's public health infrastructure and failing bureaucratic order, the scope and limitations of disaster relief, and the country's profound levels of livelihood poverty and social inequality, Simukai Chigudu reveals how this epidemic of a preventable disease had profound implications for political institutions and citizenship in Zimbabwe.

ABSTRACT
The manifestations of the post-2000 economic crisis in Zimbabwe have long been a research subject for scholars who study issues of social justice in Zimbabwe. This article reviews three recent books written on the topic: Simukai Chigudu's The political life of an epidemic: cholera, crisis and citizenship in Zimbabwe, Davison Muchadenyika's Seeking urban transformation: alternative urban futures in Zimbabwe, and Building from the rubble: the labour movement in Zimbabwe since 2000, edited by Lloyd Sachikonye, Brian Raftopoulos and Godfrey Kanyenze. Although these works focus on different issues – a healthcare emergency, an urban housing crisis, and the labour movement's decline, several themes cut across all of them: the economic and political crises, urban politics, experiences of citizenship, and social injustice. Addressing different socio-economic and political processes that emerged due to the crisis, the authors come to a common and important conclusion that despite the rigid political system and persisting social injustice, substantive and substantial changes in Zimbabwe may be achieved through grassroots social mobilisation and collective action.