The unbearable whiteness of being: Land, race and belonging in the memoirs of white Zimbabweans

Abstract

As the crisis in Zimbabwe deepened after 2000, the plight of white Zimbabweans became international news. In turn, this created the space and the market for whites to tell and sell their story; an opportunity that has not gone unheeded. This review essay focuses on several examples of the latest evolution of Zimbabwe's white writing. While in no way trying to excuse or belittle the atrocious events that have happened to white farmers and others, what follows will probe the narratives produced to uncover some of the more troubling iterations and silences contained in them. In doing so, this review will illustrate many of the troubling continuities this genre of writing has with its colonial roots, not only in the audience it writes for or the way it 'trains its gaze', but also in the way it treats 'Africa', 'Africans' and the dilemmas of belonging. © Unisa Press.