Manase Kudzai Chiweshe

One of the boys: female fans’ responses to the masculine and phallocentric nature of football stadiums in Zimbabwe

Studies of football fandom from across the world all highlight masculine and misogynistic tendencies amongst the fans, players and administrators who populate football stadiums. Domination of mens football spaces by men makes stadiums hostile environments for women who are often physically and verbally abused. This paper outlines the experiences of female fans who attend matches in Zimbabwe. It provides a nuanced analysis of female fans’ responses to the masculine and phallocentric nature of the football stadium. In Zimbabwe female fans are increasing in number, challenging the dominant belief that stadiums are no-go areas for women. Using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with 40 female fans, the paper highlights how women react, negotiate and respond to misogynistic and vulgar songs and chants. This research in Zimbabwe brings to the fore the voices of female fans and how they construct the stadium experience. The paper draws from in-depth interviews and focus group discussions to highlight how female fans cope with masculine nature of stadiums. Women use various strategies such as joining in the singing, remaining oblivious, sitting in quieter parts of the stadium and responding to abusers.

Large-scale land deals, global capital and the politics of livelihoods: Experiences of women small-holder farmers in Chisumbanje, Zimbabwe

Abstract Large scale land acquisitions by foreign conglomerates in Zimbabwe have been a recurrent phenomenon within the last five years. This has led to land deals being negotiated with state, individual and nongovernmental actors, leading to the production of agro fuels. This article investigates how the large scale commercial land deals have affected the livelihoods of women small holder farmers, the role of global capital in entrenching discrimination of women and how the politics of resource use and distribution has become a central force in shaping livelihoods in Zimbabwes communal areas. The article is based on field work that was conducted in Ndowoyo communal area, in Chisumbanje village, from July 2011 until April 2012. The methods used for collecting data were in-depth interviews with the women, interviews with officials from the Platform for Youth Development, a nongovernmental organisation, Macdom Pvt Ltd and Ratings Investments, focus group discussions and personal observations that involved interactions with the women. In 2011, Macdom Pvt Ltd and Ratings Investments, both bio fuels companies owned by Billy Rautenbach started green fuel production operations in Chisumbanje and this has led to the altering of the livelihoods systems of women smallholder farmers. The argument seeks, first, to demonstrate how the company‘s green fuel production systems have led to the loss of land for women and the redefinition of tenure in a communal area. Secondly it explores how the company has been involved in political issues that have undermined the role of development for the women and, thirdly, the article investigates how the women have created livelihood alternatives in an area which has been transformed from a communal rural area into almost an urban area. It concludes by suggesting the need to give primacy to women centred notions of agency in coping with the negative implications of commercial land deals on women‘s livelihoods.

Football fandom, ethno-regionalism and rivalry in post-colonial Zimbabwe: case study of Highlanders and Dynamos

This paper focuses on football fan rivalry in an African context using the case of Highlanders and Dynamos Football Clubs in Zimbabwe. It explores the intertwined historical, political and ethno-regional causes of this rivalry reflecting on how football reproduces underlying fractures that exist in society. Fan rivalries are an integral part of football across the world. Clashes between rival football teams are often highly charged encounters, resulting in cases of violence. As such the worst instances of football hooliganism are usually experienced during matches between rival football teams. Through the use of indepth interviews, internet research, key informant interviews and observation, we highlight the various dimensions and explanations of this rivalry. Often football becomes an outlay of wider societal conflicts. The stadium offers space for the playing out of these rivalries. Football rivalries thus offer a mirror into the socio-political tensions in society. Football in Africa is fraught with ethnic, racial, class and gender identities which often form the basis of rivalries.

Till death do us part: football as part of everyday life amongst Dynamos Football Club fans in Zimbabwe

Abstract This paper demonstrates the nexus between social identity and supporting a soccer team. It highlights that there are deeper underlying meanings and assumptions to one’s support of a sporting team. From the intense regional rivalry that characterized medieval ball games to the national, religious, ethnic and political antagonisms that are present in modern day football, we can highlight the continued role of football in the processes of identity construction and maintenance. I explore how fan identities are formed and how they mediate in fans’ social lives. Supporters of Dynamos Football Club in Zimbabwe offer a good example of how fans form indispensable attachments to clubs. Lived experiences of these fans show that supporting a football team is more than just going to the stadium, rather it transcends one’s social being. Being a fan is an important part of one’s social identity and affects most aspects of one’s life. There is something more to supporting a football team besides entertainment. Supporting a football team is a kind of marriage, a commitment similar to ‘till death do us part’.

“Managing identities” and parental disclosure of HIV sero-status in Zimbabwe

Drawing from a small sample of HIV infected respondents, this paper examines parents’ perceptions on the decision to disclose or not to disclose their HIV sero-status to their children. It explores how parents control the information in the interactional ritual with their children. The paper uses Goffmans concept of dramaturgy to analyse how parents manage and control disclosure within a context where HIV and AIDS is associated with stigma. Disclosure is a strategic encounter in which the interactants (parents) manage to create a desired identity or spoil an identity. Qualitative research incorporating focus group discussions and in-depth interviews was used to examine the perceptions of parents who are HIV positive on disclosure of their status to their children. Such a methodological approach allows for a nuanced understanding of the context in which decision to disclose status happens. The study findings show that in a social context involving parents and children as actors there are complex expectations which affect parental disclosure of HIV sero-status to their children. The desire to manage an expected identity militated or enabled disclosure in a parental relationship.

Frenemies: understanding the interconnectedness of rival fan identities in Harare, Zimbabwe

Of late, the concept of ‘frenemies’, commonly used to explain relationships in which people are friends and enemies at the same time, has increasingly been used by social theorists to understand relationships in all forms of social life, with particular reference to friendships and relationships especially among teenagers and women in western societies. In this essay, the concept is used to understand football identities amongst fans of rival teams based in the same African city, Harare. The essay highlights how football identities fit into an intricate web of social relationships based on blood, totems, friendship, marriage and location. Football identities are often in conflict with other social identities leading to friction especially when football emerges as a topic at social gatherings. In football fan identities, formed largely in part by the presence of rival fans, are also built and sustained through celebrating difference from rivals. Using the experiences of Dynamos and Caps United football club fans in Harare on the basis of group discussions, in-depth interviews and interaction with 30 football fans, the essay explores how within the enmity of football rivalries there is scope to understand the concept of frenemies. Focusing on the love–hate relationship between the fans of city rivals, it argues that rival football fans despise each other yet still feel they belong to one football family.

Beyond gender: interrogating women’s experiences in FTLRP in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT This article interrogates studies focusing on gender and Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) in Zimbabwe, highlighting the emerging patterns and missing linkages. We utilize theories of intersectionality and agency to argue for more robust empirical research on the varied experiences of women. An analysis of intersectionality of experiences and agency is necessary to understand how women were differentially positioned and, how this is ultimately linked to how they got access to and ownership of land. The article posits that whilst gender is important, there is need for further analysis of who got what, how and where under FTLRP. To that end, the article asks: How is gender construed in relation to women’s access to FTLRP (what is included and excluded)? Whilst women appear losers as portrayed in many studies, was it only gender that determined access? What about age, nationality, class, political affiliation and traditional roots among other aspects? How did the 18% quoted in several studies get land? What about married women in this debate? Where women just victims in the FTLRP? We argue that ultimately other factors like patronage may as well explain exclusion (and inclusion) of women but this is better understood within intersectionality theoretical premises. At the same time, we also posit that women were not merely victims but used versatile tactics and strategies to get land hence invoking the notion of agency.

A gendered critique of the African Peer Review Mechanism in Africa

In March 2003, the African Union launched the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) as one of the key instruments of its New Partnership for Africas Development initiative. Whilst being lauded in some quarters as a progressive initiative, the APRM has received scathing critique from those who believe that African leaders neither have the will nor moral authority to peer review and censure each other. This occasional paper provides an analysis how gender has been integrated, mainstreamed and taken up within the APRM process. The discussion outlines the evolution of the gender question in Africa specifically issues around gender discrimination, inequality and difference. It argues that gender has received token attention within the APRM. The everyday experiences of African women and their dreams, hopes, fears and ideas are not reflected within this initiative. Its concerns with macro democratic and governance questions have meant women are relegated to the periphery. For so long women’s issues have been ghettoized and defined as irrelevant to governance. Yet experiences in Africa have shown that women’s issues are governance issues. The paper also focuses on how gender can be infused as a critical element of the debate around democratization in Africa. Without addressing gender disparities most of what Africa aspires for in terms of good governance and development will remain a pipe dream. The paper provides recommendations to policy makers on how the APRM process can take up gender issues. It is based mainly on desk research which draws on official AU documents, country reports, reviews, journal particles, reports and working papers.