The Unsettled Land: State-making and the politics of land in Zimbabwe 1893–2003, by Jocelyn Alexander
Abstract
AFRICAN AFFAIRS just a valuable study of a key set of events in colonial history, but a model of writing history as detective story: who did what, when, where, and why? And, as she notes, the ripples of the story are still felt today, in the recent court cases and actions by contemporary Maasai activists for recognition of their rights and restitution of their lands. Rutgers University DOROTHY L. HODGSON doi:10.1093/afraf/adn011 Advanced Access Publication 22 February 2008 The Unsettled Land: State-making and the politics of land in Zimbabwe 1893â2003, by Jocelyn Alexander. Oxford, Harare, and Athens, OH: James Currey, Weaver Press, and Ohio University Press, 2006. ix + 230 pp. £18.95 (paperback). ISBN 978-085255-892-8 (paperback). Since 2000, the politics of land in Zimbabwe has taken on greater regional and international importance, particularly as mass-mediated representations of the widespread evictions of white farmers and their workforce grabbed the attention of politicians, diplomats, policy makers, and the public throughout the world. The resulting increased interest in the politics of land in Zimbabwe and southern Africa more broadly has reinvigorated policy discussions concerning the redress of racially skewed land ownership inherited by post-colonial nations from their colonial predecessors and addressing rural,