Zimbabwe has undergone a prolonged period of economic and political mismanagement over the last few decades, which has resulted in endemic poverty and mass unemployment. This is largely due to the dictatorial regime of Robert Mugabe, who has clung onto power since the country achieved independence in 1980. This period of economic hardship and political repression may be coming to an end however, as there are tentative signs of reform, with the 2008 elections bringing into effect a power sharing deal whereby Morgan Tsvangirai became Prime Minster whilst Mugabe retained the Presidency. Prior to Mugabe’s reign Zimbabwe was a British colony known as Southern Rhodesia, until 1925 when a white minority government gained autonomy from the British.
The culture of Zimbabwe is an amalgamation of the cultural traditions of the various ethnic groups which make up the populace, all of which have their own traditional ceremonies, most of which are still largely observed. There is relatively little contemporary literature in publication from Zimbabwe, largely because of the country’s tumultuous recent history, and the repressive policies of the Mugabe regime. However some writers, many of whom live in exile, have developed a reputation both within Zimbabwe and beyond. Shimmer Chinodya’s Dew in the Morning is an evocation of Zimbabwean rural life during the 1960s whilst Christina Lamb’s House of Stone depicts the civil war in the country and the way in which it estranged communities. Alexandra Fuller is the daughter of white settlers in Rhodesia and her memoir Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight is a record of the white community during these times. Doris Lessing was also the daughter of white settlers in Rhodesia, who went onto a glittering literary career, eventually winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007. Her first novel, The Grass is Singing, reflects her own experiences of growing up in this colonial enclave whilst African Laughter is a portrait of her return to Zimbabwe following independence in the 1980s.
The turbulent political situation in Zimbabwe has also elicited various films focusing on the country’s political upheavals; Zimbabwe Countdown and Mugabe and the White African are both documentaries which look critically at the chaotic rule of Robet Mugabe and his transformation from freedom fighter to dictator.