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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Pioneer Farmers and Family Dynasties in Marirangwe Purchase Area, Colonial Zimbabwe, 1931-1947
Author:Shutt, Allison K.ISNI
Year:2000
Periodical:African Studies Review
Volume:43
Issue:3
Period:December
Pages:59-80
Language:English
Geographic terms:Zimbabwe
Great Britain
Subjects:colonialism
land reform
subsistence farming
History and Exploration
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Architecture and the Arts
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/525069
Abstract:This article analyses the historical ambiguity of the Marirangwe 'purchase area' in colonial Zimbabwe between 1931-1947. Established under the 1931 Land Apportionment Act that segregated land in the colony along racial lines, purchase areas were discrete areas of freehold tenure dotted throughout the country. African elites who settled in the area and Europeans who administered them held distinct notions about the value and proper use of purchase area farms. For the African landholders, the small farms expressed their elite status in society. The State expected that educated, elite Africans should maintain modern, efficient farms. However, African landholders remained extensive farmers. They increased production by extending their fields, rather than by adopting labour-saving techniques. The State confronted the Marirangwe purchase area farmers about their 'poor farming' techniques and eventually launched an evictions campaign in 1947. However, the farmers presented a brash defence of their family values which were connected to their farming methods. This family-centred defence of their farms forced the State to concede certain development patterns to the farmers, foremost being the permanence of family farms, thereby enabling extensive farming. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French.
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