Dr. Edmore Chitukutuku is currently a sessional lecturer in the Anthropology department at University of Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from University of Witwatersrand (2017), MA in Anthropology from University of Witwatersrand (2013), BA Honors from University of Witwatersrand (2011), and a BSc degree in Social Sciences from Great Zimbabwe University (2007), where he also taught Social Anthropology and Sociology as an Assistant Lecturer (2010). His PhD thesis was titled Rebuilding Liberation War Militia Bases: Reproducing memories of political violence in the post-2000 crisis in Zimbabwe. He also held teaching positions as a sessional lecturer and tutor in the Department of Anthropology at Wits where he taught a course on the Anthropology of Violence (2017), and the International Human Rights Exchange Programme (IHRE) at University of Witwatersrand (2012). His awards and honors include the Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa Proposal Development Fellowship (2013-2014) and Dissertation Fellowship (2015-16) from the Social Science Research Council; the Wadsworth International Fellowship from the Wenner-Gren Foundation (2013-17); the Wits Postgraduate Merit Award 2011 and 2012; the Justice Lucas Award for the best Honors research report in Anthropology at Wits (2011); and the Vice Chancellor’s Book Prizes for academic excellence at the Great Zimbabwe University (2008). He is a life member of the Golden Key International Honor Society. His research interests are on peace and conflict, focusing on military and state-sponsored violence, youth, and economic anthropology.
Dr. Chitukutuku recently published “Rebuilding the Liberation War Base: Materiality and landscapes of violence in Northern Zimbabwe” in Journal of East African Studies (2017).
Award Information
While the dominant discourse in the Zimbabwean post-independence political violence in Zimbabwe is well presented, there has been little focus on the reproduction of political violence through militia bases. One of the remarkable ways in which Zimbabwe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) led by President Mugabe consolidated its power in post-2000 period was through the use of temporary militia bases, political and spatial forms which bore resemblance to those pioneered during the liberation struggle in the 1970s. This research paves way for the study that will help us understand how ZANU-PF's attempt to create political continuity between the liberation struggle and contemporary forms of violence function within the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans. It seeks to link the contemporary revival of political violence with guerrilla violence of the liberation struggle-essentially a process of political legitimization. this will be done through examining youth militias, ex-guerrillas and other actors who have spearhead violence in the post-2000 period - focusing n particular on the area of Bindura South. I will do so using qualitative methods, essentially participating in people's lives, alongside the requisite use of primary and secondary archival sources.
