In today’s uncertain world, having a sense of what the future holds is vital. This is why biblical predictions and prophecies hold so much cachet, offering hope in times of turmoil. While religion may be the ‘opium of the people’ … Continue reading → …
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ZimbabweLand
The politics of religion in Zimbabwe: land, agriculture and citizenship
Religion and politics have always had a close relationship. The early European missionaries provided a platform for the establishment of the colonial state and a modernising vision, while today the Pentecostal denominations along with the prophets from indigenous African churches … Continue reading → …
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Religion, agriculture and market dynamics in Zimbabwe
The last blog offered a brief overview of different churches across our study sites. This second blog in this series focuses on their role in agriculture and markets, and more broadly rural livelihoods. Given their different histories, forms of organisation, … Continue reading → …
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Religion and agriculture: reflections from Zimbabwe
A recurrent theme in our research across Zimbabwe is the role of organised Christian religion in agriculture and rural livelihoods. The connection is not usually made. However, religious beliefs, practices and institutions have important influences, and these have changed over … Continue reading → …
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Why COP27 needs a more sophisticated debate about livestock and climate change
As the climate conference, COP27, kicks of in Sharm el Sheik in Egypt debates about agriculture and land use will be centre stage. And amongst these discussions the role of livestock in the future of food and agricultural systems will … Continue reading → …
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What is environmental degradation and what should we do about it?
It’s currently the UN decade on ecosystem restoration. Everyone it seems has grand plans, huge projects and endless new policies to guide what to do to restore the health of global ecosystems. The biodiversity COP in Montreal in December aims … Continue reading → …
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Building ‘community resilience’ through the pandemic in rural Zimbabwe
‘Community resilience’ is one of those policy buzzwords that has emerged through the pandemic. With the clear limitations of many public health measures, particularly in settings where health systems are weak, relying on community capacities to respond to pandemic shocks … Continue reading → …
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Competing COVID-19 narratives in rural Zimbabwe
The first case of COVID-19 was identified in Zimbabwe on March 20 2020. Having seen what was happening elsewhere in the world, Zimbabweans were fearful of what was to come. Following World Health Organisation guidelines, the government imposed a strict … Continue reading → …
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Learning in a pandemic: real-time research on COVID-19 in rural Zimbabwe
In March 2020, when COVID-19 first arrived in Zimbabwe, we decided to switch our research focus to study the unfolding implications of the pandemic in our rural sites across the country. We did not expect to continue for over two … Continue reading → …
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How does agricultural commercialisation affect livelihoods in Zimbabwe?
The question of how agricultural commercialisation affects livelihoods has been central to the recently completed APRA programme (Agricultural Policy Research in Africa), which, along with Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania, had work going on in Zimbabwe. A core part of … Continue reading → …
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