Commuter Migration Across Artificial Frontiers: The Case of Partitioned Communities Along the Zimbabwe-Mozambique Border

“Limiting the Domination”: Anti-colonial African Protests in South Eastern Zimbabwe, 1929-1940s

“…Findings from this study also resonate with well-established works on state-subject interactions. The complex and subtle means by which Africans challenged colonial authority corroborates Duri’s findings about “fluid border communities” (Duri, 2012), Daimon’s findings about the development of “ethno-nationalism,” across natural boundaries (Daimon, 2016, p. 5), which are demarcated on the basis of physical features, and Hughes concept of the “artificial border,” which cuts across ethnolinguistic and binational kindred, hence communities ignore such frontiers whenever their livelihood pursuits are under threat (Hughes, 1999). The reality that African responses were virtually subtle and nonconfrontational meant that the state apparatus could not adequately capture breaches of the law.…”

“…Scott argues that in face of a repressive state apparatus, subject communities often resort to subtle protest activities and individual acts of insubordination which “make no headlines” (Scott, 1985, p. 36), thereby minimizing confrontation with a repressive state. In addition, because indigenous Ndau people who inhabited the south eastern Zimbabwe had counterparts in neighboring Mozambique, scholarship on protest along borderlands, particularly the concept of “fluid borders,” which allows unofficial crossborder movements and settlements, is equally useful in exploring African protest strategies in this area (Daimon, 2016; Duri, 2012). Regionally, Kanduza’s study on the Nyau people in eastern Zambia shows how this community protested against colonial taxation and forced labor recruitment by relocating to their kith and kin in Mozambique and Malawi (Kanduza, 1992).…”

Cross‐border commuters: How to segment Them? A Framework of Analysis

“…For many years, borders and cross‐border regions have been considered to be marginal zones with “little or no stories to tell” (Daimon, 2016). As a consequence, few studies have analysed commuting in a cross‐border context in relation to “ordinary” commuting within national regions.…”

“…For a long time, borders and cross‐border regions have been seen as marginal zones (Daimon, 2016). As a result, academic research on cross‐border commuting has not been fully explored, especially with reference to the various social groups acting within the transnational job market, such as cross‐border commuters, domestic workers and other migrant labourers (Verwiebe et al, 2017).…”

Settling in motion: Nyasa clandestine migration through Southern Rhodesia into the Union of South Africa, 1920s – 1950s

“…To begin with, many colonial boundaries severed societies and cut communities in half with members of the same family or lineage living on the opposite of the border. These are what Asiwaju (1984), Mamdani (2001) and Connor (1978) dubbed 'artificial boundaries' that culminated in what Davidson (1992) termed 'the curse of the nation-state', causing incessant civil strife and conflicts across Africa (Daimon 2016). Musoni (2012) explains that:…”