Rodwell Makombe

Post-2000 Zimbabwe has been characterized by an unprecedented political and economic crisis which has brought untold suffering to ordinary citizens. The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) has done everything in its power to block avenues of dissent through repressive laws and violent policing. While it is the objective of the ruling elite in Zimbabwe to have total hegemony over all spheres of life and deny ordinary people the agency to express their disgruntlement with the status quo, this study argues that Zimbabweans continue to resist political power through subversive songs, internet memes, political cartoons and/or caricatures. Through a critical analysis of selected songs, political cartoons and internet memes, and guided by insights from postcolonial theory of resistance, this book argues that popular cultural texts are weapons of the weak that can be mobilized to challenge political power, cope with difficult situations and imagine an alternative future.