SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL

SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, ARCHAELOGY AND HERITAGE STUDIES

TO: DR. H. KACHAPIRA MAZIZWA

FROM: SARAH DULI
REG. NUMBER: BA/SEH/31/19
COURSE CODE: HIS 423
COURSE TITLE: CRIMINALITY, RESISTANCE AND
SOCIAL BANDITRY IN AFRICAN HISTORY
ASSIGN. NUMBER: ONE
ASSIGN. TITLE: EVERYDAY FORMS OF RESISTANCE
DUE DATE: APRIL 15, 2024
DETEMINE THE EXTENT OF JAMES SCOTT THEORY OF EVERYDAY FORMS OF

RESISTANCE USING COLONIAL AND POST COLONIAL ZIMBABWE AS A CASE

STUDY.

Narratives of open political action dominate the historiography of political conflict. These open

political actions are collective political action declared openly. James Scott however in his book

titled everyday forms of resistance; he maintained that by focusing on open forms of political

action, scholars are ignoring a vast realm of hidden forms of political action, used by the lower

class masses to express their political action1. Hidden forms of resistance are the everyday

actions of ordinary people in their everyday lives. This is the common form of resistance used

by ordinary people to respond to oppression. Everyday forms of resistance undermine power in a

manner that is hidden and invisible. In cases, where open resistance is impossible or dangerous,

ordinary people use hidden forms because they are relatively safe and they require either little or

no form of collective action2. James Scott argues that by focusing on visible historical events,

such as organized rebellions, it is very easy to miss subtle but powerful forms of everyday

resistance. Scott looked at peasant and slave societies and their ways of responding to

domination with a focus not on observable acts of rebellion but on forms of cultural resistance

employed by subordinate groups in the society. He encourages scholars to pay attention to

hidden forms of resistance. This paper is going to agree to some extent with Scott’s theory of

everyday forms of resistance using the case study of colonial and post-colonial Zimbabwe.

During Colonial era, the Capitalist economy forced Africans to abandon any forms of

subsistence (farming) to work in factories, mines and plantations to gain wages. Africans had to

adapt to their new environment, which included unequal distribution of reward, unequal
1
James Scott, “Everyday forms of resistance”. Copenhagen Papers, 4, no 89 (1989), pp34
2
James Scott, “Everyday forms of resistance”, Pp33-35
authority structures, psychological and physical conditions of work. Africans resisted full

incorporation into the capitalist system. Workers used all sorts of tricks and strategies to show

their dissatisfaction with the system. They resorted to riots, demonstrations, accidents, self-

inflicted injuries, sabotage, desertion withdrawal, target working, theft, unionization, economic

strikes and creation of work culture (name-calling and work attitude). Workers deserted mine

after another in attempt to try to secure one with better working conditions and wages3.

Overt rebellions are uncommon in some locations, they do not occur where and when expected.

One such Location is Zimbabwe, dominant literature on Zimbabwe’s workers resistance depict

that the authoritarian regimes in both colonial and post-colonial eras repressed resistance and

political opposition4. Scholars however have used Scott’s theory of everyday forms of resistance

to reveal the fact that despite repressions in Zimbabwe, Zimbabweans used different types of

hidden forms to resist oppression on day-to-day basis5. In colonial Zimbabwe mine worker for

example resisted by using tactics like self-inflicting injuries and Kukanda (feigning sickness to

have a day off) a strategy that was continued in the post-colonial era where workers used their

right to access medical aid policies to resist by vising the doctor to forge a sick note in order to

have a day off6.

Rather than seeing resistance as organized, Scott looks at less visible every day forms of

resistance such as foot dragging, evasion, false compliance, pilfering, feigned ignorance, slander

and sabotage. These hidden forms are effective in situations where the Bourgeois uses violence

to maintain social status balance in the society7. Both individuals and groups can use these
3
Robin Cohen, Resistance and Hiden forms of consciousness amongst African workers, Review of African
Political Economy, no 19 (2014) pp 11-14
4
Paddington Mutekwe, Resistance and Represssion in Zimbabwe: Acase study of Zimplats Mine
Workers”.,Review of African Political Economy vol, no, (2019). Pp 1
5
Mutekwe Resistance and Repression, pp2
6
Mutekwe, Resistance and Repression, pp6
7
James Scott, Everyday forms of resistance, pp4
hidden forms to resist oppression without directly confronting or challenging the elite norms.

People use state created crimes to resist oppression. State created crimes are considered as

hidden forms of resistance because they include practices embedded in the traditional routine of

the rural population and are part of the customary rights. For example, collecting wood from a

forest is a normal everyday activity in societies however, when the colonial state first redefined

the forests, as government resources the sources were no longer open to society as they belonged

to the state.

According to social scientists, social structures, state systems, cultural values and historical

practices help in shaping political action8. Zimbabwean workers came up with new forms of

resisting because they faced new forms of repression exerted by the current regime, which did

not tolerate unions, strikes and did not respect the rights of workers9. When Zimbabwe recently

gained its independence in 1980, there were at least 200 strikes from 1980 to 1981. This forced

Robert Mugabe the then ruling president to enforce draconian laws against strikes and opposition

in the country. In May 1980, he sent the police to deal with striking workers and further

threatening workers with tough measures if they continued strikes10. A person can avoid

punishment and sanctions if they opt for anonymity found in day-to-day activities11. According

to Scott, when threatened by oppression, ordinary people devised hidden safe measures to resist.

During the post-colonial era workers engaged in all sorts of resistance in order to have wage

increases and better working conditions.

Mutekwe interviewed workers of Zimplats Company, which is the largest platinum mining

company in Zimbabwe in order to understand how workers resisted cruel conditions. In his

8
James Scott, Everyday forms of resistance, pp33
9
Paddington Mutekwe, Resistance and Repression, pp2
10
Paddington Mutekwe, Resistance and Repression, pp3
11
James Scott, Everyday forms of resistance, pp48
study, he observed that the company had weak union activities. It had 258 member while the

company employs at least 3000 to 4000 workers. He found out that people did not join or left the

union because it did little in representing the workers. The union did not encourage workers to

have strikes simply because it feared the draconian laws by the Zimbabwean government. In

2008 workers had a strike in their quest to have salary increments, they also had a strike in 2012

in order to force the company to pay water and electricity bills. These two open strikes however

did little to change the predicament instead the company fired all workers involved in the strike

from their jobs12. This consequences made workers to avoid open resistance instead they opted

for hidden forms of resistance.

Scott emphasized that hidden forms of resistance were useful in bringing about transformation in

society and work place. These hidden tactics, which are the weapons used by the weak, seem to

work. For example, kukanda (sick notes) challenged the existing power relations to a notable

extent because it slowed down production on any given day and production was less than

expected13. Workers used the foot dragging strategy to slowing down work processes, as they did

not meet work tasks given to them effectively on time14.

Robert Mugabe a first post-independence president in Zimbabwe was a dictator who ruled as a

life president from 1987 to 2017. In the quest to legitimize Mugabe’s government, the media

portrayed him as a superhuman. They portrayed him as a selfless leader, a Messiah and a hero

that fought against colonialism in Zimbabwe. During his era, it was impossible to oppose or hold

demonstrations against him because the state could kill as well as punish rebels. However, in

2015 the myth of Mugabe as superhuman crashed when Mugabe fell at the airport in public upon

12
Paddington Mutekwe, Resistance and Repression, pp3 -8
13
Paddington Mutekwe, Resistance and Repression, pp9
14
Paddington Mutekwe, Resistance and Repression, pp11
his arrival from the African Union meeting in Ethiopia. People used social media to express their

grievances as well as mock Mugabe. Using memes people successfully removed the state

constructed taboos and said the unsayable about Mugabe and his administration.

Social media gives people space to discuss matters away from the mainstream structures

controlled by the state. Alternative media emerge to contest and counter attack the state truth by

offering alternative news and truth15. In 2015, Zimbabweans used social media memes to resist

without being questioned by the government about their patriotism. Memes have no copyright

laws and people can reshaped as well as renew their meanings, this makes it impossible to trace

the origin of a meme. Memes challenged the official narratives about Mugabe and Zimbabwe;

they exposed the hidden narratives of him and the country16. Although memes were full of

mockery and laughter, they managed to deconstruct the myth that Mugabe was immune to

human weakness and that he defecated just like any commoner. It also managed to pin

Zimbabwe’s fall on Mugabe by raising political question about him and his administration.

Twitter platforms like @263Chat and Blogs like Kubatana created alternative spaces to have free

discussion and exchange of information and activism.

We should not view the meme as mere mockery ridicule should view them as weapons of the

weak. The memes were an invisible power playing an important role in questioning the dominant

forces in the society by the weak masses. For example, a meme casting Mugabe as a boarder

jumper unveiled the critique of the people that Mugabe’s rule forced millions of Zimbabweans

outside the country to distant lands in search of better opportunities. The meme clearly showed

that the administration was responsible for enforcing the situation that led to people migrating to

distant lands. Memes in Zimbabwe enabled us to see another side of Mugabe people did not
15
Gugulethu Siziba and Gibson Ncube, Mugabe’s Fall from Grace, pp521
16
Gugulethu Siziba and Gibson Ncube, Mugabe’s Fall from Grace, pp521
know, they also enabled us to get a more nuanced reading of the real Robert Mugabe and

Zimbabwe through lenses that are outlawed in Zimbabwe17.

In Conclusion, just like Gutmann, I applaud Scott for his contribution in uncovering the hidden

popular resistance and giving it a new meaning. I support Scott’s theory simply because it

revealed in resistance even in places where open and organized resistance was impossible.

Although Gutmann criticizes the theory by insisting that it is conservative, it does not expect or

explain any changes rather it reduces social consciousness to the acceptance of a tragic

interpretation of contemporary reality18. For example, Gutman looked at Latin America and

realized that using Scott’s theory was not applicable because the question of overt and covert is

not in isolation. We should look at overt and covert resistance together as they can sometimes

occur together, transform and alternate themselves into each other, just as it is the case in Latin

America. We must study both overt and covert forms of resistance. However, no theory is

perfect, everything has its shortfalls, and we should always consider everyday forms of

resistance when analyzing political action in any given society.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cohen Robin, “Resistance and Hidden Forms of Consciousness Amongst African workers”.

Review of African Political Economy, no 19, (1980, Pp 8-22

Gutmann Matthews C., “Rituals of Resistance: A Critique of the Theory of Everyday Forms of

Resistance”, Latin American Perspective, 20, no 2 (1993). Pp 74-92

Mutekwe Paddington, Resistance and Repression in Zimbabwe: A case study of Zimplats Mine

17
Gugulethu Siziba and Gibson Ncube, Mugabe’s Fall from Grace, Pp522-
18
Matthews Gutmann, “Rituals of Resistance: A Critique of the Theory of Everyday Forms of
Resistance”, Latin American Perspective, 20, no 2 (1993) PP76-78
 Workers”. Review of African Political Economy (2019). Pp 1-13

Scott J. C. “Everyday forms of resistance”. Copenhagen Papers, 4, no 89 (1989), pp 33-62

Siziba Gugulethu and Ncube Gibson, “Mugabe’s Fall from Grace: Satire and Fictional

Narratives as Silent forms of Resistance in/on Zimbabwe”, Social dynamics 41, no 3

(2015) Pp 516- 539