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Between Two Worlds a memoir and 'ONCE ALIEN HERE’: The Rhodesian past, Zimbabwean present and the paradox of identity in white farmers’ memoirs Martina McCrossan Crawford (24170391) PUREID: 659632388 The Creative Component, Between Two Worlds, is a memoir of the ten years I spent living in Zambia (1979–1989), in which I examine the influence the experience of living in a small, white postcolonial society can have on white identity and beliefs. Between Two Worlds produces, and reflects on, representations of identity within a white society, during the period narrated, in postcolonial Zambia. While the country’s name and flag have been transformed to reflect its independence, the memoir explores how white identity was still a paradigm in Zambia in the late twentieth century; how historical amnesia remained steadfast, and, in many whites, a neo-colonial ideology still existed vis a vis the black population. It is, in addition, a study of the personal experience of abuse within marriage and of the ways in which the victim can feel pressured into normalising or otherwise contextualising the violence. The Critical Component of this thesis examines the construction of identity in the neighbouring state of Zimbabwe, focusing particularly on farm memoirs published in the aftermath of the land reform programme (2000). Such works have so far received only limited scholarship but they are an important resource for understanding the complexities of white Zimbabwean identity in the postcolonial period, particularly in the context of the land redistribution in the early 2000s. Taking Paradise Plundered by Jim Barker and Jambanja by Eric Harrison as case studies, this thesis examines the ways in which they conceptualise and narrate their white minority experience in the politically fraught context of the years after 2000. My approach to the texts is shaped by the intersection of postcolonial theory and life writing studies; the analysis is therefore attentive both to the legacies of shaping Zimbabwean literary culture and the construction of self and identity in memoir and other literary forms. The thesis argues that the farming memoirists self-position themselves in relation to Zimbabwe’s colonial history by framing themselves as present-day inheritors of the 1890s’ Rhodesian ‘pioneer column’, and by rehearsing and redeploying Rhodesian propaganda. My argument also complicates existing criticism on white memoir by attending closely to the shifting position of farmers in the 2000s. The texts and their assertions of identity should be read in the context of the changing policies of President Mugabe’s regime. Thesis is embargoed until 31 December 2028. 2026-10-01T16:19:01Z Text Thesis 10.17034/32641995.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Between_Two_Worlds_a_memoir_and_ONCE_ALIEN_HERE_The_Rhodesian_past_Zimbabwean_present_and_the_paradox_of_identity_in_white_farmers_memoirs/32641995 All Rights Reserved Open Access after 2028-12-31