“Living in the Shadow of Death”: Understandings of Political Violence and Its Aftermath in the Zimbabwean Context

When the values, structures, and systems that keep society at peace disintegrate, moving away from a violent order to peaceful one becomes increasingly difficult. Breaking cycles of violence also becomes complex where the essence of what brings society together is taken over by polarization, fear, and distrust—a consequence of unresolved and entrenched violence. In this chapter we highlight the costs of political violence on individuals and their broader communities by highlighting key narratives in the experiences of political violence by individual Zimbabweans and their struggles to pick up the pieces after facing such trauma. Through highlighting these understandings of violence, the chapter brings to the fore meanings of political violence based on how individuals who have experienced it decode it and narrate it.