Links & Books

FILM-RELATED WEBSITES

Mugabe and the White African
Visit the filmmakers' website to learn more about the film, the filmmakers, cast and crew and upcoming screening events.

The Telegraph: "Mike Campbell"
Farmer Mike Campbell died on April 6, 2011, of injuries sustained during torture three years earlier. He was 78. (April 8, 2011)

Mugabe and the White African by Ben Freeth (London: Trafalgar Square Publishing, 2011)
Ben Freeth (featured in the film) tells the story of his fight to keep the family farm.

RESOURCES

Zimbabwe

All Africa
This news organization specializes in covering Africa and its website is a good place to find recent news about Zimbabwe.

BBC News: "Zimbabwe Country Profile."
This BBC News page serves as a good starting place for general information about Zimbabwe, including historical overviews and links to current news stories.

U.S. Department of State: "Background Note: Zimbabwe."
This overview includes general information about Zimbabwe as well as summaries of U.S.-Zimbabwean relations and Zimbabwe's foreign policy.

Zimbabwe
The official web portal of Zimbabwe provides information on the country from the government's perspective.

NewsHour: "Profile: Robert Mugabe"
This brief biography explains how Robert Mugabe rose to power and provides details on what has happened in Zimbabwe under his leadership.

NewsHour: "Zimbabwe's Land Program"
This article traces the history of land reform in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.

The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe by Peter Godwin (New York: Little, Brown, 2011)
Journalist Peter Godwin returned to Zimbabwe to document the 2008 election and its aftermath. This is Godwin's third installment in what might be called his Zimbabwean trilogy. His first two books, Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa chronicle Mugabe's rise to power.

Mugabe: Teacher, Revolutionary, Tyrant by Andrew Norman (Stroud, Gloucestershire: History Press, 2008)
This book documents the history of Mugabe before he came to power in 1980 and his subsequent reign as the president of Zimbabwe.

The Last Resort: A Memoir of Mischief and Mayhem on a Family Farm in Africa by Douglas Rogers (New York: Crown, 2009)
This memoir written by a white Zimbabwean presents an account of ordinary life under the Mugabe regime.

Human Rights and International Law

Human Rights Watch: "World Report 2011: Zimbabwe"
This link goes to the organization's current report on the status of human rights in Zimbabwe. For information about previous years, search "Zimbabwe" using the tool on the organization's homepage.

Southern African Development Community
The website of this coalition includes information on member states, land reform policies, the tribunal and the official decision in the Campbell case.

Southern Africa Litigation Centre: "For Mugabe's Sake: SADC Leaders Sabotage the SADC Tribunal and Undermine the Rule of Law"
This report discusses the one-year suspension of the SADC tribunal due to the "malign influence of the Mugabe regime."

Amnesty International: "SADC Tribunal Struggles for Legitimacy"
Since Zimbabwe refuses to give the Southern Africa Development Community Tribunal any legal recognition, the tribuanl's decision that the Campbells' land was illegally seized by the government holds little weight.

United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations: "Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Zimbabwe Act of 2007 S. 1500: Report"
The U.S. Department of State details the human rights violations committed by the Zimbabwean government. (May 24, 2007)

United States House Committee on International Relations: "Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001"
These are the House Committee on International Relations' notes from the conference about the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001. (December 21, 2001)

Through Fire With Water: The Roots of Division and the Potential for Reconciliation in Africa edited by Erik Doxtader (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2003)
This collection of essays presents 15 case studies of African countries whose recent pasts have been shaped by conflict. In the aggregate, the collection examines the historical roots of violence and the potential for reconciliation and justice.

Beyond Humanitarianism: What You Need To Know About Africa and Why It Matters edited by Princeton N. Lyman and Patricia Dorff (Washington, D.C.: Council on Foreign Relations, 2007)
This citizen's guide to the complex issues and conflicts on the continent clarifies what is at stake in Africa's future.

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (Emeryville, Calif.: Seal Press, 2004)
Set in Rhodesia in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Nervous Conditions is a semi-autobiographical coming of age story about a young woman in modern Africa.

The Leper Compound by Paula Nangle (New York: Bellevue Literary Press, 2008)
Set in pre- and post-independence Zimbabwe and South Africa, The Leper Compound is unified by a common thread of disease and the morbid reflections of its narrator, Colleen.

Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace (New York: Holiday House, 2011)
Young and white, Robert Jacklin finds himself forced to understand a new way of thinking and living in post-independence Zimbabwe.

Land Reform

Africa: "Forbidden but not Suppressed: a 'Vernacular' Land Market in Svosve Communal Lands, Zimbabwe"
This article by Admos Chimhowu and Phil Woodhouse examines the current status of land reform in Zimbabwe. (January 1, 2010)

The New York Times: "Zimbabwe's White Farmers Start Anew in Zambia"
This article follows 140 white farmers exiled from Zimbabwe who move to Zambia to start a new life. (March 21, 2004)

Maclean's: "Mugabe's New Tenant Farmers"
A group of 120 white Zimbabwe farmers have returned and are leasing plots from supporters of President Mugabe. (December 23, 2010)

Human and Constitutional Rights: "Zimbabwe Government and Farmers Locked in Land Reform Dispute."
Though somewhat dated, this page includes convenient links to documents central to land reform in Zimbabwe.

POV: Promised Land
The links and background information for this previous POV film describe how South Africa and other regions of the world have handled land reform issues.

House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe by Christina Lamb (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2007)
Lamb recounts her experience as a black nanny for a white farmer in Zimbabwe during Mugabe's land reform.

Zimbabwe by Yvonne Thorpe (New York: Benchmark, 2011)
In this book from the "Global Hotspots" series, Thorpe offers a look at current politics in Zimbabwe.

Roots of Racism

Rhodesia; A Study of the Deterioration of a White Society by Frank Clements (New York: Praeger, 1969)
Clements takes a critical look at the Rhodesian government as it transitions from white to black.

PBS: "Race: The Power of an Illusion"
This online companion to California Newsreel's three-part documentary about race provides scientific, historical and societal perspectives on the topic.

Films / Documentaries

Everyone's Child. A film by Tsitsi Dangarembga (California Newsreel , 1996. TRT: 85 min)
This film tells the story of four children orphaned by AIDS in Zimbabwe.

Flame. A film by Ingrid Sinclair (California Newsreel, 1996. TRT: 85 min)
Set during Zimbabwe's liberation struggle, Flame takes on the issue of image versus reality in war.

Jit. A film by Michael Raeburn (Public Media Inc., 1993. TRT: 92 min)
The beat of jit-jive drives a story set in Zimbabwe. A fun-loving youth called U.K. is determined to win the heart of Sofi, a stately beauty closely guarded by her gangster boyfriend. U.K.'s efforts are both helped and hindered by Jukwa, a pesky ancestral spirit.

Steps for the Future. (Day Zero Film and Video, 2001)
This collection of 35 documentaries explore how southern Africa is changing under the impact of HIV/AIDS. Three of the stories come from Zimbabwe.

White Material. A film by Claire Denis (Criterion Collection, 2011. TRT: 105 min)
A white woman (Isabelle Huppert) living in Africa refuses to give up her coffee plantation as civil war rages around her.