Quest for a Cohesive Diaspora African Community: Reliving Historic Experiences by Black Zimbabweans in Britain.

To unravel the impact of historic memories on ethnic relations between the Shona (who see themselves as the indigenous population of Zimbabwe) and the Ndebele (whom the Shona perceived as invaders) the chapter has three main themes. First, it will examine the emergence of ethnic particularism, during the three phases of Zimbabwe’s history: pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial. This allows the chapter to capture why Black Zimbabwean Diaspora personalities cannot only be explained as ‘tragedies of colonialism’ but also stem from the Nationalist Movement and post-colonial government’s success in entrenching nostalgic ideas devoid of ethnic unity within a Black community polarised by historic allegiances and tensions. The second theme will explore how the imported memories of ethnic tensions, allegiances and prejudices reinvented and reinforced ethnic consciousness that impacted on relations within Zimbabwe’s Black diaspora community. The chapter will examine the concept of ethnic majority, asking whether it would have triggered the resuscitation of ethnic particularism memories