THE POLITICS OF THE DEAD IN ZIMBABWE, 2000-2020, bones, rumours and spirits

349pp., paperback, First SA Edition, Johannesburg, 2022

First published in the UK in 2022.

"... a major contribution towards the understanding of a complex and multifaceted cultural political phenomenon called 'death' ... Through close reference to colonial and post-colonial systemic violence and murders, spirits of the dead, spirit mediums and ongoing economic and political power dynamics in Zimbabwe, this book provides a robust analysis of the complex and dynamic interplay between the disappeared, tortured and mutilated bodies, the dead, spirits (ancestral/ dangerous, evil and holy) and the living" Lesley Hatipone Machiridza, GreatZimbabwe University, Journal of Southern African Studies

Joost Fontein is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Johannesburg. He was previously Director of the British Institute in Eastern Africa and Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. His books include Remaking Mutirikwi: Landscape, water and belonging (2015).