Prof Jocelyn Alexander

Professor of Commonwealth Studies

Jocelyn Alexander’s research interests lie in the social and political history of southern Africa, particularly liberation struggles and their legacies, law and punishment, violence and memory, and rural politics and land reform. She is currently working on a Leverhulme-funded collaborative research project titled ‘Global Soldiers in the Cold War: Making southern Africa’s liberation armies’, and writing a history of political imprisonment in Zimbabwe.

She has taught at Sussex and Bristol Universities and has been a Research Associate at the University of Zimbabwe. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Southern African Studies and the publications committee of the International Africa Institute.

She is co-author with JoAnn McGregor and Terence Ranger of Violence and Memory: One Hundred Years in the 'Dark Forests' of Matabeleland (James Currey, 2000), and author of The Unsettled Land: The Politics of Land and State-making in Zimbabwe, 1893-2003 (James Currey, 2006).

Research
Teaching & Supervision
Publications
News
In the media
Global soldiers in the Cold War: making Southern Africa’s liberation armies
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A history of political imprisonment in Zimbabwe, 1959-2011
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Teaching

Jocelyn Alexander teaches primarily on the MPhil in Development Studies and the DPhil in International Development.

Doctoral supervision

Jocelyn Alexander's research concerns the social and political history of southern Africa and uses qualitative methodologies, notably oral history and archival research. She is happy to consider applications within this broad field. More specifically, she is interested in projects concerned with the history and legacies of nationalism and liberation struggles; disciplinary regimes and law, and the making of state institutions more generally; rural politics, particularly as it concerns ideas, movements and institutions; and the politics of memory.  Note that much of her research reaches into the present and is concerned with the legacies of contested histories.

She is also interested in projects that make use of innovative qualitative methodologies and cross-disciplinary approaches (history, anthropology, politics, literature). She occasionally supervises topics outside southern Africa where they are thematically linked to her research interests.

Research Students supervised

Asa Mudzimu
Research Student
Clinarete Munguambe
Research Student
Brian Oosthuizen
Research Student
Kristina Pikovskaia
Research Student
Lena Reim
Research Student
Johanna Wetzel
Research Student
Danielle del Vicario
History Faculty
David Kenrick
History Faculty
Sebabatso Manoeli
History Faculty

Books and monographs

Alexander, Jocelyn (with JoAnn McGregor, Blessing-Miles Tendi) (eds) (2020) 'Transnational Histories of Southern Africa’s Liberation Movements', Routledge
Alexander, Jocelyn (with J McGregor, B-M Tendi) (eds) (2014) 'Politics, Patronage and Violence in Zimbabwe', Harare: Weaver Press
Alexander, Jocelyn (with Lionel Cliffe, Ben Cousins and Rudo Gaidzanwa) (eds) (2012) 'Outcomes of Post-2000 Fast Track Land Reform in Zimbabwe', London: Routledge
Alexander, Jocelyn (2006) 'The Unsettled Land: State-making and the Politics of Land in Zimbabwe 1893-2003', James Currey; Ohio University Press; Weaver Press pps 230 (Monograph)
Alexander, Jocelyn (with J McGregor, T Ranger) (2000) 'Violence and Memory: One Hundred Years in the 'Dark Forests' of Matabeleland', Oxford: James Currey; Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann; Harare: Weaver Press

Journal articles and special issues

Alexander, Jocelyn (2021) 'The Noisy Silence of Gukurahundi: Truth, Recognition and Belonging', Journal of Southern African Studies 47 (5) 763-85
Alexander, Jocelyn (with Astrid Rasch, Minna Johanna Niemi ) (2021) 'Special Issue: Writing Repression in Zimbabwe', Journal of Southern African Studies 47 (5)
Alexander, Jocelyn (with Paolo Israel, Miles Larmer and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira) (eds) (2020) 'Liberation Beyond the Nation: Interactions, Cultural Productions and Legacies', Journal of Southern African Studies 46 (5)
Alexander, Jocelyn (with JoAnn McGregor) (2020) 'Adelante! Cuban trainers, Zimbabwean soldiers and the making of a liberation movement army in Angola', Comparative Studies in Society and History 62 (3) 619-50
Alexander, Jocelyn (with JoAnn McGregor) (2020) 'The Travelling Toyi-Toyi: Soldiers and the Politics of Drill', Journal of Southern African Studies 46 (5)
Alexander, Jocelyn (with Paolo Israel, Miles Larmer and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira) (2020) 'Liberation Beyond the Nation: An Introduction', Journal of Southern African Studies 46 (5)
Alexander, Jocelyn (2019) 'The Productivity of Political Imprisonment: Stories from Rhodesia', The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 47 (2) 300-24
Alexander, Jocelyn (2019) 'State writing, subversion and citizenship in Southern Rhodesia’s state of emergency, 1959–1960', Canadian Journal of African Studies 52 (3) 289-309
Alexander, Jocelyn (2017) 'Loyalty and liberation: the political life of Zephaniah Moyo', Journal of Eastern African Studies 11 (1) 166-87
Alexander, Jocelyn (with M Tendi, JoAnn McGregor) (2017) 'The Transnational Histories of Southern African Liberation Movements: An Introduction', Journal of Southern African Studies 43 (1) 1-12
Alexander, Jocelyn (with JoAnn McGregor) (2017) 'African Soldiers in the USSR: Oral Histories of ZAPU Intelligence Cadres’ Soviet Training, 1964-1979', Journal of Southern African Studies 43 (1) 49-66
Alexander, Jocelyn (with Miles Tendi, JoAnn McGregor) (eds) (2013) 'Special Issue: Politics, Patronage and Violence in Zimbabwe', Journal of Southern African Studies 39 (4)
Alexander, Jocelyn (2013) 'Militarisation and State Institutions: ‘Professionals’ and ‘Soldiers’ inside the Zimbabwe Prison Service', Journal of Southern African Studies 39 (4) 807-28
Alexander, Jocelyn (with JoAnn McGregor) (2013) 'Introduction: Politics, Patronage and Violence in Zimbabwe', Journal of Southern African Studies 39 (4) 749-63
Alexander, Jocelyn (2012) 'Rethinking the State and Political Opposition through the Prism of the Prison', Critical African Studies 6 1-15
Alexander, Jocelyn (2012) '"Hooligans, Spivs and Loafers": The politics of vagrancy in 1960s Southern Rhodesia', Journal of African History 53 (3) 345-66
Alexander, Jocelyn (with G Kynoch) (2011) ' Introduction: Histories and Legacies of Punishment in Southern Africa', Journal of Southern African Studies 37 (3) 395-413
Alexander, Jocelyn (with Lionel Cliffe, Ben Cousins and Rudo Gaidzanwa) (eds) (2011) 'Special Issue: Fast Track Land Reform in Zimbabwe', Journal of Peasant Studies 38 (5)
Alexander, Jocelyn (with Lionel Cliffe, Ben Cousins and Rudo Gaidzanwa) (2011) 'An Overview of Fast Track Land Reform in Zimbabwe: Editorial Introduction', Journal of Peasant Studies 38 (5) 907-38
Alexander, Jocelyn (with G Kynoch) (eds) (2011) 'Special Issue: Histories and Legacies of Punishment in Southern Africa', Journal of Southern African Studies 37 (3)
Alexander, Jocelyn (2011) 'Nationalism and Self-government in Rhodesian Detention: Gonakudzingwa, 1964–1974', Journal of Southern African Studies 37 (3) 551-569
Alexander, Jocelyn (2010) 'The Political Imaginaries and Social Lives of Political Prisoners in post-2000 Zimbabwe', Journal of Southern African Studies 36 (2) 483-503
Alexander, Jocelyn (with K Chitofiri) (2010) 'The Consequences of Violent Politics in Norton, Zimbabwe', The Round Table 99 (411) 673-86
Alexander, Jocelyn (2009) 'Death and Disease in Zimbabwe's Prisons', The Lancet 373 (March 21) 995-6
Alexander, Jocelyn (with C Anderson) (eds) (2008) 'Special Issue on Prisons and the Political', Cultural and Social History 5(4)
Alexander, Jocelyn (with C Anderson) (2008) 'Politics, Penality and (Post) Colonialism: An Introduction', Cultural and Social History 5(4) 391-4
Alexander, Jocelyn (2008) 'Political Prisoners' Memoirs in Zimbabwe: Narratives of Self and Nation', Cultural and Social History 5(4) 395-409
Alexander, Jocelyn (with M Tendi) (2008) 'La Violence et les Urnes: Le Zimbabwe en 2008', Politique Africaine 111 111-29
Alexander, Jocelyn (with M Tendi) (2008) 'A Tale of Two Elections: Zimbabwe at the Polls in 2008', ACAS Bulletin (Special Issue on Zimbabwe 2) 80 5-17
Alexander, Jocelyn (2007) 'Institutions, Ideas and Authority over the Land in Zimbabwe', Afriche e Orienti (Special Issue on Competing Rights: Land and Natural Resources in Africa) 9 108-27
Alexander, Jocelyn (2007) 'The Historiography of Land in Zimbabwe: Strengths, Silences and Questions', Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies 8(2) 183-98
Alexander, Jocelyn (with J McGregor) (2004) 'War Stories: Guerrilla Narratives from Zimbabwe's Liberation War', History Workshop Journal 57 79-100
Alexander, Jocelyn (with J McGregor) (2001) 'Les elections, la terre et l'emergence de l'opposition dans le Matabeleland', Politique Africaine 81 80-100
Alexander, Jocelyn (with J McGregor) (2001) 'Elections, Land and the Politics of Opposition in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe', Journal of Agrarian Change 1(4) 510-34
Alexander, Jocelyn (with J McGregor) (2000) 'Wildlife and Politics: CAMPFIRE in Zimbabwe', Development and Change 31 (3) 605-27
Alexander, Jocelyn (with G Littlejohn, J McGregor) (eds) (1998) 'Special Issue: Mozambique', Journal of Southern African Studies 24(1)
Alexander, Jocelyn (with T Ranger) (1998) 'Competition and Integration in the Religious History of North-Western Zimbabwe', Journal of Religion in Africa 28(1) 3-31
Alexander, Jocelyn (1998) 'Dissident Perspectives on Zimbabwe's Post-Independence War', Africa 68(2) 151-82
Alexander, Jocelyn (1997) 'The Local State in Post-War Mozambique: Political Practice and Ideas about Authority', Africa 67(1) 1-26
Alexander, Jocelyn (with J McGregor) (1997) 'Modernity and Ethnicity in a Frontier Society: Understanding Difference in Northwest Zimbabwe', Journal of Southern African Studies 23(2) 187-201

Chapters

Alexander, Jocelyn (2018) 'The Politics of States and Chiefs in Zimbabwe'. In John L Comaroff, Jean Comaroff (eds) The Politics of Custom: Chiefs, Capital and Culture in Contemporary Africa , Chicago University Press
Alexander, Jocelyn (2009) 'Zimbabwe Since 1997: Land and the Legacies of War'. In AR Mustapha, L Whitfield (eds) Turning Points in African Democracy , Rochester: Boydell and Brewer
Alexander, Jocelyn (2006) 'Rethinking the Legacies of Violence in Matabeleland'. In P Kaarsholm (ed) Violence, Politics Culture and Development in Africa , Oxford: James Currey
Alexander, Jocelyn (with J McGregor) (2006) 'Veterans, Violence and Nationalism in Zimbabwe'. In E Bay, D Donham (eds) States of Violence: Politics, Youth and Memory in Conemporary Africa , University of Virginia Press
Alexander, Jocelyn (with J McGregor) (2004) 'Hunger, Violence and the Moral Economy of War in Zimbabwe'. In V Broch-Due (ed) Violence and Belonging: Boundaries and Identities in Post-Colonial Africa , London: Routledge
Alexander, Jocelyn (with J McGregor) (2003) 'Democracy, Development and Political Conflict: Rural Institutions in Matabeleland North'. In T Ranger (ed) Nationalism, Democracy and Human Rights in Zimbabwe , Harare: UZ Press
Alexander, Jocelyn (2003) ''Squatters', Veterans and the State in Zimbabwe'. In A Hammer, B Raftopolous, S Jensen (eds) Unfinished Business: Land, State and Citizenship in Zimbabwe , Harare: Weaver Press
Alexander, Jocelyn (2000) 'Technical Development and Human Science: Scientific Debates in the Rhodesian Native Affairs Department'. In S Dubow (ed) Science and Society in Southern Africa , Manchester: Manchester University Press
Alexander, Jocelyn (2000) 'The Enduring Appeal of Technical Development in Zimbabwe's Agrarian Reform'. In T Bowyer-Bower, C Stoneman (eds) Land Reform in Zimbabwe: Constraints and Prospects , Aldershot: Ashgate
Alexander, Jocelyn (with J McGregor) (1999) 'Representing Violence in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe: Press and Internet Debates'. In T Allen (ed) The Media of Conflict: War Reporting and Representations of Ethnic Violence , London: Zed Press
Alexander, Jocelyn (1995) 'Things Fall Apart, The Centre Can Hold: Processes of Postwar Political Demobilisation in Zimbabwe's Rural Areas'. In N Bhebe, T Ranger (eds) The Zimbabwean War of Liberation: Society , London: James Currey; Harare: Baobab Books

Reports

Alexander, Jocelyn (with J McGregor) (2009) 'Commentary on July 2009 Home Office Report on Zimbabwe', London: Independent Advisory Group on Country Information
26 May, 2023
Twelve ODID academics and DPhils to present at ECAS 2023
30 July, 2020
New article co-authored by Jocelyn Alexander explores training of Southern African liberation movements
28 January, 2020
Two new books co-edited by Jocelyn Alexander examine liberation movements in Southern Africa
31 July, 2019
Jocelyn Alexander wins Leverhulme grant for project on Cold War-era ‘global soldiers’
11 June, 2019
ODID academics and students presenting at ECAS2019
07 February, 2019
Jocelyn Alexander, Simukai Chigudu give evidence to UK parliament committee on Zimbabwe crisis
30 January, 2019
New article by Jocelyn Alexander explores state authority, citizenship and writing in Southern Rhodesia
28 June, 2017
Nine academics and students to present at ECAS7 in Basel
03 February, 2017
New special issue offers transnational perspectives on southern Africa’s liberation movements
17 December, 2013
New Special Issue on Politics, Patronage and Violence in Zimbabwe Co-edited by Jocelyn Alexander and Miles Tendi
25 May, 2023
'It allows us to completely retell that story as a transational and international endeavour'. Jocelyn Alexander discusses her work bringing together oral histories from the liberation movement in Zimbabwe on the BBC's Free Thinking
01 Mar, 2021
'The incredible journey of the toyi-toyi, southern Africa’s protest dance'. Jocelyn Alexander and JoAnn McGregor write for the Conversation about the history of the protest 'dance' and what it tells us about military culture
Research interests:

Southern African social and political history; liberation movements and their legacies; violence and memory; political imprisonment; rural politics and state-making