Chasing Freedom is both a memoir and political history. It traces Simukai Chigudu’s journey from childhood in newly independent Zimbabwe to young adulthood in the UK, where he became Professor of African Politics at the University of Oxford.
In Oxford, Chigudu regularly passed the statue of Cecil Rhodes, the man who colonised his home country. He later became a leading figure in Rhodes Must Fall Oxford, a movement calling for the removal of colonial statues and the decolonisation of the university.
Chasing Freedom is a book that, in many ways, defies neat categories and easy answers. It is a story of contradictory hopes and expectations imposed on a post-colonial generation: staunch anti-imperial sentiment blended with distance from local culture, mastery over the English language and the pursuit of elite Western education as a means of upward mobility and escape.
Join us for a conversation on Chigudu’s new book, his activism and leadership in the Rhodes Must Fall movement, and his scholarly work on global health and development politics.
The conversation will explore the politics of memory and its role in shaping and reshaping purpose, identity, and trauma. We will also discuss how the current discourse on de-colonisation shapes the language we use in personal interactions and debates about political accountability.
The event will be held in English and includes a talk by Simukai Chigudu, a conversation with Vyoma Sharma, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Centre for Global Sustainability, and an audience Q&A.
Open for all!