While Zimbabwe's smallholder production expansion is well documented, very little is known about social differentiation in the communal lands where most black smallholders live. This article draws on a growing body of post‐independence survey data, as well as the authors’ research and field experiences, to analyse the structure and dynamics of communal land social differentiation. Utilising a framework which focuses on reproduction and accumulation, four primary social classes are identified: petty‐commodity producers; worker‐peasants; lumpen semi‐peasants; and the rural petty‐bourgeoisie. We then propose specific processes which may promote and/or constrain rural class formation and speculate about possible impacts on communal land agrarian politics in the 1990s. Class categories and associated processes are presented as hypotheses for further investigation and discussion, rather than as firm research conclusions.
Adams J.. 1991a. . The Rural Labour Market in Zimbabwe’. . Development and Change . , Vol. 22:: 297––320. .
1991b. . ‘Female Wage Labour in Rural Zimbabwe’. . World Development . , Vol. 19((2/3)): 163––177. .
Amin N.. 1991. . “‘Peasant Differentiation and Food Security in Zimbabwe’. ”. In Working Paper No.1, SSRC Project on African Agriculture . , New York : : Social Sciences Research Council. .
Avila M.. 1985. . “‘Intra‐ and Inter‐household Decision Making in the Mangwende and Chivi Communal Areas: Preliminary Results’. ”. In Farming Systems Research Unit (mimeo) . Harare :
Bernstein H.. 1977. . “Notes on Capital and Peasantry”. . ROAPE . , Vol. 10:: 60––73. .
Scott A.M.. , ed. 1986. . “‘Capitalism and Petty Commodity Production’. ”. In Rethinking Petty Commodity Production, Special Issue Series of Social Analysis . Vol. Vol. 20. ,
L. Bessant , Coercive Development: Peasant Economy, Politics and Land in the Chiweshe Reserve, 1940–1966 , Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University , 1987
Bonnevie H.. 1987. . “‘Migration and Malformation: Case Studies from Zimbabwe’. ”. In CDR Project Paper A.87.1 . , Copenhagen : : Centre for Development Research. .
Bratton M.. 1990. . “Ten Years After: Land Redistribution in Zimbabwe, 1980–1990’. ”. In Agrarian Reform and Grass Roots Development . , Edited by: Prosterman R.. Boulder : : Lynne Rienner. .
Bruce J.W.. 1990. . “Legal Issues in Land Use and Resettlement – A Background Paper’. ”. In Zimbabwe Agriculture Sector Memorandum . , World Bank. .
Bush R. and Cliffe L.. 1984. . ‘Agrarian Policy in Migrant Labour Societies: Reform or Transformation in Zimbabwe'. . ROAPE . , Vol. 29:: 77––94. .
Bush R., L‐Cliffe and Jansen V.. 1986. . “The Crisis in the Reproduction of Migrant Labour in Southern Africa’. ”. In World Recession and the Food Crisis in Africa . , Edited by: Lawrence P.. London : : James Curry. .
Cheater A.P.. The Ideology of “Communal Land Tenure” in Zimbabwe: Mythogenesis Enacted?’. In: . paper presented to Conference on Land Policy After Lancaster. , February. . Harare : : University of Zimbabwe. .
Cliffe L.. 1986. . Policy Options for Agrarian Reform: A Technical Appraisal . , Harare : : FAO. .
Stoneman C.. , ed. 1988. . “The Prospects for Agricultural Transformation in Zimbabwe’. ”. In Zimbabwe's Prospects: Issues of Race, Class, State and Capital in Southern Africa . , London : : Macmillan. .
Cooper F.. 1981. . ‘Peasants, Capitalists and Historians’. . Journal of Southern African Studies . , Vol. 7((2)): 284––314. .
Coudere H. and Marijsse S.. 1988. . ‘Rich and Poor in Mutoko Communal Area’. . Zimbabwe Journal of Economics . , Vol. 2((l)): l––25. .
Cousins B.. , ed. 1989. . “Proceedings of a Workshop on the Socio‐economic Dimensions of Livestock Production in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe, GTZ and Centre for Applied Social Sciences. ”. In People, Land and Livestock . , Harare : : University of Zimbabwe. .
March. 1990 . “‘A Stone Unturned: Local Political Dynamics and the Transfer of Technology in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe’. ”. In Proceedings of the Agritex Regional Workshop on Research, Training and Education on Rural Technology . March. , p. 26––30. . Harare :
1990b. . “‘Livestock Production and Grazing Rights in Communal Lands and Resettlement Schemes in Zimbabwe’. ”. In Background Paper, Zimbabwe Agriculture Sector Memorandum . , World Bank. .
Deere C. and de Janvry A.. 1979. . ‘A Conceptual Framework for the Empirical Analysis of Peasants’. . American Journal of Agricultural Economics . , Vol. 61((4)): 167––91. .
Derman B.. 1990. . “The Unsettling of the Zambezi Valley: An Examination of the mid‐Zambezi Rural Development Project’. ”. In Seminar Paper, CASS . , University of Zimbabwe. .
Dopcke W.. 1985. . “‘State and Peasants in Mazoe District in the 1930s’. ”. In Henderson Seminar Papers, No.63 . , Harare : : Department of Economic History, University of Zimbabwe. .
Drinkwater M.J.. 1987. . “‘Loans and Manure: the Dilemma of Access’. ”. In Working Paper . , Department of Sociology, University of Zimbabwe. .
Friedmann H.. 1980. . Household Production and the National Economy: Concepts for the Analysis of Agrarian Formations’. . Journal of Peasant Studies . , Vol. 7:: 158––184. .
Gibbon P. and Neocosmos M.. 1985. . “‘Some Problems in the Political Economy of African Socialism’. ”. In Contradictions of Accumulation in Africa: Studies in Economy and State . , Edited by: Bernstein H. and Campbell B. K.. Beverly Hills : : Sage. .
A. Giddens , A Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism , ( Vol 1 , Power, Property and the State), University of California Press : Berkeley and Los Angeles , 1981 .
A.H.J. Helmsing , ‘Non‐agricultural Enterprise in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe: Preliminary Results of a Survey” , RUP Occasional Paper No.10. Department of Rural and Urban Planning, University of Zimbabwe , Harare , 1987
Jackson J. C.. 1989. . “‘Exploring Livestock Incomes in Zimbabwe's Communal Lands’. ”. In People, Land and Livestock, Proceedings of a Workshop on the Socio‐economic Dimensions of Livestock Production in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe, GTZ and Centre for Applied Social Sciences . , Edited by: Cousins B.. Harare : : University of Zimbabwe. .
Jackson J.C., Collier P. and Conti A.. 1987. . Rural Development Policies and Food Security in Zimbabwe: Part II . , Geneva : : ILO. .
Kriger N.. 1988. . The Zimbabwean War of Liberation: Struggles Within the Struggle’. . Journal of Southern African Studies . , Vol. 14((2)): 304––322. .
Levin R. and Neocosmos M.. 1987. . The Agrarian Ouestion and Class Contradictions in South Africa: Some Theoretical Issues for Consideration’. . Africa Perspective . , Vol. 1((5/6)): 61––93. .
Leys R.. 1986. . “‘Drought and Drought Relief in Southern Zimbabwe’. ”. In World Recession and the Food Crisis in Africa . , Edited by: Lawrence P.. London : : James Currey/ROAPE. .
Maboreke M.. The Gender Dimension to the Land Question in Zimbabwe’. In: . Paper presented to Conference on Land Policy After Lancaster, February 1990. , Harare :
Mosley P.. 1983. . The Settler Economies: Studies in the Economic History of Kenya and Southern Rhodesia, 1900–1963 . , Cambridge : : Cambridge University Press. .
Moyo S.. 1986. . “The Land Question’. ”. In Zimbabwe, The Political Economy of Transition: 1980–1986 . , Edited by: Mandaza l.. Dakar : : Codesria. .
Muchena M.. 1989. . “The Effect of Ox Sharing Arrangements on the Supply and Use of Draught Animals in the Commmunal Areas of Zimbabwe – Preliminary Findings’. ”. In People, Land and Livestock, Proceedings of a Workshop on the Socio‐economic Dimensions of Livestock Production in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe . , Edited by: Cousins B.. Harare : : GTZ and Centre for Applied Social Sciences, University of Zimbabwe. .
Murray C.. 1987. . ‘Class, Gender and the Household: the Developmental Cycle in Southern Africa’. . Development and Change . , Vol. 18:: 235––249. .
National Farmer's Association of Zimbabwe (NFAZ) , 1989 . ‘Proposals for Land Reform and Distribution Policy’ (Draft/mimeo) Harare
Otzen U.. 1988. . Development Management From Below, German Development Institute . Berlin :
D. Pankhurst , The Dynamics of the Relations of Production and Reproduction in Zimbabwe's Communal Areas , Unpublished Ph.D.Thesis, University of Liverpool , 1988
Parson J.. 1981. . ‘Cattle Class and the State in Rural Botswana’. . Journal of Southern African Studies . , Vol. 7((2)): 236––255. .
Phimister I.. 1988. . An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 1980–1988: Capital Accumulation and Class Struggle . , London : : Longman. .
T. Ranger , Peasant Consciousness and Guerilla War in Zimbabwe , Zimbabwe Publishing House . Harare , 1985
April. 1988 . The Communal Lands of Zimbabwe’, Paper presented to Symposium on Land in African Agrarian Systems . , April. , p. 10––12. . Urbana/Champaign : : University of Illinois. .
1987. . Republic of Zimbabwe, Report on the National Symposium on Agrarian Reform, Ministry of Local Government . , Harare : : Rural and Urban Planning. .
I. Scoones , ‘Livestock Populations and the Household Economy: a Case Study from Southern Zimbabwe’ , Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, University of London , 1990
I, Scoones and Cousins B. (forthcoming), ‘A Participatory Model of Agricultural Research and Extension: the Case of VIeis, Trees and Grazing Schemes in the Dry South of Zimbabwe’ Zambezia
Scoones I. and Wilson K.. 1989. . “Households, Lineage Groups and Ecological Dynamics: Issues for Livestock Research and Development in Zimbabwe's Communal Lands’. ”. In People, Land and Livestock, Proceedings of a Workshop on the Socio‐economic Dimensions of Livestock Production in the Communal Lands of Zimbabwe . Edited by: Cousins B.. Harare :
Scott A.M.. 1986. . “Towards a Rethinking of Petty Commodity Production’. ”. In Rethinking Petty Commodity Production, Special Issue Series of Social Analysis . Edited by: Scott A.M.. Vol. Vol. 20. ,
Stoneman C.. ‘Jobs or Markets: Lessons from Zimbabwe’. In: . Paper presented to Centre for African Studies; . October. . University of Cape Town. .
Weiner D.. 1988. . “Land and Agricultural Development’. ”. In Zimbabwe's Prospects . , Edited by: Stoneman C. . London : : Macmillan. .
1991. . ‘Socialist Transition in the Capitalist Periphery: A Case Study of Agriculture in Zimbabwe’. . Political Geography Quarterly . , Vol. 10((1)): 54––75. .
Weiner D. and Harris T.. 1991. . “‘Agricultural Development in Zimbabwe: Transition in a Labour Reserve Economy’. ”. In Rethinking Agricultural Transformation in Southern Africa . , Edited by: Seidman A. and et al. . Trenton : : Africa World Press. .
Whitlow R.. 1988. . Land Degradation in Zimbabwe: A Geographic Study, Department of Natural Resources . Harare :
Zvogbo R.. 1986. . “‘Education and the Challenge of Independence’. ”. In Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Transition: 1980–1986 . , Edited by: Mandaza I.. Dakar : : Codesria. .