Disability, spirituality and the politics of belonging in postcolonial Zimbabwe

Abstract

Background: In Zimbabwe, disability is defined and explained from a cultural, African indigenous religion and spirituality. These perspectives are sources of exclusion of persons with disabilities (PWD) from important social positions, economic empowerment, rites of passage and ceremonies.
Objectives: This study explores the politics of disability and belonging in Zimbabwe.
Method: Using Marco Antonsich’s conceptualisation of place-belongingness and the politics of belonging, data are collected through qualitative desktop methodology, which explores how people with disabilities in Zimbabwe make emotional connections with communal spaces while being excluded from them.
Results: The study findings show the struggles for PWD to belong to religious or spiritual practices and cultural and economic spaces in Zimbabwe. The conventional concept of Ubuntu, which calls for interconnection of humans, provides hope to include PWD as part of the community. Disability in Zimbabwe is not one thing; the experiences of PWD are influenced by overlapping identities (such as gender, class and religion). The legacy of colonialism is visible in the spatial exclusion of the PWD, especially in the urban informal settlements, which sustain the pre-existing trends of exclusion.
Conclusion: The study concludes that belonging and belongingness of PWD should be within the grassroots movements and Ubuntu ethics, which encourage humaneness.
Contribution: The study contributes to policy changes informed by decolonised disability justice, participatory governance and the integration of Ubuntu principles to create a more inclusive citizenship and a stronger communal belonging for people with disabilities in Zimbabwe.