ABSTRACT
Harare is the capital city of the southern African country of Zimbabwe. Historically, Harare was designed to be an enclave of Europeans who founded it in the late nineteenth century. This chapter reveals the manifestation of urban social dynamics both historically and in the present, using the case of Harare. It looks at the concept of social capital in Harare as central to the processes of the Africanization of the urban center. Information, language, culture, and religion, among other things, are the chief mechanisms through which social capital is formed and circulated. Critical to note is that fact that African urban culture was spiced not only with ethnic tolerance for other Africans but also protestation and violence against white domination and rule. Ethnic tolerance and respect for human rights no doubt constitutes an important springboard for social capital formation. It must be stressed that the post-colonial period saw a drastic transformation of Harare.
