Land Reform, Livelihoods and the Politics of Agrarian Change in Zimbabwe 1

Misperceptions about the outcomes and implications of Zimbabwe's land reform persist even 15 years after the major redistribution of land took place in 2000. Perspectives have been dominated by images of chaos, destruction and violence. While these have been part of the reality, there is also another side of the story. This chapter argues that the story is not simply one of collapse and catastrophe; it is much more nuanced and complex, with successes as well as failures. The processes of social differentiation that have occurred following land reform have resulted in a new politics of the countryside.