Zimbabwe in the Post-COVID-19 Era

This comprehensive book brings together reflections, lessons and insights relating to the post Covid-19 era in Zimbabwe. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has immensely affected all facets of humanity globally. Its impact on Zimbabwe is evident through its effect on socio-economic and education systems, politics, religion, infrastructural development, and health delivery systems. This book provides scholarly introspections into the lessons drawn from the pandemic in an effort to re-imagine the future possibilities of public health in Zimbabwe and beyond. Providing a platform for research that seeks to re-think global public health matters from a Decolonial school of thought, the book asks questions such as: What is the role of religion, linguistics, communication, education, economics, politics, and science in preparing Zimbabwe for possible future pandemics? How can the lessons drawn from the pandemic inform scholars to re-imagine the future trajectories of the country in the various domains? How can researchers evaluate the power and economic dialectics of COVID-19, navigate the tumultuous challenges generated, and come up with appropriate systems for future pandemics? Offering a realistic picture of the post COVID-19 era in Zimbabwe, the book will be a key resource to students and researchers across the fields of political communication, science communication, decolonial discourse, language and culture, as well as African Studies more broadly.

Esther Mavengano is a lecturer who teaches Linguistics and Literature in the Department of English and Media Studies, Faculty of Arts at Great Zimbabwe University in Masvingo, Zimbabwe. She holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics and Literary studies obtained from the University of North West in South Africa. Her research areas maintain the interface of linguistics and poetics. She has interests in language policy and planning, sociolinguistics, language practices and linguistic ideologies, media and political discourses, Cultural and religious discourses, English as foreign/ second language, rhetoric and language use, translingual practices in fictional writings, Identity issues in contemporary transnational Anglophone/African literature, religion and gender, discourse analysis, stylistics, Zimbabwean literature and language education in 'multi' contexts. She has published in reputable international journals including Cogent Arts and Humanities, African Identities, Literator, Journal of Multicultural Discourses, among others. She is a member of the Circle of Southern African Women and Zimbabwean Circle Chapters. She is a Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Theology and Religion, College of Human Sciences, UNISA, South Africa and a Georg Forster Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Alexander von Humboldt, Germany TU (Techische Universistat Dresden) Institut of English and American Studies, Department of English. Tobias Marevesa, is a New Testament senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, under the Joshua Nkomo School of Arts and Humanities at the Great Zimbabwe University where he teaches New Testament Studies and New Testament Greek. He holds a PhD with the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He is also Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Theology and Religion (RITR) in the College of Human Sciences University of South Africa (UNISA). His areas of interest are New Testament studies and politics, Pentecostal expressions in Zimbabwean Christianity, culture, human rights, and gender-based violence. He has also published in the area of New Testament studies and conflict-resolution in the Zimbabwean political landscape. Ernest Jakaza is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media, Communication, Film and Theatre Arts at Midlands State University, Zimbabwe and Research Fellow at the University of South Africa. He is the External Examiner for the Center for Languages and Communication Studies at Chinhoyi University of Technology in Zimbabwe. He has published edited books, a number of book chapters and journal articles with accredited publishers. His research interests are in the areas of discourse analysis, political discourse, argumentation, appraisal discourse, and language and communication aspects.

1. Introduction: Reflections, Lessons and Future Possibilities 2. The Socratic Sieve, post COVID-19 Public Health and Zimbabwean Social Media 3. Negotiating the shifting sands of time: The future possibilities of journalism education and research in Zimbabwe, Post-Covid-19 Era 4.Communication and new cultural order in Zimbabwean public health: Reflections from Covid-19 5. The dialectics of language in Zimbabwe's public health communication: Reflections on English as a lingua franca in the (post) COVID-19 era 6. A Language Policy Inspired Lessons for the Post COVID-19 Era 7. Language change beyond the Covid-19 pandemic : The case of Shona language 8. COVID-19 related communications on Zimbabwean online health communities: A Netnographic Study 9. Ndebele funeral rites and COVID-19: Deciphering public health in spirituality in Zimbabwe 10. Securitization of Covid-19 and the Imagination of Post Covid-19 burial ceremonies in Kenya & Zimbabwe 11. Karanga-Shona Funeral and Post Funeral Rites Beyond the COVID-19 Era: A Case Study of the VaDuma in Bikita, Zimbabwe 12. The COVID-19 restrictions and clashes with Shona cultural practices and values: Post-COVID era lessons for Zimbabwe 13. Beyond COVID-19: Reimagining religious and political futures in Zimbabwe. A decolonial paradigm 14. The socio-economic Ramification of Covid 19 to the economically disadvantaged members of the community in Harare during 2020 lockdowns: A Practical theological approach to the Post Covid-19 Era 15. The post-Covid-19 Health Futures in Zimbabwe