Julie Cairnie-SETS-Children in Zimbabwe

Professor Cairnie's research examines childhood in Zimbabwe focusing on its literature. The country's most pressing problems—AIDS, orphans, education, food and water, healthcare, or law and order—pivot around children who have played key roles in a tumultuous history: Cecil Rhodes' invasion of Mashona and Ndebele land in 1890 was achieved by teenaged boys and motivated by a desire to place white families there; Robert Mugabe's invasion of titled white farms in 2000 used boys and young men as warriors and proved detrimental to millions of children. Her current research probes the relationship between Zimbabwe's rich range of literature and the social change it both reflects and enacts.