Chasing Freedom
Coming of Age at the End of Empire
Published on 5. March 2026
288 pages
978-1-5299-3433-5 (ISBN)
Description
'Intimate and epic, Chasing Freedom will teach you more about the legacies of colonialism than a hundred op-eds or a dozen textbooks' SATHNAM SANGHERA, author of Empireland
In my home country, they call me a 'bornfree'.
Chasing Freedom is the story of the inheritance of violence, of struggle, of African liberation. It is guided by one central question: what does it mean to be truly free?
As a member of the first generation born after the end of colonial rule in Zimbabwe, Simukai Chigudu had heard stories about his grandfather's murder by the Rhodesian regime, and of how his father was imprisoned and tortured as a student activist before joining the bloody war of independence as a guerrilla soldier. Yet, despite his country's hard-won freedom, Chigudu's early life was steeped in British tradition. He'd sung English folk songs, read Shakespeare, played cricket.
When Zimbabwe convulsed from political turmoil and economic collapse, Chigudu left his home to attend a Catholic boarding school in Lancashire. What followed was a culture shock that unravelled his understanding of the world, his family and himself.
Simukai Chigudu elegantly weaves together his own story with Zimbabwe's history, from a young Cecil Rhodes on the diamond trail to the making of Rhodesia through plunder and dispossession, from his parents' meeting in Idi Amin's Uganda to his family's fight to free Zimbabwe, and from the undoing of Robert Mugabe to the Rhodes Must Fall movement in Oxford, of which he was a founding member.
Chasing Freedom traces the tangled threads of personal and political history to give a new perspective on race, class, identity and the heavy legacy of colonialism. It is an intimate reckoning with the ghosts of the past that haunt our politics and our psyches in ways we cannot always see.
In my home country, they call me a 'bornfree'.
Chasing Freedom is the story of the inheritance of violence, of struggle, of African liberation. It is guided by one central question: what does it mean to be truly free?
As a member of the first generation born after the end of colonial rule in Zimbabwe, Simukai Chigudu had heard stories about his grandfather's murder by the Rhodesian regime, and of how his father was imprisoned and tortured as a student activist before joining the bloody war of independence as a guerrilla soldier. Yet, despite his country's hard-won freedom, Chigudu's early life was steeped in British tradition. He'd sung English folk songs, read Shakespeare, played cricket.
When Zimbabwe convulsed from political turmoil and economic collapse, Chigudu left his home to attend a Catholic boarding school in Lancashire. What followed was a culture shock that unravelled his understanding of the world, his family and himself.
Simukai Chigudu elegantly weaves together his own story with Zimbabwe's history, from a young Cecil Rhodes on the diamond trail to the making of Rhodesia through plunder and dispossession, from his parents' meeting in Idi Amin's Uganda to his family's fight to free Zimbabwe, and from the undoing of Robert Mugabe to the Rhodes Must Fall movement in Oxford, of which he was a founding member.
Chasing Freedom traces the tangled threads of personal and political history to give a new perspective on race, class, identity and the heavy legacy of colonialism. It is an intimate reckoning with the ghosts of the past that haunt our politics and our psyches in ways we cannot always see.
Reviews / Votes
A fascinating memoir, both intimate and epic, which will teach you more about the legacies of colonialism than a hundred op-eds, or a dozen textbooks -- Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland A deeply personal and moving exploration of the intersections of history, identity, and belonging ... A raw and unflinching account of the search for self amid the burdens of the past -- Peter Godwin, author of Exit Wounds In Chasing Freedom, Simukai Chigudu seamlessly blends the history of African colonization and the jagged paths to independence with the story of his remarkable family. But this book is so much more. It is also the story of those for whom these massive global transformations were mere backdrops for growing up across continents, cultures and agendas - of those children of African liberation now empowered to remake the world that colonialism made -- Louis Chude-Sokei, author of Floating in a Most Peculiar Way Simukai Chigudu's Chasing Freedom is a raw and moving memoir - a complicated, engrossing, and, ultimately, brilliant portrait of a family navigating the minefields of the postcolonial world -- Jonny Steinberg, author of Man of Good Hope and Nelson and Winnie The voice of this memoir is utterly captivating, witty and fiercely intelligent. Chasing Freedom is a finely observed, gripping account of growing up in Zimbabwe and building a life in Britain, told with such clarity and precision that I forgot I was reading. It is warm but unsparing, a powerful reckoning with family, country, history, and the yearning to understand oneself in the rarefied spaces far from home -- Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful RefugeeMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
File size
0,62 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-5299-3433-5 (9781529934335)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 03/2027
Vintage
€16.50
Not yet published
Book
03/2026
The Bodley Head Ltd
€25.00
Available immediately
Person
Simukai Chigudu is associate professor of African politics at the University of Oxford and fellow of St. Antony's College. He was previously a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. He is one of the founding members of Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford, a campaign to decolonize the university - and remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College.
