Home Biography & Autobiography Chasing Freedom: Coming of Age at the End of Empire

Chasing Freedom: Coming of Age at the End of Empire

by Chigudu, Simukai

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Book Overview An exquisitely crafted memoir, sweeping from Zimbabwe to Oxford, that lays bare the violent, enduring legacy of colonialism on both a cou...
An exquisitely crafted memoir, sweeping from Zimbabwe to Oxford, that lays bare the violent, enduring legacy of colonialism on both a country and a family

Simukai Chigudu grew up in the shadow of Africa's struggles for liberation. As he navigates the tangled threads of personal and political history, he is guided by one central question: What does it mean to be truly free?

Chigudu's father fought in a guerilla war against the white supremacist regime of Rhodesia. He met Chigudu's mother while in exile in Uganda. After spending seven years apart, they reunite to build a life in newly independent Zimbabwe, hoping to offer their son the opportunities they never had. Yet Chigudu grows up in a world where colonialism never fully ended.

Racism persists: in the elite, white-run prep schools that groom him for life outside of Africa; in the British university where he is the only Black man in his class of 250; and finally as an Oxford professor, where a statue of the man who colonized his homeland--Cecil Rhodes--stands proudly on campus. As Zimbabwe convulses in the aftershocks of empire, facing political turmoil and economic collapse, Chigudu sees a parallel unravelling in his own family. His father, scarred by war, has turned to alcohol; his mother has grown distant and sorrowful.

In this gorgeous and atmospheric family memoir, Chigudu embarks on a quest to understand how the trauma of decolonization has shaped not only his country, but his very identity--as an African, a migrant, a Black man, a doctor, a scholar, and a son. What he discovers is that colonization is a potent force that continues to upend lives and institutions. Chasing Freedom is an intimate reckoning with the ghosts of the past that haunt our politics and our psyches in ways we can't always see.

Book Details Format: Hardcover | Pages: 352 | Language: English | Publisher: CROWN PUB INC | ISBN: 0593443691
FormatHardcover
Pages352
LanguageEnglish
ISBN0593443691
EAN9780593443699
PublisherCROWN PUB INC
Publication Date2026-03-24
AccessoriesNo Accessory
ConditionNew
Product TypeHARD COVER BOOKS
Weight1.15 Pounds
Length9.3 Inches
Width6.3 Inches
Height1.4 Inches
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