Interview with Joy Hand Me Up

In this episode, Gwen is joined by Joy who is currently an Associate Professor of History at the University of Manitoba, Canada. Having initially studied for an Undergraduate and Masters degrees in Zimbabwe, Joy went on to study for a PhD in America graduating in the early 2000’s. Her topic was: “The Untold Story: War, Flight and Internal Displacement of the Rural Women to Harare During the Zimbabwean Liberation Struggle, 1974-1980.” In this episode, Joy takes us on a journey on missionaries and land ownership as well as urban environmental racism in colonial Zimbabwe. She also talks about the differences between the American and British PhD process, navigating the Zimbabwean education system and how that impacted her writing and analysis process. She also revisits the pressures of pursuing education and not getting married as a result. The nugget or takeaway from her story is “don’t mind the haters….just smile and then people won’t have more ammunition to make you feel bad about it…”

Joy’s research interests: women and gender; urbanisation; the Zinbabweab liberation struggle; migration, diaspora and trans nationalism.