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Biography
I am an environmental and social historian of southern Africa, with a particular focus on Zimbabwe. My research examines how environmental challenges, especially drought, have intersected with colonial and post-colonial politics, rural livelihoods, and local knowledge systems from the mid-19th century to present. My PhD thesis (Stellenbosch University, 2022), entitled A Social, Environmental and Political History of Drought in Zimbabwe, c.1911 to 1992, explored how peasant communities developed old and new survival strategies amid the pressures of an exploitative colonial state and a patronising post-colonial government. In 2022, I held a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Cape Town, where I began researching indigenous weather forecasting practices and co-taught the 'Africa Since 1800' course. From 2023 to 2025, I lectured in Environmental History at the University of Edinburgh. I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Geography at the 糖心原创 (since September 2025), where I continue to investigate the interconnected environmental, social, political, and economic histories of the region.
I am also a co-editor of the 'Learning from the Past' section of the from Oxford University Press.
Expertise Summary
Environmental History with a specific focus on climate, weather, and disaster histories.
Teaching Summary
I have taught courses in Global Environmental History, African Environmental History, and History in general at the University of Cape Town and the University of Edinburgh between 2022 and 2025.
Research Summary
I am currently a research fellow on the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship project: Constructing Climate Coloniality: Histories, Knowledges and Materialities of Climate Adaptation in Southern Africa, led… read more
Recent Publications
TINASHE TAKUVA and SANDRA SWART, 2025. Critical African Studies. 17(1), 97鈥�113
TINASHE TAKUVA and BERNARD KUSENA, 2025. Southern Journal for Contemporary History. 49(2), 10鈥�33
TINASHE TAKUVA, 2023. Historia. 68(2),
TINASHE TAKUVA, 2021. South African Historical Journal. 73(1), 138鈥�161
Current Research
I am currently a research fellow on the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship project: Constructing Climate Coloniality: Histories, Knowledges and Materialities of Climate Adaptation in Southern Africa, led by Dr. Matthew Hannaford.
Past Research
I have conducted research in environmental history and climate-society relations. My 2021 article, "Rains Come from the Gods!", explores rainmaking rituals in Zimbabwe over more than a century (c. 1890-2000), demonstrating that rainmaking was not merely a spiritual practice but also a social and political institution used by local authorities to regulate communities and assert power. The article contributes to Anthropocene debates by showing how African societies conceptualised environmental control long before modern climate science. It highlights how belief systems, governance, and ecological knowledge were intertwined, challenging simplistic narratives that separate "traditional" belief from environmental management.
A second theme in my past research is the politicisation of drought and food insecurity in post-independence Zimbabwe. In "The hunger games": Politics and drought in post-colonial Zimbabwe, 1980-1992, co-authored with Sandra Swart, we argue that drought was not simply a natural disaster but became embedded in state strategies of power consolidation. This work contributes significantly to historiography by reframing drought as a political and socio-environmental phenomenon, rather than a purely climatic event. It also demonstrates continuity between colonial and post-colonial governance practices, particularly in relation to patronage, inequality, and state control of resources.
I have also extended my research focus to some aspects of economic history, particularly social and economic institutions. My research on Christian Care in Zimbabwe (1967-c.1990) explores how religious organisations operated within colonial and post-colonial contexts, shedding light on aid, governance, and social welfare systems. Also, my research on the Land and Agricultural Bank of Southern Rhodesia (1924-1963), co-authored with Bernard Kusena, examines how this institution functioned as a tool of settler colonialism. Using extensive archival sources, the research shows that the bank systematically prioritised white settler farmers by providing them with financial support, especially during crises such as the Great Depression and World War II. African farmers, by contrast, were largely excluded or only minimally supported for political reasons.