Beki

Shona privilege is the advantage that comes from belonging to the ethnic and linguistic group that has historically dominated Zimbabwe’s state institutions. It does not mean every Shona person is rich, powerful or personally connected to Government. It means that in a system structured to favour Shona people, Being Shona can give you advantages that non-Shona people do not have. That is what I mean by Shona privilege. For example, During the Gukurahundi genocide, Speaking Shona could mean being spared, While those who could not speak it were targeted, killed, raped, disappeared or purged from Government. When a system decides who lives and who dies, And your identity is one of the identities it protects, That is privilege. Today, we see a different expression of that same structural advantage. In a national institution whose mandate is to serve and represent a country of many ethnicities and languages, And whose political leadership and supporters come from across that diversity, We are presented with a board that is overwhelmingly Shona-named. The names alone cannot tell us the ethnicity of every individual, But the pattern of representation is still meaningful. It shows us who appears to have access to these spaces, And who continues to be missing from them. That is Shona privilege. And when I see a board that is overwhelmingly Shona-named, I am not only looking at who has been given positions at the top. I am thinking about where that privilege goes next. I assume they will appoint predominantly Shona employees. I assume they will play predominantly Shona music, Commission predominantly Shona films, And thus create opportunities predominantly for Shona filmmakers, actors and creatives. That is how privilege trickles down. When the people at the top overwhelmingly come from one linguistic and ethnic group, The benefits of that access can flow through the institution to people from the same group. That is Shona privilege.