‘It’s Our Paper!’ Ethnic Identity Politics and Indigenous Language Newspapers Readers in Zimbabwe: The Case of uMthunywa

Although the indigenous language press is increasingly becoming recognised as an important area of study, very few researchers have attempted to theorise and engage with its reception, in particular the connections between its consumption and the immediate conditions of everyday life, as well as the broader social structures that collectively shape media reception practices. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with readers of one of Zimbabwe’s leading indigenous language newspapers, uMthunywa, this chapter suggests that local language media can serve an important socio-political and cultural role. Specifically, the study contends that indigenous language media, such as uMthunywa, can provide historically marginalised readers with an alternative public space in which they articulate issues pertinent to their collective identities which are burdened by feelings of disillusionment, ethnic victimisation and exclusion by hegemonic power structures