This thesis concerns the issues of leadership in the African context, but it derives its emphasis from the stories in Daniel 1–6 in the Old Testament, in order to comment on leadership styles, competencies, skills and the state of leadership in Africa. It is a reading from a specific context, that of someone living in present times in the Republic of Chad. The research focused mainly on the following issues: What can we learn from the stories concerning leadership in Daniel 1–6? Who are the leaders in these chapters? What is the quality of their leadership? In trying to answer these questions, the researcher had to consider the following: How was the book read and interpreted in the past? How is it currently interpreted? Looking at past research, the focus fell on: (1) the pre-critical period, (2) the historical-critical period, and (3) the period in which modern literary studies abound. Following the research history a personal reading and interpretation of the stories in Daniel 1–6 are presented. A narrative analysis is carried out and the plots of the different stories are analysed according to the quinary scheme (the initial situation, the complication, transforming action, the denouement and the final situation). The focus falls on the narrator’s presentation of the main characters and what readers can learn from these stories about leadership. Although there is attention to how scholars in the past and present have interpreted the Book of Daniel, the researcher tries to present a new interpretation by carrying out a contextual reading focusing on leadership. This aspect did not receive much attention in previous research. What is gained by this reading is then applied to the situation in the modern Republic of Chad. First, there is a detailed study of current writing by scholars as well as what they are saying about leadership. Following this, the African and Chadian contexts are considered. The final chapter synthesises all the issues that have been discussed. / Old Testament & Ancient Near Eastern Studies / D.Th. (Old Testament)

This study examines the mediation of multilingualism, localism and the nation in the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, henceforth, ZBC as the local content and multilingual broadcasting policies subsumed in the Broadcasting Services Act (2001) and the Broadcasting Services Amendment Act (2007) respectively translated into radio and television programming. This purpose is pursued by analysing the language choices and practices on the ZBC radio and television stations and programming. This study is informed by an eclectic approach within the critical theory tradition and therefore it disapproves the domination, marginalisation and exclusion of the indigenous African languages in the ZBC as a public sphere. Against this backdrop, the study envisages the promotion of linguistic diversity and indigenous African languages in the ZBC broadcasting. Data for this study was gathered from the ZBC employees, academics and the ZBC audience using questionnaires, interviews, and focus group discussions. As the local content and multilingual broadcasting policies translated into ZBC programming, this study detected a hierarchical organisation of the languages spoken in Zimbabwe on the radio and television stations where English is the most dominant language, while Shona and Ndebele dominate the minority languages, Shona dominates Ndebele and the supremacy of the Zezuru dialect in the Shona language is easily felt. This is a confirmation of the fragility of Zimbabwean linguistic nationalism in the ZBC which is convoluted by the ideological and political nature of the media, electronic colonisation, the political economy of broadcasting, the transformation of the ZBC public sphere by the market and state interests, the influence of the global media firms, and the relentless hegemony of the western countries in the world system. This study established that broadcasting in indigenous African languages is obligatory if the informative, communicative and symbolic functions of the public service broadcasting are to be achieved. However, this study contends that it is remarkably insufficient for linguists to minimally identify, lament and deplore the marginalisation and exclusion of the indigenous African languages in the ZBC without taking into account the economic, political and technological factors which contribute to the marginalisation and exclusion of these languages in the ZBC broadcasting in the context of the local content and multilingual broadcasting policies. Therefore, this study implores scholars in the discipline of language studies to ameliorate their sophistication by espousing a multidisciplinary approach to the study of language if they are to make meaningful arguments which can influence meaningful language policy outcomes instead of parroting. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

La thèse a pour objectif d'étudier le rôle et l'influence de la France dans le processus d'internationalisation du sport en Afrique noire francophone au Mouvement olympique (1944-1966). Il s'agit de montrer que les manifestations sportives compétitives entre la France et l'Afrique pendant la période coloniale, puis au moment de la décolonisation deviennent les analyseurs de la dynamique des transformations des dispositifs politiques du sport africain (FN, CNO et FI). En effet, dans le contexte d'après Seconde Guerre mondiale, la question principale est de comprendre comment et dans quelles conditions l'accès des anciennes colonies françaises en Afrique au CIO peut-il révéler les transformations des relations franco-africaines ? La démonstration s'articule autour de trois moments : d'abord, les effets conjugués des reconfigurations du Nouvel ordre international post-Seconde Guerre mondiale, consécutives aux influences de la guerre froide et du tiers-mondisme qui rendent nécessaire dans un but de préservation du pré-carré, le rapprochement entre les anciennes colonies françaises avec le Mouvement olympique ; ensuite, la Ve République française de De Gaulle intègre cet enjeu de la reconnaissance sportive olympique de ses anciennes colonies africaines en pleine accession à l'indépendance par des Jeux de la Communauté et de l'Amitié (1960-1963) ; enfin, la mise en interaction des dispositifs politiques franco-africains au CIO (CAIO, 1961) permet d'envisager une politique sportive olympique africaine (Jeux Africains, 1965 et CSSA, 1966). En conséquence, la coopération sportive franco-africaine devient l'instrument de la politique étrangère gaullienne, rendue possible par la connivence des élites politiques du sport africain avec les dirigeants français. Dans cette perspective, on met ainsi au jour un double processus : le maintien de l'influence française dans le sport africain postcolonial par l'utilisation stratégique du Mouvement olympique d'une part ;et la réappropriation de cet espace olympique par les élites politiques du sport africain pour affirmer leurs revendications d'autre part : l'anti-apartheid et la poursuite de l'aide au développement au sport olympique.

Dans cette thèse nous démontrons que la paysannerie colombienne s'est constituée telle quelle, à partir de: 1) la construction et de la mise en œuvre des pratiques économiques et agro-productives compatibles avec l'environnement; 2) des habitus et des coutumes qu’elle a inventé et a récré à partir de l'interaction quotidienne avec sa famille et sa communauté et 3) de la lutte politique qu'elle a entrepris tant pour exiger à l'État sa reconnaissance sociale, territoriale et juridique, comme pour arrêter l'avance territoriale des entrepreneurs agraires. Par conséquent, la paysannerie ne peut pas être conçue comme une catégorie conceptuelle construite, a priori , définie dehors de l’histoire, comme un groupe social homogène, et avec caractéristiques égales à niveau global. La paysannerie colombienne, dans sa lutte politique pour la défense du territoire, a affronté à un entrepreneur agraire qui, orienté par une logique unidirectionnelle, élitiste et exclusive de « progrès » et du « développement », a nié à la paysannerie ses droits territoriaux, économiques, sociaux et culturels. De plus, en faisant un usage patrimonial de l’État, il l`a poursuivi, stigmatisé et expulsé de la communauté politique. La paysannerie a affronté un État et un entrepreneur agraire que, depuis l'État d’Exception et de la déclaration de la paysannerie comme “obstacle du développement” et “ennemi de la nation”, ils ont revendiqué le droit, inhérent des souverainetés classiques, de définir qui peut vivre et qui doit mourir. La dynamique historique et successive d'expropriation territoriale de la paysannerie et la mise en œuvre de ce qui est dénommé, dans cette thèse, nécro-politique agraire, ont été cachées dans le concept de “colonisation spontanée” et dans un discours qui présente au paysan comme « héros», «entrepreneur» et «constructeur de patrie», quand il a été obligé par raisons d'ordre économique, juridique et militaire, à entreprendre de nouveaux processus de colonisation forcée. La réponse de la paysannerie à cette dynamique a inclus des résistances de caractère intrasystémique et contre-systémique. Elle n'a jamais décliné à sa lutte par le droit à la terre – qui fait partie de son territoire et considère comme inaliénable - et à son droit d'avoir des droits. En étudiant le cas de la paysannerie de l'Amazonie colombienne, dans cette recherche, nous démontrons que la paysannerie a eu une grande capacité d'affronter les adversités économiques et politiques, et de s’inventer et de se refaire eux-mêmes dans nouveaux espaces. La paysannerie est un sujet social qui a refusé de façon entêtée et permanente, avec ses attitudes et ses actions, à obéir et à être domestiquée par les paramètres de la modernité. Elle s'est refusée à modifier ses dispositions internes et ses manières de voir le monde, son habitus et s’est reconstituée chaque jour dans une modernité qui menace sa subjectivité et son autonomie. La paysannerie formule des projets agro-écologiques, socioéconomiques et d'insertion politique dans un modèle du développement agraire qui insiste de le nier comme sujet avec des droits. / This thesis demonstrates that the Colombian peasantry has been constituted as such, from the construction and implementation of economic and agro-productive practices compatible with the environment; the habitus and costumes that the peasantry itself has invented and recreated in the daily interaction with its family and community; and from the political struggle that it has undertaken not only to demand from the Colombian state its social, territorial and judicial recognition, but also to halt the territorial advance of agrarian businessmen. For these reasons, the Colombian peasantry cannot be considered a conceptual category, a priori constructed, that is a-historically defined as a homogenous social group with the same characteristics at the global level. In their political struggle to defend their territory, the Colombian peasantry has confronted agrarian businessmen who, oriented with an unidirectional logic, and an elitist, exclusive notion of “progress” and “development”, not only have denied the peasantry its territorial, economic, social and cultural rights, but also, in a patrimonial use of the state, have persecuted, stigmatized, and expelled the Colombian peasantry from the political community. The peasantry have confronted a state and a business group that, from the state of exception and their definition of this population group as “obstacles to development” and “enemies of the nation”, have abrogated the right, typical to the classic sovereignties, to decide who can live and who must die. The historical and successive dynamic of territorial expropriation of the peasantry, and the implementation of what is called in this thesis agrarian necro- politics, have been covered up from the concept of “spontaneous colonization” and from the discourse that presents the peasantry as “hero”, “entrepreneur”, “motherland builder”, when the peasantry has been compelled, because of economic, judicial or military reasons, to undertake new processes of forced colonization. The Colombian peasantry, in response to this dynamic, has undertaken intra-systemic and counter-systemic forms of resistance. It has never relented in its struggle for land rights - land that is part of its territory and that is considered inalienable- and for the right to have rights. Studying the case of peasants in the Colombian Amazonian region, it is demonstrated in this research that the Colombian peasantry has great capacity to face economic and political adversities, and to invent and re-do itself in new spaces. Through its attitude and its actions, the peasantry as a social subject has refused, obstinately and continually, to obey and be domesticated for the parameters of modernity. It has resisted against attempts to alter its internal dispositions and ways of seeing the world, its habitus and re-creates itself daily in a modernity that threatens its subjectivity and autonomy. The peasantry puts together agro-ecological, socio-economic and political inclusion projects in the context of an agrarian development model that insists on denying it as a subject with rights. / En esta tesis se demuestra que el campesinado colombiano se ha constituido como tal a partir de la construcción e implementación de prácticas económicas y agro-productivas compatibles con el medio ambiente, de los habitus y costumbres que ha inventado y recreado en la interacción diaria con su familia y comunidad, y desde la lucha política que ha emprendido tanto para exigirle al Estado su reconocimiento social, territorial y jurídico, como para detener el avance territorial de los empresarios agrarios. Por lo tanto, el campesinado no puede ser concebido como una categoría conceptual, a priori construida, que se define de manera a-histórica como un grupo social homogéneo y de iguales características a nivel global. El campesinado colombiano en su lucha política por la defensa del territorio, ha enfrentado a un empresariado agrario que, orientado por una lógica unidireccional, elitista y excluyente de “progreso” y “desarrollo”, no sólo lo ha negado en sus derechos territoriales, económicos, sociales y culturales, sino que además, en un uso patrimonial del Estado, lo ha perseguido, estigmatizado y expulsado de la comunidad política. El campesinado en Colombia ha enfrentado a un Estado y un empresariado que, desde el Estado de Excepción y la declaratoria de este grupo poblacional como “obstáculo del desarrollo” y “enemigo de la nación”, se han abrogado el derecho, propio de las soberanías clásicas, de definir quién puede vivir y quien debe morir. La dinámica histórica y sucesiva de expropiación territorial del campesinado y la implementación de lo que se denomina en esta tesis necro-política agraria, han sido encubiertas desde el concepto de “colonización espontánea” y desde un discurso que presenta al campesinado como “héroe”, “emprendedor” y “constructor de patria”, cuando éste es compelido, por razones de orden económico, jurídico y militar, a emprender nuevos procesos de colonización forzada. El campesinado, en respuesta a esta dinámica, ha incluido resistencias de carácter intra-sistémico y contra-sistémico. Nunca ha declinado a su lucha por el derecho a la tierra –que es parte de su territorio y que considera como inalienable- y por el derecho a tener derechos. Estudiando el caso de campesinos de la Amazonia colombiana, en esta investigación se demuestra que el campesinado ha tenido una gran capacidad para enfrentar las adversidades económicas y políticas, e inventarse y re-hacerse en nuevos espacios. El campesinado es un sujeto social que ha rehusado terca y permanentemente, con sus actitudes y sus acciones, a obedecer y ser domesticado por los parámetros de la modernidad. Se ha resistido a alterar sus disposiciones internas y maneras de ver el mundo, su habitus y se re-constituye cada día en una modernidad que amenaza su subjetividad y su autonomía. El campesinado fórmula proyectos agro-ecológicos, socio-económicos y de inserción política en el marco de un modelo de desarrollo agrario que insiste en negarlo como sujeto con derechos.

Harmonia axyridis is a ladybird native to Asia, but introduced widely as a biocontrol agent. It is invasive and detrimental to native species in North America, which meant its arrival in Britain was met with concern. Establishment was seen as an opportunity to track the spread of an invasive alien species (IAS) whilst also monitoring impacts on native species. The aims of this thesis were to examine the responses of native British ladybirds to the arrival of H. axyridis, to establish the effect of the IAS on native ladybirds when compared to other drivers, and to investigate the possible facilitation of the H. axyridis invasion by natural enemy release. Modelling ladybird distributions with life-history and resource-use traits found that species predatory on a wide range of prey families had larger range sizes than those which ate fewer prey types. This suggests that the wide diet breadth of the IAS is likely to have played a critical role in the species’ rapid spread. Dietary niche overlap between H. axyridis and native ladybirds showed positive correlation with declines of native ladybirds. This indicates that the IAS is playing an important role, but the significance of urbanisation suggests habitat destruction is also significant. Abundance of H. axyridis was influenced by habitat type and aphid abundance, but not by the native ladybird community, suggesting the spread of the IAS will not be slowed by biotic resistance. Harmonia axyridis is attacked by native parasitoids, but at a much lower rate than is the native Coccinella septempunctata, in line with natural-enemy release theory. There was no evidence of attack rate increasing with time since arrival in an area. Overall, H. axyridis is an extremely successful IAS, with detrimental effects on native ladybirds which are likely to continue.

Quelle nation se cache derrière les nations française et américaine ? Aux prises avec la diversité ethnoculturelle de leurs populations, ces deux entités nationales semblent à la fois fortifiées et fragilisées par cette hétérogénéité intrinsèque. Dans ce cadre, la place du droit, source et objet de gestion, se pose avec acuité, ambitionnant l'articulation entre le développement de la nation en tant qu'unité de référence et le respect de la diversité en tant que reconnaissance des identités différenciées. La France et les Etats-Unis, Etats-nations républicains, sont souvent présentés comme deux archétypes ayant engendré des modèles sociaux, politiques et juridiques antagoniques ou en tout cas différents. Toutefois, on peut considérer que loin d'être opposables, les deux pays ont développé une approche juridique similaire de la diversité ethnoculturelle dans le cadre national. L'histoire de la construction nationale dans les deux cadres de référence montre le développement empirique de ces nations avec et par la diversité. Ainsi, en France comme aux Etats-Unis, l'appréhension des différenciations des origines et des statuts des personnes a induit une prise en considération normative, consacrant un ancrage de la diversité dans le système juridique. L'articulation des principes républicains fondateurs des deux nations couplé à la diversité, a généré un système complexe oscillant entre différentialisme et aveuglement aux différences. Néanmoins, l'analyse des référentiels français et américain questionne la nécessité d'une reconnaissance juridique accrue de la diversité ethnoculturelle en tant que condition de l'unité nationale / On observing France and the USA, a question arises: what kind of nation lies behind each? For both, inherent heterogeneousness leads to ethnic and cultural issues which are sources of strength but also of weakness. Here, the law both as a source and a tool appears to accurately link together the nations' development and the respect of diversity. Therefore, when analyzing the French and American models it is necessary to acknowledge within the extents and constraints of the law the ethnocultural diversity as a condition of national unity. France and the USA, who are both nations and republics, are often presented as examples of two specific nations that have created two opposite or at least different models of societies, politics and legal systems. Nevertheless, they do not appear as different when considering their legal models since they have created similar approaches to ethnocultural diversity within a national system. The French and American legal models referring to ethnic and cultural diversity lead us to consider the development of these two nations with and through diversity. The difference of origins and status has led to setting a standard of diversity in the law system. Even if diversity is not a stated constitutional principle, it had become an implicit canon. As one result, the founding republican principles of these two nations have been integrated over the last decade into a complex legal system vacillating between considering and refusing differences. In this sense, we can argue that taking into account diversity helps the improvement of a nation's unity by redefining the social contract

A partir d’un corpus télévisé issu des chaînes publiques hertziennes, cette recherche analyse les modalités discursives de traitement télévisuel des contentieux postcoloniaux,- au cœur des mobilisations afro-antillaises articulées autour de trois pôles de luttes (visibilité, discriminations et reconnaissance mémorielle),- réapparus sous la forme d’une nouvelle «Question noire» française durant les années 2000. Il est question plus précisément d’identifier les régimes de monstration de ces mobilisations dont la mise en débat public révèle leur problématisation éristique, à travers un mode d’accès essentiellement polémique à l’agenda médiatique. Ce mode d’admission télévisuel a pour effet l’exhumation en permanence d’un clivage ethno-racial dans les discours publics et médiatiques. En outre, la monstration se déploie à travers le registre d’une mise en scène symbolique de l’opposition entre deux types de figures médiatiques : d’un côté, les Ultra-républicains, dans le rôle des défenseurs autoproclamés de la république et de l’autre, les figures minoritaires engagées dans les actions de contestation de leur statut en son sein. Enfin, cette étude met au jour le déploiement, d’un côté, des procédures discursives de disqualification du minoritaire et de l’autre, celles liées à la re-légitimation du modèle républicain d’intégration dans le processus de prise en charge publique des contentieux postcoloniaux. Cette thèse est structurée autour de deux parties. La première partie s’ouvre sur l’histoire de la présence afro-antillaise en France. Elle met en exergue, dans un premier chapitre, les fondements historiques de la présence noire hexagonale. La deuxième partie concerne notre enquête sur la monstration des revendications afro-antillaises. Charpentée autour de cinq chapitres, cette partie est consacrée à l’analyse des 38 émissions de notre corpus reparties sur une période de dix ans entre 1998 et 2008. / From a French public channels corpus, this study aims to analize Tv representions of postcolonial contentious issues, in the heart of French Blacks mobilisations which are structured around three mean claims (visibility, discriminations and memory recognition). Describing the will of French Blacks to exist on public sphere, these claims make the historic debate of the “Question noire” reappeared from the 2000s. The research, which intends to question the way in which Afro carribean mobilisations were told and represented on French public television, identifies following major trends. Fisrtly, the television debates analysis underlines an “eristic problematisation” of “Question noire” related issues with essentially polemical media coverage. The result of this type of access to the media agenda is a constant exhumation of an ethnoracial split in media and public discourses. Secondly, Tv coverage analysis reveals a symbolic production of an opposition between two dominant media figures. In one side, the “Ultra-républicains” playing the rôle of self-proclaimed defenders of French republic, and, on the other side, a coalition of minoriy claims defenders. The study, at last, reveals both discourses of disqualification of the minorities, and, discourses of re-legitimation of the French model of integration. This thesis consists of two parts. The first one deals with French Black history. It presents historic reasons of their presence from slavery up to decolonization. The second part explores the representation of postcolonial contentious issues in French public televisions. Structured on five chapters, it proposes a content analysis of our corpus based on 38 broadcasts between 1998 and 2008.

Les journaux des militaires français engagés dans la pacification du Vietnam (1885-1900) ne reprennent pas les stéréotypes du discours colonial. Les manuels scolaires de la Troisième République exaltent au contraire la conquête de l’Indochine et les progrès qui, selon eux, s’ensuivent nécessairement. Il en est de même de la littérature pour la jeunesse qui met de plus l’accent sur l’environnement naturel indochinois propice à tous les rêves et à toutes les aventures. Mais l’opinion publique française a sans doute été avant tout marquée par les nombreuses expositions coloniales où la part des divers pays d’Indochine est de plus en plus importante et culmine à Paris avec la grande exposition coloniale internationale de 1931. C’est notamment dans ce contexte qu’émerge, par delà la prééminence longtemps postulée de l’art khmer, un discours patrimonial nouveau sur la diversité et la spécificité des arts indochinois (annamite, cham, khmer et laotien) qui constituera, avec l’aide des sociétés savantes de la colonie (Ecole Française d’Extrême Orient, Société des Amis du Vieux Hué) l’une des bases du discours touristique colonial naissant. Mais ces représentations de l'Indochine pacifiée, engagée sur la voie de la civilisation et du progrès, sont vite sapées par le flux d'informations concernant les soulèvements populaires vietnamiens de 1930 et leur répression. Les voix des Vietnamiens de France en nombre croissant (étudiants, travailleurs, intellectuels et militants indépendantistes) et celles de grandes figures du reportage (André Viollis convergent alors et ébranlent alors toute l'imagerie coloniale. Toute une production littéraire francophone (pour l'essentiel romanesque et se présentant volontiers comme "indochinoise") avait de longue date -de Jules Boissière à Pouvourville et à Farrère - rompu avec l'imagerie coloniale et son optimisme : satire du "Tonkin où l'on s'amuse" (Pouvourville) et des milieux coloniaux (Farrère, les Civilisés, 1905), constat d'un irréductible attachement des vietnamiens à leur indépendance (Jules Boissière) / The diaries of French soldiers participated in Vietnam’s pacification (1885-1900) did not follow the colonial stereotype perception. . Textbooks of the Third Republic in contrast, exalt the Indochinese conquest and believe in future necessary developments. This is also found in young adult literature which puts more emphasis on Indochinese natural environment for all dreams and adventures. However, the French public opinion was properly primarily marked by numerous colonial expositions where presence of Indochinese countries was more and more important, at peak with the Great international colonial exposition in Paris 1931. Particularly, a new heritage perception on diversity and specificity of Indochinese Art emerges (Annamite, Cham, Khmer and Lao) where Khmer art was dominant for a long time. This perception, with helps of colony’s learning societies (Ecole Française d’Extrême Orient, Société des Amis du Vieux Hué) is one of the major contribution of colonial tourism. However, these representations of pacified Indochina, emberked on the path of civilization and developments, are undetermined quickly by the flow of information about Vietnamese uprising in 1930 and their repressions. The voices of increasing number of Vietnamese in france (students, workers, intellectuals and independant activits) and well-known reporters (Andrée Viollis) then converge and tremble together one coloniale image. Any work of Francophone literature (for essentially romances and considered authors 'Indochinese") for a long time, since Jules Boissière to Pouvourville and until Farrère, has been constrasted with colonial societies (Farrère, Les Civilisés, 1905), finding of an irrefutable attachement between Vietnameseand their independence (Jules Boissière)

This thesis concerns the issues of leadership in the African context, but it derives its emphasis from the stories in Daniel 1–6 in the Old Testament, in order to comment on leadership styles, competencies, skills and the state of leadership in Africa. It is a reading from a specific context, that of someone living in present times in the Republic of Chad. The research focused mainly on the following issues: What can we learn from the stories concerning leadership in Daniel 1–6? Who are the leaders in these chapters? What is the quality of their leadership? In trying to answer these questions, the researcher had to consider the following: How was the book read and interpreted in the past? How is it currently interpreted? Looking at past research, the focus fell on: (1) the pre-critical period, (2) the historical-critical period, and (3) the period in which modern literary studies abound. Following the research history a personal reading and interpretation of the stories in Daniel 1–6 are presented. A narrative analysis is carried out and the plots of the different stories are analysed according to the quinary scheme (the initial situation, the complication, transforming action, the denouement and the final situation). The focus falls on the narrator’s presentation of the main characters and what readers can learn from these stories about leadership. Although there is attention to how scholars in the past and present have interpreted the Book of Daniel, the researcher tries to present a new interpretation by carrying out a contextual reading focusing on leadership. This aspect did not receive much attention in previous research. What is gained by this reading is then applied to the situation in the modern Republic of Chad. First, there is a detailed study of current writing by scholars as well as what they are saying about leadership. Following this, the African and Chadian contexts are considered. The final chapter synthesises all the issues that have been discussed. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / D. Th. (Old Testament)

Text in English / This qualitative study presents an onomastic perspective on the changing linguistic landscape of Zimbabwe which resulted from the post-2000 land reforms (also known as the Third Chimurenga). When veterans of Zimbabwe’s War of Liberation assumed occupancy of former white-owned farms, they immediately pronounced their take-over of the land through changes in place names. The resultant toponymic landscape is anchored in the discourses of the First and Second Chimurenga. Through recasting the Chimurenga (war of liberation) narrative, the proponents of the post-2000 land reforms endeavoured to create a historical continuum from the colonisation of Zimbabwe in 1890 to the post-2000 reforms, which were perceived as an attempt to redress the historical anomaly of land inequality. The aim of this study is to examine toponymic changes on the geo-linguistic landscape, and establish the extent of the changes and the post-colonial identity portrayed by these place names. Within the case study design, research methods included in-depth interviews, document study and observations as means of data generation. Through the application of critical and sociolinguistic theories in the form of post-colonial theory, complemented by geo-semiotics, political semiotics and language ecology, this study uncovers the richness of toponymy in exposing a cryptic social narrative reflective of, among others, contestations of power. The findings indicate that post-2000 toponymy is a complex mixture of pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial place names. These names recast the various narratives in respect of the history of Zimbabwe through the erasure of colonial toponyms and resuscitation older Chimurenga names. The resultant picture portrayed by post-2000 toponymy communicates a complex message of contested land ownership in Zimbabwe. There is a pronounced legacy of colonial toponymy that testifies to the British Imperial occupation of the land and the ideologies behind colonisation. This presence of colonial toponymy many years after independence is an ironic confirmation of the indelible legacy of British colonialism in Zimbabwe. The findings show a clear recasting of the discourses of violence and racial hostility, but also reveal an interesting trend of toponymic syncretism where colonial names are retained and used together with new names. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)