“Trust Matsilele’s Social Media and Digital Dissidence in Zimbabwe offers a highly recommended, complex and original genealogy of dissidence, situating it in the longue durée of representations of dissidence – ranging from folklore to political discourse. For Matsilele, dissidence is principally about restoring hunhu orhumanity. Moving beyond the technological determinism of naïve celebrations of social media’s onslaught on the postcolonial state, this book provides a nuanced and deeply contextualized account of how social media shapes and is shaped by histories of dissidence.”— Wendy Willems, Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
This book proposes a new theorisation when studying cyber dissidents in an African digital sphere. It argues that social media dissidents are a recent development in a long lineage of dissidents in African societies. Using Zimbabwe as a case study, the study locates contemporary dissidents in the same family with other historical dissident figures found in African orature, the Chimurenga wars, through music, poetry and other forms of expression. The book argues against techno-deterministic approaches to studying social media-born digital dissidence in Africa. It is aimed at scholars dedicated to studying social media movements in African contexts and the global south generally, prompting them to re-evaluate their earlier conclusions and adopt a more nuanced and contextspecific approach.
Dr Trust Matsilele is Senior Lecturer in the Media and Public Relations department at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa, and a fellow of CPUT’s Centre for Communication Studies. He has published extensively in peer reviewed edited books and journals. His research cuts across disciplines such as social media, protest cultures, journalism and education. He is also a former senior journalist with Forbes Africa magazine and CNBC Africa and is regularly featured as a political analyst and social commentator in the media.

“Trust Matsilele’s compellingly and masterfully written book should be read by anyone interested in expanding their theoretical ideas on digital dissidence. If it doesn’t broaden your insights on this increasingly important academic area of research, then nothing else will.”—Bruce Mutsvairo, Professor and Chair of Media, Politics and the Global South, Utrecht University, Netherlands
“Social Media and Digital Dissidence in Zimbabwe provides a unique take on the complexities of dissidence in the social media age. The combined historicization, theorization, and empirical analysis of dissidence done by Matsilele makes the book a compelling read.”—Dr. Obert Hodzi, Lecturer of Politics, University of Liverpool, UK
“This book is a surreal engagement. Pulsating with passion to cultivate new publics of freedom, the book will surely send Zimbabwe’s politicalmatadors composed of the vile and newly consecrated petty and fulltime ‘authoritarians’ to the river to fetch water with a basket! In a Zimbabwean nation constructed upon enforced amnesia, Digital Dissidence is the condition of possibility to repossess voices of conscience and self-reflexivity by freedom-loving Zimbabweans, from the ‘republic of the muting’. Social Media and Digital Dissidence is like the Zimbabwe people’s freedman’s bible, where previously chopped tongues are regenerating themselves, defying the tyrant’s machete. This book is an intellectual icon, a good omen and I recommend every man and woman with self-respect and a love for mental freedom to travel the book’s routes, discover its roots, and embody its spirit."—Maurice Taonezvi Vambe, Professor of African Literature at the University of South Africa, South Africa, and Author of Genocide in African Fiction (2022)
“Trust Matsilele’s Social Media and Digital Dissidence in Zimbabweoffers a highly recommended, complex and original genealogy of dissidence, situating it in the longue durée of representations of dissidence—ranging from folklore to political discourse. For Matsilele, dissidence is principally about restoring hunhu or humanity. Moving beyond the technological determinism of naïve celebrations of social media’s onslaught on the postcolonial state, this book provides a nuanced and deeply contextualized account of how social media shapes and is shaped by histories of dissidence.”—Wendy Willems, Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
“In the burgeoning scholarly work on digital media and political activism in Africa, Dr Matsilele’s new book stands out for its candid articulation of the notion of digital dissidence in Zimbabwe. This monograph paints a complex picture of the myriad ways in which Africans challenge power and its abuse, and the mediating roledigital ecologies play in the process. It is a fine, timely read.”—Wallace Chuma, Associate Professor of Media Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa, and Editor of African Journalism Studies
“Matsilele’s offering delves into the new and ever-growing phenomenon of dissidence journalism in Zimbabwe. This is a theoretically profound analysis, especially in relation to the dissidence in the contest of and for Zimbabwe that has mutated from various forms and currently subsists in the digital world, even with offline expressions and consequences.”—Shepherd Mpofu, Associate Professor of Media Studies, University of Limpopo, South Africa
“Trust Matsilele, an experienced journalist turned academic, has written an interesting book which unpacks the emergence, and metamorphosis of “digital dissidence” in the Zimbabwean context. Whilst the term “dissidence” has negative connotations in various contexts, when floating signifiers like “patriots” and “sellouts” are unproblematically deployed to rationalise who gets what, when and how, Matsilele has demonstrated the social embeddedness of dissidence in various historical epochs, including its recent reincarnation in the digital age.”—Admire Mare, Associate Professor of Media Studies, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Proposes a new theorization when studying cyber dissidents in an African digital sphere Argues that social media dissidents are a recent development in a long lineage of dissidents in African societies Uses Zimbabwe as a case study

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