INDIGENOUS CAPITALIST INFLUENCES ON HIGHER EDUCATION IN ZIMBABWE

The implementation of indigenization and black empowerment policies in Zimbabwe has failed to bring positive changes to the crisis-ridden higher education sector. This paper defines indigenization as the domestication of Western neoliberal principles by elite nationalists. A close study of the privatization and marketization processes being introduced in universities unmasks economic aspects of indigenization as neoliberalism. Utilizing expositions from a critical interpretive case study that involved students, faculty and administrators, this article argues that the existing challenges in higher education reveal the pitfalls of elitedriven indigenization. The anti-colonial analyses employed serve to confirm critical observations of the myth of independence, and the emerging themes/findings serve to indicate the new local forms of colonialism. The conclusions have important implications for research, policy-making and practice in higher education not only in Zimbabwe but also in other societies still struggling to be democratic. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]