How do people use their free time beyond the requirements of production and social reproduction on the farm? How does this contribute to well-being, social cohesion and the ability to live happily in land reform areas?
These are questions not often asked in studies of land reform, but whether people are happy, relaxed, fulfilled and free of stress and anxiety has a huge impact on how they pursue other aspects of their lives.
Our interviews pursued these questions by asking about ‘leisure’ and what this meant to women on the A1 farms across our sites, and how such leisure activities were gendered, with men often having very different and less constrained leisure activities.
This article is from Zimbabweland, a blog written by IDS Research Fellow Ian Scoones. Zimbabweland focuses on issues related to rural livelihoods and land reform in Zimbabwe.