War and migration in the White African tropics: Lauren St John’s 'Rainbow’s End'

Article

Gehrmann, Richard and Hammersley-Mather, Rachel. 2016. "War and migration in the White African tropics: Lauren St John’s 'Rainbow’s End'." eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics. 15 (2), pp. 30-41.
Article Title

War and migration in the White African tropics: Lauren St John’s 'Rainbow’s End'

ERA Journal ID41572
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsGehrmann, Richard (Author) and Hammersley-Mather, Rachel (Author)
Journal TitleeTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics
Journal Citation15 (2), pp. 30-41
Number of Pages12
Year2016
PublisherJames Cook University
Place of PublicationCairns, Australia
ISSN1448-2940
Web Address (URL)https://journals.jcu.edu.au/etropic/index
Abstract

This article explores voyage and migration in tropical Africa through Lauren St John’s Rainbow’s End, a memoir contributing to debates of white African identity that now include more contemporary renditions of identity in female self-reflective accounts differing markedly from masculine perspectives. In her coming-of-age memoir, St John chronicles her experiences of a privileged 1970s white Rhodesian society at war, and her gradual awareness of racial inequalities that transformed her into a white Zimbabwean. St John’s account of white settler identity and racial difference gives us insights into a day in the African tropics, and furthermore speaks to those in other settler countries such as Australia who are debating colonial history and identity, and who are often uncomfortable with aspects of their own settler past.

Keywordswhite African, war, memory, Zimbabwe, Rhodesia, tropics
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020439999. Other history, heritage and archaeology not elsewhere classified
470299. Cultural studies not elsewhere classified
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Byline AffiliationsInternational Studies
SEED, Madagascar
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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