Summary In this article, I discuss different interpretations of Zimbabwean land in relation to the contradictory notions of victimhood in Peter Godwin’s memoir When a Crocodile Eats the Sun. I also explore the concepts of race, landownership and redress in relation to the legacy of colonialism in Zimbabwe. Through the use of the Cultural Interpretive Theory, Genre Theory and the Theories of Autobiographies, I explore how the politics of victimhood are used by both the Black Nationalist elites and the alienated White citizens to project the essence of ethno-racial grievance before local and international audiences for different ideological and political objectives. I show how the politics of victimhood and retribution which engender feelings of resentment and betrayal in Godwin’s memoir play into the hands of the Zimbabwe state’s anti-Western and anti-Imperialist propaganda. I argue that Godwin’s otherwise important memoir on the destructive effects of Mugabe’s rule undermined its message through traces of “whiteness”, and also by competing on the same turf of victimhood that a politically discredited state had constructed for its own preservation. In the article, I suggest alternative readings of the Mugabe regime’s violent farm grabs to the rather one-dimensional one offered by the memoir.

中文翻译：

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当鳄鱼吃掉太阳时，彼得·戈德温的土地、种族和受害者

总结 在本文中，我讨论了与彼得·戈德温 (Peter Godwin) 的回忆录《鳄鱼吃掉太阳时》(When a Crocodile Eats Sun) 中相互矛盾的受害者概念相关的津巴布韦土地的不同解释。我还探讨了与津巴布韦殖民主义遗产相关的种族、土地所有权和补偿的概念。通过使用文化解释理论、体裁理论和自传理论，我探索了黑人民族主义精英和疏远的白人公民如何利用受害者政治来向当地和国际投射民族种族不满的本质不同意识形态和政治目标的受众。我展示了戈德温回忆录中产生怨恨和背叛感的受害者和报复政治如何在津巴布韦国家的反西方和反帝国主义宣传中发挥作用。我认为，戈德温关于穆加贝统治的破坏性影响的其他重要回忆录通过“白人”的痕迹破坏了它的信息，并且还通过在政治上名誉扫地的国家为自己的保护而建立的受害者的同一地盘上竞争。在这篇文章中，我建议对穆加贝政权的暴力掠夺农场进行替代阅读，而不是回忆录提供的相当一维的阅读。并且还通过在政治上名誉扫地的国家为自己的保护而建立的受害者的同一地盘上竞争。在这篇文章中，我建议对穆加贝政权的暴力掠夺农场进行替代阅读，而不是回忆录提供的相当一维的阅读。并且还通过在政治上名誉扫地的国家为自己的保护而建立的受害者的同一地盘上竞争。在这篇文章中，我建议对穆加贝政权的暴力掠夺农场进行替代阅读，而不是回忆录提供的相当一维的阅读。