Corruption, migration and the Zimbabwean nation: John Eppel'sHatchings

Abstract

The paper examines the link John Eppel's Hatchings establishes between migration and organized crime through its representation of an immigrant community as a virus that infects the body of the newly independent Zimbabwean nation. It argues that with the inclusion in his text of refugees, expatriate teachers and researchers, Eppel has constructed Zimbabwe in the image of the postmodern nation expounded by Bhabha, without necessarily subscribing to all its characteristics. The paper discusses a number of issues Eppel explores in his novel, including the involvement of the foreign contingent in the Zimbabwean underworld and the nature of the moral, political and academic aspirations which take Western academics and aid workers to Third-World countries. It contends, however, that while a critique of the so-called Third-Worldism of Western leftist institutions appears consistent with the thrust of the novel, the reductive characterization of its migrant characters only reinforces stereotypes about foreigners which dominate our often xenophobic society.