Chasing Freedom

Coming of Age at the End of Empire

By: Simukai Chigudu

An exquisitely crafted memoir, sweeping from Zimbabwe to Oxford, that lays bare the violent, enduring legacy of colonialism on both a country and a family

Simukai Chigudu grew up in the shadow of Africa’s struggles for liberation. As he navigates the tangled threads of personal and political history, he is guided by one central question: What does it mean to be truly free?

Chigudu's father fought in a guerilla war against the white supremacist regime of Rhodesia. He met Chigudu’s mother while in exile in Uganda. After spending seven years apart, they reunite to build a life in newly independent Zimbabwe, hoping to offer their son the opportunities they never had. Yet Chigudu grows up in a world where colonialism never fully ended.

Racism persists: in the elite, white-run prep schools that groom him for life outside of Africa; in the British university where he is the only Black man in his class of 250; and finally as an Oxford professor, where a statue of the man who colonized his homeland—Cecil Rhodes—stands proudly on campus. As Zimbabwe convulses in the aftershocks of empire, facing political turmoil and economic collapse, Chigudu sees a parallel unravelling in his own family. His father, scarred by war, has turned to alcohol; his mother has grown distant and sorrowful.

In this gorgeous and atmospheric family memoir, Chigudu embarks on a quest to understand how the trauma of decolonization has shaped not only his country, but his very identity—as an African, a migrant, a Black man, a doctor, a scholar, and a son. What he discovers is that colonization is a potent force that continues to upend lives and institutions. Chasing Freedom is an intimate reckoning with the ghosts of the past that haunt our politics and our psyches in ways we can’t always see.

Critic reviews

“In Chasing Freedom, Simukai Chigudu seamlessly blends the history of African colonization and the jagged paths to independence with the story of his remarkable family. But this book is so much more. It is also the story of those for whom these massive global transformations were mere backdrops for growing up across continents, cultures, and agendas—of those children of African liberation now empowered to remake the world that colonialism made.”—Louis Chude-Sokei, author of Floating in a Most Peculiar Way

“A fascinating memoir, both intimate and epic, which will teach you more about the legacies of colonialism than a hundred op-eds, or a dozen textbooks.”—Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland

“A deeply personal and moving exploration of the intersections of history, identity, and belonging. From the author’s journey as a Zimbabwean navigating the elite halls of Oxford to his reckoning with the legacies of colonialism, family trauma, and personal ambition, this book is a raw and unflinching account of the search for self amid the burdens of the past.”—Peter Godwin, author of When a Crocodile Eats the Sun

“In this remarkable memoir, Simukai Chigudu unravels the meanings—both world-historical and personal—of colonialism, history, and liberation. Chasing Freedom is a work of real power and beauty, as well as disarming truthfulness.”—Amia Srinivasan, author of The Right to Sex

“What does it mean to be truly free from the burdens of the past? Simukai Chigudu’s masterful and intimate memoir makes essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the ways in which the legacies of empire ricochet through the generations continuing to shape individual lives.”—Aminatta Forna, author of The Devil That Danced on the Water

“The voice of this memoir is utterly captivating, witty, and fiercely intelligent. Chasing Freedom is a finely observed, gripping account of growing up in Zimbabwe and building a life in Britain, told with such clarity and precision that I forgot I was reading. It is warm but unsparing, a powerful reckoning with family, country, history, and the yearning to understand oneself in the rarefied spaces far from home.”—Dina Nayeri, author of The Ungrateful Refugee

“Simukai Chigudu’s Chasing Freedom is a raw and moving memoir—a complicated, engrossing, and, ultimately, brilliant portrait of a family navigating the minefields of the postcolonial world.”—Jonny Steinberg, author of Winnie and Nelson