The Relationship between Literacy and Violence: Evidence from Selected Political Areas in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The youth in Zimbabwe post-independence have never engaged in large-scale political violence as a response to poor governance and other social and economic ills as would happen in other countries. Various implicit theories and qualitative studies attribute this to literacy and economic empowerment. The study therefore sought to validate the assumptions and possibly establish the relationship between literacy and the youths’ propensity to engage in political violence. The research adopted a survey approach using 200 questionnaires. Participants were drawn from Mashonaland East province, Mashonaland Central province and Harare. The study focused on the Zimbabwe 2013 General election era. Analysis of data was conducted using ‘Framework’ approach. The study could not qualitatively establish any direct relationship between literacy and political violence especially on the sample in Zimbabwe. There were other factors that contributed to violence.