In 2012, workers building on a dam in Zimbabwe all walked off the job in protest of unsafe working conditions. What made this story international news was that the workplace danger was mermaids. This week, we discuss the spiritual significance of the njuzu, or the mermaid in Shona indigenous religion, how the country’s troubled history of colonialism informs this belief, and what it all has to do with a massive religious revival in the early 1990s.
Bonus: The Imperial Gaze in western paranormal podcasts
Thanks to Ian Lee for the Creepy Internationale theme song and here is that video about Mermaids in Zimbabwe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1o8lVP8fmI