Using criminal court cases of the rape and sexual assault of African women and girls in Bulawayo, 1946-1956, this article focuses on sexual violence and changing African gender dynamics in relation to colonial rule and urbanisation. It centralises African women's lived experiences and strategies of resistance to sexual assault, focusing on how they used the colonial courts. It questions the short and long term gendered and generational ramifications of colonial appropriation of the power to judge and determine punishment for all criminal offences including rape. Central are the multiple battles for the power to define the city, both in terms of behaviour, and in terms of the use of space.
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