https://naturalsciences.unza.zm/index.php/zjh/issue/feed 2023-09-04T14:35:45+00:00 Euston Kasongo Chiputa ekachiputa@unza.zm Open Journal Systems The Zambia Journal of History (ZJH) is a double – blind peer – reviewed journal published in English twice a year. It is published by the Department of Historical and Archaeological Studies of the University of Zambia with the goal of promoting dissemination of knowledge. ZJH is published on an open – access platform. Online ISSN 3005-4532 and Print ISSN 1815-025X https://naturalsciences.unza.zm/index.php/zjh/article/view/1067 2023-08-31T11:15:28+00:00 Meldad L. Chama cmeldad@gmail.com Terry Kanyembo cmeldad@gmail.com

Lunda history is not short of reference to women. The marriage between a Lunda queen (Ruweji) and a Luba prince (Cibinda Ilunga) revolutionised precolonial central Africa by merging two dominant political and cultural systems in Central Africa. Arguably, this revolution which led to the first de facto Lunda expansion was caused by a woman, Ruweji. The power of women in Lunda historiography is evident in the making, expansion and sometimes undoing of the Eastern Lunda kingdom of Mwata Kazembe. Kafuti or Nakafwaya is the most respected Lunda queen whose reign coincided with the most tumultuous period in the history of Mwata Kazembe. Marrying five brothers (four being successive Mwata Kazembes-Lunda Kings) was not a simple feat. Notorious, beautiful, sexy and flirtatious, and a master political and military strategist, Nakafwaya’s role in reinverting the Lunda Kingdom of Mwata Kazembe between 1850 and 1900 needs reassessing. The role of women in power brokering and consolidation, and the woman’s ‘flirting’ with power in traditional Lunda society is the main theme in this paper. The article demonstrates that Nakafwaya’s ascension to the Lunda throne gave her real power because the Lunda power structures allowed women to exercise both symbolic and real power. Other positions of power for women in Lunda society will also be discussed. The article reconstructed the status of women in traditional Lunda society by using oral information and the genetic method. That is, by understanding the Mwadiship (Queenship), from its origins to the times of Kafuti, we will illuminate on ‘women and power’ in pre-colonial eastern Lunda society. Thus, the evolution of the Mwadiship will also be understood by placing it within the times or realities and actions of Nakafwaya.

2023-08-31T10:57:46+00:00 ##submission.copyrightStatement## https://naturalsciences.unza.zm/index.php/zjh/article/view/1069 2023-09-04T13:25:16+00:00 Daniel Daliso Phiri manasseh.mwansa@unza.zm

A conflict which started between Austria and Serbia,on 28 June 1914, turned into the First World War on 28 July 1914 as aggressors started summoning their allies. Later in 1914, warring states called upon their colonies to service the fighting. By December 1914, Africa had joined the war on the side of respective colonial masters. It was in this context that Abercorn (now Mbala) district, a northerly district of Northern Rhodeisa (Zambia) that bordered German Tanganyika (Tanzania) got involved in the First World War on behalf of Britain, its colonial master. The war situation faced by the British in Abercorn required collective effort of not only the imperial force but also the local people to fight the Germans. As a result, the British used various ways in the district to enlist the local people into the war. The geographical location of Abercorn made it inevitable for the district to be involved in the fighting.To a large extent, the British used local chiefs, propaganda, coercion and incentives to recruit the local people for war services. This work demonstrates that Africans did not join the colonial army purely due to government propaganda, but that they also had their own reasons for doing so such as desire to earn money and learn how to operate a gun. In this manner, the article brings to the fore the aspect of African agency in the enlistment process. It is also argued that not all Africans buttressed the British war aims as groups such as the Watch Tower Society were subversive towards the recruitment of the local people for war service in the district.

2023-09-04T13:25:15+00:00 ##submission.copyrightStatement## https://naturalsciences.unza.zm/index.php/zjh/article/view/1070 2023-09-04T13:49:15+00:00 Mutale T. Mazimba mazimbakaunda@yahoo.com

Studies have been done on African soldiers in former British colonies such as Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Nyasaland (Nyasaland) and South Africa. However, Northern Rhodesia has remained largely outside the scope of historical studies. Therefore, Northern Rhodesia’s important role in the First World War has received little attention. This article, therefore, highlights the incorporation of Northern Rhodesia’s askari (soldiers) into what was essentially a European war. In this way, it attempts to decolonise the history of the First World War which has viewed African theatres as marginal and unimportant on the global scale. It also brings out the experiences of Africans in this global war and their reactions to these experiences. The article uses the rich primary data in archives and museums in Zambia. It argues that Northern Rhodesia was an important player in the East Africa campaign; its soldiers had negative experiences in the war and reacted in various ways to these experiences. This article highlights the wider importance of African colonial troops to the Allied war effort.

2023-09-04T13:49:15+00:00 ##submission.copyrightStatement## https://naturalsciences.unza.zm/index.php/zjh/article/view/1071 2023-09-04T14:00:48+00:00 Thokozile Shaba thokozileshaba26@yahoo.com

This article examines how the Zambian government responded to the Mushala rebellion in North Western Province between 1976 and 1990. The Mushala rebellion was the consequence of Mushala’s dissatisfaction with President Kaunda’s one-party system, which limited political opposition by force or coercion. His insurgence was also fuelled by Kaunda’s refusal to accord Mushala the position of Director of Game and Fisheries. He was further dissatisfied with what he perceived as government’s failure to fulfil the people’s expectations of national and economic development. In particular, Mushala was infuriated with the marginalisation of the people of North Western Province, a situation he attributed to government’s failure to develop the province. He also wanted political power. The article investigates the strategies and measures the government enacted to contain the rebellion and the challenges it faced in suppressing the revolt. The article argues that the government adopted a two-pronged strategy aimed at winning the cooperation of the local people in its efforts to track down the insurgents, while simultaneously using coercive measures to suppress the rebellion. The article concludes that this strategy was not without its problems. The use of coercive measures, for example, alienated the local population from the government. The locals were thus unwilling to provide critical intelligence about Mushala’s activities. This contributed to the government’s failure to end the rebellion speedily.

2023-09-04T14:00:48+00:00 ##submission.copyrightStatement## https://naturalsciences.unza.zm/index.php/zjh/article/view/1072 2023-09-04T14:15:10+00:00 Mary Mbewe marymbewemazimba@gmail.com

This essay narrates the biography of one migrant labourer in interwar Northern Rhodesia (modern Zambia), which he shared with social anthropologist Godfrey Wilson in vivid detail when he was Wilson’s language tutor in Livingstone in 1938 and again when they met in Broken Hill in 1939-1940. The essay presents Xavier Kofie’s recollections of growing up in Kasama and Mpika in the Northern Province of Northern Rhodesia, being educated at a succession of mission schools until the level of Standard Three, and then of his working life, successively in Mazabuka, Lusaka, Wankie and Livingstone as research assistant to an agricultural officer, farm worker, cobbler, court messenger, football player and mission school teacher. In addition, the notebook record contains in much greater detail the story of his three months of intensive daily work in Livingstone teaching Wilson iciBemba and sharing often remarkably incisive sociological insights about African migrant labourers in Northern Rhodesia. Although partial and incomplete due to the limits of the archive present Xavier Kofie’s life history as emblematic of the experiences of migrant labourers in colonial Northern Rhodesia. I view his life history through his interaction with the anthropologist. Thus, this essay also reflects the relationship between an African informant and an anthropologist in interwar Northern Rhodesia. It demonstrates how multi-lingual collaboration was crucial to the work of anthropologists and underscores the need for more studies on relationships between ‘professional’ anthropologists and research assistants like Xavier Kofie.

2023-09-04T14:15:09+00:00 ##submission.copyrightStatement## https://naturalsciences.unza.zm/index.php/zjh/article/view/1073 2023-09-04T14:35:45+00:00 Mwansa Mulenga mwansa1116@gmail.com

This article examines the impact of national agricultural strategies and programmes formulated, modified and implemented by the Zambian government in Gwembe District. Using both primary and secondary data, the article demonstrates that despite the various agricultural strategies and programmes implemented in Gwembe, the impact was negligible due to persistent crop failure resulting from droughts and other ecological limitations, failure of parastatals tasked with disbursement of credit, and other services as well as inadequate agricultural storage facilities.

2023-09-04T14:28:18+00:00 ##submission.copyrightStatement##