Zambia

Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier

Thomas Wolfe's trusted axiom about not being able to go home again gets a compelling spin through the African veldt in Alexandra Fuller's Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier. Fuller (Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight : An African Childhood) journeys through modern Zambia, to battlefields in Zimbabwe and Mozambique with the scarred veteran of the Rhodesian Wars she identifies only as "K." Intrigued by the mysterious neighbor of her parent's Zambian fish farm and further enticed by her father's warning that "curiosity scribbled the cat" ("scribbling" is Afrikaans slang for "killing"), Fuller embarks on a journey that covers as much cratered psychic landscape as it does African bush country. Though she and "K" are both African by family roots rather than blood, she quickly discovers that 30 years of civil war have scarred them--and the indigenous peoples they encounter--in markedly different ways. "K" is a figure of monumental tragedy, a decent man torn by war-fueled rage, a failed marriage, and painful memories of an only son lost to tropical disease. His adopted Christianity offers him only partial absolution, and Fuller details his gut-wrenching confessions of quarter-century old atrocities with compassion and rare insight. Her prose liberally salted with a rich, melange of Afrikaans and local Shona slang, Fuller nonetheless struggles with a narrative whose turns are often unexpected, yet driven by humanity. There's a clear sense that the author's fitful journey into the past with "K" has opened as many wounds as it has healed, and spawned more questions than it has answered. It's that discomfort and frustration that often reinforces the honesty of her prose--and reinforces Thomas Wolfe's adage yet again. --Jerry McCulley

With the same disarmingly unguarded prose that won her critical acclaim for Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller tells of her unusual friendship with “K”—a white African and veteran of the brutal, racially divided Rhodesian War. An engrossing and haunting tale of love, godliness, hate, war, and survival, Scribbling the Cat recounts the journey she makes with K into the lands that hold the scars of their war, from Zambia through Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and into Mozambique. Driven by memories, they venture deeper into the countries’ remote bush, where they encounter other veterans and survivors and confront the demons of K’s past: a violent war marked by racial strife, jungle battles, torture, and the murdering of innocent civilians.

James and the Duck: Tales of the Rhodesian Bush War (1964 - 1980)

A very different tongue-in-cheek personal account about a forgotten war. Between 1964 and 1980 Rhodesian men from all walks of life left their families and jobs to fight for their country. They were farmers, bankers, railwaymen, shopkeepers, miners and even Members of Parliament, who every six weeks, changed their soft civilian life for battle dress, rifles and grenades. These are their stories. It's not really about war heroes. It's more about bluestone charged, but still lustful troops coping with fighting terrorists, boredom, longing, fear and death. All this set against the background of Africa's sweltering heat, annoying insects, dangerous animals and venomous snakes. Definitely not for the faint-hearted. The reader will meet a long suffering prisoner-of-war, infantry soldiers, helicopter gunship pilots, tribesmen, pompous army officers, mercenaries and even a duck. Some of the personal incidents will have you laughing and crying at the same time. No matter how you view the Rhodesian Bush War, you will enjoy the humour and at times satire and even sadness of this true account of how men coped with the horrors and hardships of war.

Dead Leaves: Two Years in the Rhodesian War

Rhodesians Never Die (State and Democracy Series)

This book tells the story of how White Rhodesians, three-quarters of whom were ill- prepared for revolutionary change, reacted to the "terrorist" war and the onset of black rule in the 1970s. It shows how internal divisions--both old and new--undermined the supposed unity of White Rhodesia, how most Rhodesians begrudgingly accepted the inevitability of black majority rule without adjusting to its implications, and how the self- appointed defenders of Western civilization sometimes adopted uncivilized methods of protecting the "Rhodesian way of life." This is a lively and accessible account, based on careful archival research and numerous personal interviews. It sets out to tell the story from the inside and to incorporate the diverse dimensions of the Rhodesian experience. The authors suggest that the Rhodesians were more differentiated than has often been assumed and that perhaps their greatest fault was an almost infinite capacity for self- delusion.

Basic Facts on Zambia

Zambia is a landlocked country in Central/Southern Africa, surrounded by eight neighbours. From the Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River to the southern shores of Lake Tanganyika in the north, and from Chipata in the east to Kalabo in the west, Zambia is a country of a variety of ecological zones, shaped by plateaus and escarpments, valleys, and hills. The country is donned with a variety of forests and other forms of vegetation, drained by small and large rivers, and endowed with lakes and swamps filled with over 120 fish species and blessed with an abundant wildlife ranging from the largest, the elephant to the smallest buck. In between are Buffalos, Giraffes, Rhino, various Bucks and carnivore- the Lion, Leopard and Hyeana. With it 19 Game Parks and 31 Game areas. For those who love birds, there are over 720 species. Zambia offers one of the best tourist destinations to see wild life in its pristine environment by joining walking safaris, drive -in or from observation points. From the rushing waters of the mighty Zambezi River, home of the mighty Victoria Falls and the envy of rafters, to the blue calm waters of the Lakes Mweru, Bangweulu and Tanganyika in the north, Zambia offers opportunities to the tourist to enjoy a memorable visit to the various parts of the country. In the coming year, 2005, Zambia will observe three important events: the 150th anniversary of the sighting of the Victoria Falls by Dr. David Livingston recorded on 16 November 1855; the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Livingston, the tourist capital by the administration of North West Rhodesia and later served as the capital of Northern Rhodesia until moved to Lusaka in 1935; and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dag Hammerskjoed, the former Secretary General who died in a plane crash outside Ndola, whilst on a peace mission to resolve the Congo crisis. Zambia is an oasis of peace and tranquility, the sanctuary for many refugees, and a country imbued with a democratic tradi

Makishi: Mask Characters of Zambia (Fowler in Focus)

In Makishi: Mask Characters of Zambia, Manuel Jordán reveals the beauty and complexity of the remarkable masquerade traditions of the Chokwe, Mbunda, Lunda, Lwena/Luvale, and Luchazi peoples who live in the “Three Corners” region of northwestern Zambia, northeastern Angola, and southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The distinct yet overlapping mask types and styles used by these groups reflect their continual interaction and demonstrate the constant reformulation of visual and performance genres. Relations among peoples of the “Three Corners” are further complicated by recent refugee flows, and the masquerades that Jordán considers and vividly illustrates in his field photographs reflect histories of compromise and creative tension, as well as contemporary struggles for survival. While exquisite masks drawn from the Fowler Museum's collections demonstrate long use, Jordán shows how new characters can be created within earlier categories, so that basic dramatic plots are preserved while reference is made to new technologies, foreign encounters, and the dynamics of social interaction in a rapidly changing world. In many ways, as the author astutely argues, the masks are a performative mechanism used to explain, cope with, and, often enough, celebrate life's most difficult transitions and transformations. Makishi vibrantly documents the ability of theater to perpetuate tradition while providing an adaptive leading edge.

Rhodesian Memories

Here is a collection of stories, poems, anecdotes and cartoons all with a Rhodesian flavour. These are stories about Rhodesians and are written by them in many cases. Each one reflects a facet of life in a country that now no longer exists, except in the memory of those who made it. They reflect Pride, Humour, Remorse and Melancholy. Travel with them, back through time, and see who you can remember!

The Fractured Community: Landscapes of Power and Gender in Rural Zambia (Perspectives on Southern Africa , No 54)

This study examines the lives of the women and men living in two small rural communities in Zambia on the eve of the collapse of the one-party state in the 1980s. Moving beyond the limits of traditional ethnography, Kate Crehan traces the often complex ways in which local, day-to-day realities are linked to wider economic, political, imaginative structures of power beyond northwestern Zambia.
Drawing on extensive fieldwork, Crehan examines economics and gender, politics and kin relations, state and local relations, and witchcraft. Situating her data within a sophisticated yet accessible theoretical framework, she uncovers the power relations that have shaped and defined these communities. Among Crehan's theoretical contributions is a deft argument for the use of Antonio Gramsci's notion of hegemony to analyze ordinary life.
This examination of a marginalized, rural society throws unexpected light on some of the concrete realities of capitalism in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. It also provides inspiring examples of how complicated theoretical viewpoints can be translated--without simplification--into clear starting points for research.

Nachituti's Gift: Economy, Society, and Environment in Central Africa (Africa and the Diaspora)

Nachituti’s Gift challenges conventional theories of economic development with a compelling comparative case study of inland fisheries in Zambia and Congo from pre- to postcolonial times. Neoclassical development models conjure a simple, abstract progression from wealth held in people to money or commodities; instead, Gordon argues, primary social networks and oral charters like “Nachituti’s Gift” remained decisive long after the rise of intensive trade and market activities. Interweaving oral traditions, songs, and interviews as well as extensive archival research, Gordon’s lively tale is at once a subtle analysis of economic and social transformations, an insightful exercise in environmental history, and a revealing study of comparative politics.

The press in Zambia: The development, role, and control of national newspapers in Zambia, 1906-1983