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Historical and Ethnographical Publications in the Vernaculars of Colonial Zambia: Missionary Contribution to the 'Creation of Tribalism'

Macola, Giacomo (2003) Historical and Ethnographical Publications in the Vernaculars of Colonial Zambia: Missionary Contribution to the 'Creation of Tribalism'. Journal of Religion in Africa, 33 (4). pp. 343-364. ISSN 0022-4200. E-ISSN 1570-0666. (doi:10.1163/157006603322665305) (Access to this publication is currently restricted. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:7556)

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Abstract

This essay examines the chronology and attributes of literate ethno-history in Northern Rhodesia. While the earliest published authors were invariably members of missionary societies whose evangelical policies were predisposed towards the christianization of local chieftaincies, the expansion and Africanization of vernacular historiography from the late 1930s owed much to the intervention of the colonial government in the publishing sphere. A survey of their contents shows that vernacular histories and ethnographies mirrored the preconceptions and preoccupations typical of the times of their composition. By placing these texts in the political and economic context of the colony, and by providing new data on their wide circulation among literate Africans, the article contends that published ethno-histories were one of the principal cultural components of the process of crystallization of ethnic identities in the middle and late colonial era.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1163/157006603322665305
Subjects: D History General and Old World
D History General and Old World > DT Africa
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User: Giacomo Macola
Date Deposited: 09 Sep 2008 16:57 UTC
Last Modified: 09 Mar 2023 11:29 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/7556 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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