The Objects of Life in Central Africa Afrika-Studiecentrum Series Editorial Board Dr Piet Konings (African Studies Centre, Leiden) Dr Paul Mathieu (FAO-SDAA, Rome) Prof. Deborah Posel (University of Cape Town) Prof. Nicolas van de Walle (Cornell University, USA) Dr Ruth Watson (Clare College, Cambridge) VOLUME 30 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/asc The Objects of Life in Central Africa The History of Consumption and Social Change, 1840–1980 Edited by Robert Ross Marja Hinfelaar Iva Peša LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013 Cover illustration: Returning to village, Livingstone, Photograph by M.J. Morris, Leya, 1933 (Source: Livingstone Museum). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The objects of life in Central Africa : the history of consumption and social change, 1840-1980 / edited by Robert Ross, Marja Hinfelaar and Iva Pesa. pages cm. -- (Afrika-studiecentrum series ; volume 30) Includes index. ISBN 978-90-04-25490-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-90-04-25624-8 (e-book) 1. Material culture-- Africa, Central. 2. Economic anthropology--Africa, Central. 3. Africa, Central--Commerce--History. 4. Africa, Central--History I. Ross, Robert, 1949 July 26- II. Hinfelaar, Marja. III. Pesa, Iva. GN652.5.O24 2013 306.3--dc23 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1570-9310 ISBN 978-90-04-25490-9 (paperback) ISBN 978-90-04-25624-8 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. 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This book is printed on acid-free paper. <UN> <UN> In memory of Gertie Janssen <UN> <UN> CONTENTS List of Illustrations ...................................................................................................ix List of Contributors ..................................................................................................xi Introduction: Material Culture and Consumption Patterns: A Southern African Revolution .........................................................................1 Robert Ross, Marja Hinfelaar and Iva Peša PART I PRE-COLONIAL TRADE AND FIREARMS Wearing Cloth, Wielding Guns: Consumption, Trade, and Politics in the South Central African Interior during the Nineteenth Century .......................................................................................... 17 David M. Gordon The Role of Firearms in the Songye Region (1869–1960) ............................. 41 Donatien Dibwe Dia Mwembu PART II MIGRANCY, MOBILITY AND INNOVATION Sipilingas: Intraregional African Initiatives and the United Methodist Church in Katanga and Zambia, 1910–1945 ............................ 67 J. Jeffrey Hoover ‘Walking Home Majestically’: Consumption and the Enactment of Social Status among Labour Migrants from Barotseland, 1935–1965 .............................................................................................................. 93 Michael Barrett Railways, Railway Culture, and ‘Industrial Work Discipline’ in the Rhodesias ....................................................................................................115 Kenneth P. Vickery <UN> viii contents PART III ADVERTISING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP Advertising, Consuming Manufactured Goods and Contracting Colonial Hegemony on the Zambian Copperbelt, 1945–1964 ..............143 Walima T. Kalusa Fabricating Dreams: Sewing Machines, Tailors, and Urban Entrepreneurship in Zambia ........................................................................167 Karen Tranberg Hansen PART IV TRADERS Indian Traders as Agents of Western Technological Consumption and Social Change in Mukuni: Memories of the Sharma Brothers’ Trading Store, 1950s to 1964 .............................189 Friday Mufuzi The Social and Economic Impact of the Fort Jameson (Chipata) Indians on the Development of Chipata District, 1899–1973 ............................................................................................................215 Bizeck J. Phiri Business, Consumption and Politics: Robinson Nabulyato’s Banamwaze Store, 1949–1969 .......................................................................237 Marja Hinfelaar Buying Pineapples, Selling Cloth: Traders and Trading Stores in Mwinilunga District, 1940–1970 ...............................................................259 Iva Peša Index .........................................................................................................................281 <UN> <UN> LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, TABLES AND MAPS 2.1 A Lake Mweru Chief .................................................................................... 37 2.2 Illustration of Msiri, along with one of his wives ................................ 39 3.1 Map of the Songye region .......................................................................... 42 3.2 The Songye Chief Lumpungu A Kikolo .................................................. 45 3.3 Rifle used by the Tshokwe in the Luso-African area .......................... 49 4.1 First Methodist Church in Élisabethville .............................................. 72 4.2 Second Methodist Church in Likasi ........................................................ 72 4.3 Second Methodist Church in Likasi ........................................................ 78 4.4 Joseph Jutu leaving church to sell books in the city ........................... 86 4.5 Interior of the second Methodist Church in 1917 ................................ 86 4.6 Start of the construction of the Wallace Memorial Church ............. 89 4.7 Placement of the cornerstone of the Wallace Memorial Church ... 89 5.1 Isha-Kashewa, a Mbunda labour migrant ............................................. 95 6.1 Canadian-built Mountain at Bulawayo, 1949......................................116 6.2 The royal train heading for Victoria Falls, 1947 ..................................120 6.3 First train to arrive at Victoria Falls, 1904 ............................................125 6.4 Passenger train from Umtali to Salisbury, 1899 ..................................129 6.5 Beira Railway Falcon .................................................................................136 7.1 Advertisement for Castle lager in Nshila .............................................149 8.1 Modern African life, Lozi, 1959 ...............................................................175 8.2 Tailors and salaula vendor in Mansa, 1995 ..........................................177 8.3 Male and female tailoring students, Lusaka, 2001 .............................178 8.4 A designer and her male tailors, Lusaka, 2008 ...................................183 9.1 Table: Growth of the Asian population, 1911–61 ................................195 9.2 The old Sharma Brothers’ Store in Mukuni ........................................197 9.3 Nayee Brothers outside their shop, Livingstone, 1950s ....................199 9.4 Woman wearing old Leya dress..............................................................204 9.5 Woman wearing musiinsi and chibaanda ...........................................205 9.6 Women pounding grain in Malawi, 1914 ..............................................208 9.7 Woman at work on a stone grinding mill, 1860s ................................209 10.1 Table: Male Asiatic population, 1938 ....................................................224 11.1 Kenneth Kaunda ........................................................................................239 11.2 Robinson Nabulyato’s grave and store ..................................................242 11.3 Map of Banamwaze in Namwala District ............................................243 12.1 Map of licensed trading stores in Mwinilunga District ...................264 12.2 The house of Thomas Kapita at Ikelenge, 1954 ..................................270 <UN> <UN> LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Michael Barrett Curator and Researcher, Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm Donatien Dibwe Dia Mwembu Professor of History, University of Lubumbashi David M. Gordon Associate Professor of History, Bowdoin College Karen Tranberg Hansen Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University Marja Hinfelaar Researcher, National Archives of Zambia J. Jeffrey Hoover Professor at Katanga Methodist University and University of Lubumbashi Walima T. Kalusa Lecturer in African History, University of Swaziland Friday Mufuzi Keeper of History, Livingstone Museum, Zambia Iva Peša PhD student, Leiden University Bizeck J. Phiri Professor of History, University of Zambia Robert Ross Professor of African History, Leiden University Kenneth P. Vickery Professor of History, North Carolina State University <UN> INTRODUCTION: MATERIAL CULTURE AND CONSUMPTION PATTERNS: A SOUTHERN AFRICAN REVOLUTION Robert Ross, Marja