TRADITIONAL VILLAGES IN TRANSITION - A CASE STUDY IN THE WESTERN PROVINCE OF ZAMBIA by Maria Theresia Barbara Meister A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography University of London October 1981 ProQuest Number: 10731173 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731173 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 2 ABSTRACT TRADITIONAL VILLAGES IN TRANSITION - A CASE STUDY IN THE WESTERN PROVINCE OF ZAMBIA This thesis involves a case study of three tradi­ tional villages in the Western Province of Zambia, paying particular attention* to the nature of transition and develop­ ment in the context of conventional views about their indi­ genous economic system and capacity for adaptation. Part I of the work gives a geographical perspec­ tive of the history of the people. Progressive national interaction and integration paralleled by economic consoli­ dation are apparent. Under colonial influence, after an initial positive impact forces from outside the area prove, however, stronger and bring the process of nation building and economic development to a halt. Part II examines and sums up the present-day con­ ditions in three selected villages in the hope that a synthesis, of the research findings viewed with the under­ standing gained in the survey of historical development, may yield more reliable guidelines for the formulation of development policies for the area today. Chapter 3 des­ cribes and analyses features and characteristics of the physical environment. The growth of settlement and ensuing characteristics of tenure, succession and land rights are considered in the following chapter. A demographic study 3 of the villages analyses and sums up traits and structure of the indigenous and recently immigrated people, examines their life and social order and aspects such as health and education. Chapter 6 focuses on the area’s main productive activities - cattle raising, agriculture, fishing, tree crops and other livestock. Position, location and access to communication and transport facilities, their overall impact on trade and marketing and the present village economy are examined in Chapter 7. The final chapter concentrates on housing conditions and amenities, present conditions and changes which can be observed and utilised as incentives. In conclusion the study proposes a policy of integrated development for a broadly-based, multilateral scheme which utilises local resources, social characteristics and manpower to be initiated with great intensity and cooperation over a confined area. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost my thanks go to each member of the village communities of Nasitoko, Nanyando and Namboma and particularly to those who not only accepted me with generous hospitality but also shared their life and know­ ledge with me in friendship. I also owe gratitude to the many people I met in the villages throughout the plain; each one gave me in his or her own way something of the wisdom they have derived from living close to nature. To the members of the Capuchin Order and the Sisters of the Holy Cross stationed throughout the Western Province and particularly to those with whom I stayed in Malengwa I owe more than simple gratitude for accommodation. Their interest in what I was doing and their supportive encouragement when I was in poor physical health were invaluable♦ Finally, if anything I have written is good, it is due to the strong, quiet, and unfailing encouragement Professor B.W. Hodder has given me to engage in and go ahead with independent work and research.. Without such encouragement this study would never have been started or completed. 5 CONTENTS Page Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 4 List of Contents 5 List of Figures 7 List of Plates 8 Introduction: Aims, Sources, Methodology 9 Part One: Geographical Perspective of the History of the Lozi People 17 1. Consolidation of National and Economic Forces in Pre-colonial Time 18 2. Political Changes and Consequences in Social and Economic Structure during the Colonial Era 58 Part Two: Detailed Studies of a Confined Village Neighbourhood with Special Reference to Nasitoko, Nanyando and Namboma 121 3. Physical Aspects of Neighbourhood Area a) Position 122. b) Relief and Structure 122 c) Drainage 127 d) Soils 130 e) Climatic and Weather Conditions 137 f) Vegetation Cover 14 3 6 Page 4. Evolution of Settlement and Land Holdings a) Growth and Distribution of Settlements 153 b) Land Tenure, Succession and Settlement Rights 166 5. Demographic Study of the Villages 192 a) Population Structure - Age, Sex, Productivity 192 b) Family Structure and Social Order 206 c) Diet and Dietary Habits 219 d) Health 232 e) Education 243 f) Attitudes and Traits 255 ■ g) Division of Labour 270 h) Mobility 2 75 i) The Mbunda People 2 79 6 . Economic Aspects of the Villages a) Agriculture 284 b) Cattle Raising 306 c) Fishing 314 d) Other Livestock 325 e) Fruit and Tree Crops 330 7. Housing and Amenities a) Housing and Mobile Property 339 b) Amenities - Water, Sewage Disposal, Energy 347 8 . Communications, Trade and Marketing a) Communications 355 b) Markets and Marketing 359 c) Local Economy 367 Conclusions 275 Bibliography 334 7 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1 Position of Zambezi Floodplain in Western Province of Zambia 10 2 Location of Villages in Relation to Natural Environment and Larger Settlements 123 3 Diagrammatic Representation of Case Study • Area Site 125 4a),b), and c) Climatic Data as Recorded at 138 Mongu 5 Map Showing Movement and Distribution of 154 Settlements 6 Genealogy of the People of Nanyando 176 7 Siting and Spatial Relations of Nasitoko, Nanyando and Namboma 180 8 Extended Family Relationship of Core Community of Nasitoko Proper 182 9 Population Structure of Nasitoko, Nanyando 193 and Namboma 10a), b), c), d) Population Structure of Individual 194 Villages 11 Principle of Mukomene Gardens 291 12 Liali - Sketch Map Illustrating Site Advantages for Fishing 322 13 Model of Village Economy 371 8 LIST OF PLATES Page Plate 2.7 1 Nasitoko - Typical View of Plain Margin Villages as seen approaching from the Plateau above 2 Aerial Photograph of Village Neighbourhood Folder inside back cover and Adjoining Micro Ecological Regions Cu. in cxli) ( 9 INTRODUCTION AIMS, METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES The Malozi People on the Zambezi floodplain in the Western Province of Zambia (Fig. 1) are known to have had a lively local indigenous economic system in pre­ colonial days. It appears to have reached the peak of its development under. Lewanika in the late 19th century before the full impact of colonial forces made itself felt. Ever since, there appears to have been not only stagnation but even retrogression. The heartland of the Western Province depends today largely on imported staple food such as maize which, according to a survey and report by the Times of Zambia, sells here at a price nearly twice the national level. Repeated attempts by the traditional government, as it became increasingly identified with the colonial government, and by the succeeding independent central government of Zambia to implement schemes of rural development seem to have failed. This study attempts to identify the underlying causes of the apparent apathy, lack of initiative and lack of self-help among a people who seem to have been set on an evolutionary course of development before western­ isation affected them. What has gone wrong? Why the almost total lack of response to any initiative from out­ side? Even distinguished members of Lozi society may now sometimes be heard saying, ' Our people are too lazy to work or to apply themselves.' 10 FIG. 1 Position of Zambezi Floodplain, Western Province, Zambia .XJanzania Zaire Angola j h-'->ZAMBIA A/Vestern • ^ M o z a ovince f j X K _____ ^ -.Zimbabwe / ® t- Botswana^ ^\ • Lusaka *M ongu KARIBA rApR\V\ 250km National boundary ^ Land above 900m Provincial boundary Floodplain hiiiiii.il 11 That agricultural work is traditionally shunned by men and is carried out by women only is another popular expla­ nation for the lack of progress. But any general expla­ nations of this kind are surely too. 'simplistic'. Such assumptions cannot be unquestioningly accepted without examining the facts more closely. Hermitte states that the end of controlling Barotse labour and the importing of labour to the political centres of the country (which may be taken to include earlier labour migrations to the south) was restrictive on progressive development. He argues further that Barotseland's greatest problem is the physical environment. Again, the local, indigenous population complained as early as 1927 about the lack of transport facilities which might assist them in their efforts at development. The combination of all these factors certainly had no small influence upon present-day economic conditions. But either taken singly or together, these factors do not seem to add up to a wholly convincing explanation of lack, of progress in the area. Entering upon the present research, it was therefore assumed that none of the questions posed above provides an answer or solution to the problem and, more­ over, that the lack of initiative and progress were not inherent in the nature of the people or of their traditional, social, economic or political systems. Rather it is hypo­ thesised that colonial forces disrupted the traditional evolutionary process and that subsequent suggestions and 12 planning by successive governments, made without adequate understanding of or consultation with the people at grass root level compacted the malaise more than alleviated it.