Historical constructions of postcolonial citizenship and subjectivity: the case of the Lozi peoples of southern central Africa by Lawrence S Flint PhD Thesis University of Birmingham Centre of West African Studies Logged on library catalogue 2005 Control No. M0268401BU Centre of West African Studies School of Historical Studies University of Birmingham September 2004 ii Abstract This study examines notions of citizenship and subjectivity experienced by the Lozi peoples of Barotseland in the Upper Zambezi Valley region of Sub-Saharan Africa. Through the colonial and postcolonial eras the region has endured physical remoteness as well as political and economic isolation leading to incorporation on unfavourable terms in the new state of Zambia and economic underdevelopment. This contrasts sharply with pre-colonial political and economic dynamics in which the Lozi were the controlling political and economic power of the region. In the postcolonial era, a sense of alienation, disillusionment and subjugation to a postcolonial state that is perceived to have acted in a predatory manner on Barotseland has impacted on the ability of Lozis to feel a sense of loyalty to that state. Instead, in daily life and heritage, Lozis turn to their strong, communitarian culture and a socially constructed past comprising power, glory and wealth to provide notions of identity. The intrusion of externally originating influences such as the invasion, in the 1830s, of peoples known as the Makololo led by a Sotho clan who left behind their language and much of their political organization, and the British who were ‘invited’ to protect Barotseland from threats originating within and without the kingdom, have accentuated the individualistic self-view of the Lozis and the way others view the Lozis. Meanwhile, it is argued that the intrusion of capitalist dynamics likely to take place over the next 50 years is likely to blur the rigid edges of Lozi particularism and allow for a more associationist sense of identity to come about. Citizenship, subjectivity and identity are shown to be more mobile than previously imagined, with strength of feeling being dependent on a sense of economic and social well-being. iii Acknowledgments This dissertation could only have been produced with the support and belief of some very strategic people. In Birmingham, I must thank my supervisor, Prof. Tom McCaskie, for having the initial belief in me as a potential scholar and for his professional guidance and moral support throughout. The rest of the team at the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham have also lent their support in various ways for which I will be eternally grateful. In Zambia, I must thank Dr Mutumba Bull who indulged my pursuit of her knowledge and made available to me the facilities of the University of Zambia libraries and the resources of the Institute of Economic and Social Research. In Barotseland itself, I am indebted to the Litunga, HRH Lubosi II for his enthusiastic support for the study. I must also thank the Litunga la Mboela Makwibi and the Mboanjikana Kandundu for granting access and making available Indunas and historians in their areas to assist with the work. My thanks also go out to the Prime Minister of Barotseland, the Hon. Ngambela Mukela who took such an interest in the work and with whose authority I was able to travel the length and breadth of Barotseland conducting interviews and avoiding the over-zealous attention of traffic policemen. In the Muoyo area, the Sambi Muhongo also proved a stalwart supporter of this work and a good friend of scholarship. Also in Barotseland, I would like to thank Inengu Anayatele for his historical guidance, Nyambe Mukamba, who, in the face of seemingly impossible odds, got me and my equipment across difficult terrain and both for listening, translating, interpreting, writing and arguing with me so that I could understand more clearly. Latterly, the Mokwae Monde Mubita interviewed extensively and translated many documents from Silozi into English. These three ‘research assistants’ made the fieldwork viable and provided much needed humour. Finally, in Barotseland and Lusaka, my deepest thanks and respect go out to the countless Lozis who gave me their welcome, shared their food and accommodation and opened their hearts to a humble foreign scholar. I can never repay their generosity. Back home in England I must thank my dear parents for their unflinching support and faith in me and for waiting so patiently and so long for the final product. Equally, my sons, Edward, Stuart and Charles have supported me unquestioningly in my quest which has undoubtedly led me to neglect their needs. Finally, I would also like to thank my wife Fatima for her love, patience and belief in me, for reading and reviewing my work and latterly, for rewarding me with a new baby son, Zakari Abubakarr Allan, who waited patiently until I had completed the main text before entering this world. iv Contents Page No. Abbreviations v Preface vii Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 In the beginning: the early Luyis 19 Chapter 3 Makololo interregnum and the legacy of 46 David Livingstone Chapter 4 Chaos and transition: the making of the 87 ‘Second Lozi Kingdom’ Chapter 5 Lewanika, Barotseland and Britain: the 121 ambiguous relationship between ‘Loziness’ and ‘Britishness’ Chapter 6 Kaunda and the freedom struggle years 159 Chapter 7 Lozi culture, the articulation of Loziness 196 Chapter 8 Construction of citizenship 232 Chapter 9 Conclusion 266 Appendix 1a-c Maps 276 Appendix 2 Chronological lists of kings and regent 278 princesses Appendix 3 Copy of Barotseland Agreement 280 Appendix 4 List of interviewees 284 Bibliography 286 v Abbreviations used in the text AMEC - African Methodist Episcopal Church ANC – African National Congress AU – African Union BSAC – British South Africa Company BNG - Barotse Native Government BNP – Barotse National Police BOSS – Bureau of state Security BPF - Barotse Patriotic Front BNS – Barotse national School BRE – Barotse Royal Establishment CANU – Caprivi African National Union CAP - Caprivi Alliance Party CIA – Central Intelligence Agency CMML - Christian Missions to Many Lands DC – District Commissioner DRC – Democratic Republic of the Congo DTA - Democratic Türnhalle Alliance EU – European Union FF – Freedom fighter FOREBA – Forum for the Restoration of Barotseland IFI – International Financial Institution INESOR – Institute for Economic and Social Research LMS – London Missionary Society MMD – Movement for Multi-Party Democracy MPLA - Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola vi NAZ – National Archives of Zambia NGO – Non-Governmental Organisation NR – Northern Rhodesia OAU – Organisation of African Unity PEMS – Paris Evangelical Missionary Society PIDE - International Police for the Defence of the State RLI – Rhodes-Livingstone Institute RSA – Republic of South Africa SADF – South African Defence Force SDA – Church of the Seventh Day Adventists SWAPO – South West African Peoples Organisation UCZ – United Church of Zambia UDI – Unilateral Declaration of Independence UNHCR – United Nations High Commission for Refugees UNIP – United National Independence Party UNITA - National Union for the Total Independence of Angola Wenela – Witwatersrand Native Labour Association ZANLA – Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army ZIPRA – Zimbabwe People’s Liberation Army ZNDF - Zambian National Defence Force vii Preface This dissertation is the product of an intermittent six year relationship with the Upper Zambezi Valley and its peoples. It was a relationship that started quite by accident in 1998 whilst working on ethnicity and nationalism in Namibia with a journalistic query on Caprivi, the north-eastern panhandle of that country, which quickly led the writer up the Zambezi valley into the homeland of the Lozi peoples, now located in Western Zambia. Originally, it had been intended to investigate the roots of secessionist tendencies in Caprivi but, once having arrived in that region and realising the import of historical influences from the Lozi kingdom of Barotseland, it quickly became imperative to first study the roots of notions of citizenship and subjectivity in the heart of the old Lozi empire, perhaps as a prelude to later concentrating on sub- regions like Caprivi. One of the defining characteristics of Lozi identity is a passionate sense of self, an awareness of specialness that is experienced within the Lozi diaspora and amongst those outside who interact with Lozis. This, of course, does not make the Lozi case study in any way unique as similar passions can be observed elsewhere around Africa where there have been strong centralised political communities. There is, however, a certain uniqueness to the Lozi case and this is bound up with the dramatic physical setting of the Lozi homeland, Bulozi, and the physical extremes experienced annually in that environment. It is also associated with a sense of isolation brought about by both the physical exigencies of the region and by what Lozis perceive as the politico-economic exigencies of a postcolonial state that has been both parasitic, predatory and antagonistic to Barotseland and its peoples. While the work appears at the outset to be historically focussed, the end- product is most emphatically about the present. The objective is to provide an anthropological and socio-cultural gaze on the present state of Loziness that is constituted with and imbued by a past that lives and breathes within the consciousness of every Lozi, young and old.