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Book chapter | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Fears and fantasies in Northern Rhodesia, 1950-1960 |
Author: | Gewald, Jan-Bart |
Book title: | Living the end of empire: politics and society in late colonial Zambia |
Year: | 2011 |
Pages: | 207-228 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Zambia |
Subjects: | rumours colonists race relations political change 1950-1959 |
Abstract: | The establishment of the Central African Federation exacerbated tensions in Northern Rhodesia, present-day Zambia; yet these tensions did not necessarily manifest themselves in ways immediately apparent to contemporary political observers. In the early 1950s, rumours abounded amongst the African population that intimated that the white settlers were extensively involved in witchcraft, cannibalism and bloodsucking. In turn, members of the white administration and settler community believed very much the same with regard to the African population. The development of nationalist politics and the increasing unionization of African workers in colonial Zambia led to agitation and was matched with increasing disquiet and fears on the part of white settlers. The emergence of 'Mau-Mau' in Kenya and the envisaged use of African troops from Northern Rhodesia in that country served to underscore European fears. Based on research in the National Archives of Zambia and the UK, this chapter explores the manner in which public rumour played out in late colonial Northern Rhodesia. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |