Nkoya book and articles by Tatashikanda (Wim van Binsbergen)

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Nkoya relevance

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general philosophical discussion of the problem of intercultural knowledge production, contains many Nkoya examples, and several chapters are entirely devoted to Nkoya case studies (also see below)

Wim van Binsbergen, 2003, Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT, 610 pp.

The dynamics of power and the rule of law

a general discussion of African chieftainship in precolonial, colonial and postcolonial times; contains an important chapter on kingship in Western Zambia (including Nkoya) in the 19th century

Wim van Binsbergen, (ed.)
in collaboration with Riekje Pelgrim
The dynamics of power and the rule of law: Essays on Africa and beyond: in honour of Emile Adriaan van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal, Berlin/Muenster: LIT for African Studies Centre, Leiden, 337 pp., bibliographies, index of proper names, author index

original Dutch version

English version in Quest: An African Journal of Philosophy,

final English version in Intercultural encounters (2003)

the author's professorial inaugural lecture in the chair of intercultural philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1999; contains many references to Nkoya life

Wim van Binsbergen, 1999, 'Culturen bestaan niet': Het onderzoek van interculturaliteit als een openbreken van vanzelfsprekendheden, oratie 'grondslagen van interculturele filosofie', Rotterdam: Faculteit der Wijsbegeerte Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Rotterdamse Filosofische Studies XXIV, 1999, 48 pp (inaugural lecture, Rotterdam)

English version greatly revised and expanded version published in Quest: An African Journal of Philosophy, xiii (1999),

and subsequently incorporated in Wim van Binsbergen's book Intercultural encounters (2003)

The Kazanga festival: Ethnicity as cultural mediation and transformation in central western Zambia

the author's professorial inaugural lecture in the chair of the anthropology of ethnicity, Free University, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1992; contains a detailed study of the articulation of ethnic identity through the Kazanga Cultural Association and its annual festival

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1992, Kazanga: Etniciteit in Afrika tussen staat en traditie, oratie (inaugural lecture), Amsterdam: Free University;

shortened French version: ‘Kazanga: Ethnicite en Afrique entre Etat et tradition’, in: Binsbergen, W.M.J. van, & Schilder, K., red., Perspectives on Ethnicity in Africa, special issue ‘Ethnicity’, Afrika Focus, Gent (Belgie), 1993, 1: 9-40;

English version with postscript: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1994, ‘The Kazanga festival: Ethnicity as cultural mediation and transformation in central western Zambia’, African Studies, 53, 2, 1994, pp 92-125.

From tribe to ethnicity in Western Zambia

detailed study of Nkoya identity and history in confrontation with the Lozi (Luyi) and the national state up to the early 1980s

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1985, ‘From tribe to ethnicity in western Zambia: The unit of study as an ideological problem’, in: W.M.J. van Binsbergen & P. Geschiere, eds., Old modes of production and capitalist encroachment: Anthropological explorations in Africa, London: Kegan Paul International, pp. 181-234.

De chaos getemd? Samenwonen en zingeving in modern Afrika

investigates the conditions for community life and reconciliation among the rural Nkoya in comparison with urban Botswana

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1991, ‘De chaos getemd? Samenwonen en zingeving in modern Afrika’, in: H.J.M. Claessen red., De chaos getemd?, Leiden: Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, 1991, pp. 31-47.

Law in the context of Nkoya society, Western Zambia, 1970s

detailed discussion of Nkoya customary law especially family and marriage law

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1977, ‘Law in the context of Nkoya society’, in: S. Roberts, ed., Law and the family in Africa, The Hague/Paris: Mouton, pp. 39-68.

Globalization and virtuality: Analytical problems posed by the contemporary transformation of African societies

aspects of the globalisation of African culture today, discussed by reference to Nkoya examples such as female puberty ceremonies and the Kazanga Annual Festival

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1998, ‘Globalization and virtuality: Analytical problems posed by the contemporary transformation of African societies’, in: Meyer, B., & Geschiere, P., eds., Globalization and idenity: Dialectics of flow and closure, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 273-303; also published as: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1998, ‘Globalization and virtuality: Analytical problems posed by the contemporary transformation of African societies’, in: Meyer, B., & Geschiere, P., eds., Globalization and identity: Dialectics of flows and closures, special issue, Development and Change, 29, 4, October 1998, pp. 873-903

The Janus situation: Development and the intercontinental circulation of knowledge and ignorance

provocative discussion of the role of regional information brokers in Africa between the grassroots level and international development agencies; case study of the Nkoya situation

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1999, 'The Janus situation: Development and the intercontinental circulation of knowledge and ignorance', paper read at the 1999 Wageningen (Netherlands) conference on ‘Decision-making in natural resources management’; revised version included as chapter 10 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT

Minority language and the state in Zambia and Botswana

ethnic and language situation of the Nkoya as compared to the Kalanga of Botswana and southwestern Zimbabwe

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1994, ‘Minority language, ethnicity and the state in two African situations: the Nkoya of Zambia and the Kalanga of Botswana’, in: Fardon, R. & Furniss, G., red., African languages, development and the state, Londen etc.: Routledge, pp. 142-188.

Democracy and democratisation in Zambia and Botswana

aspects of the Nkoya in national politics as compared to Botswana

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1995, ‘Aspects of democracy and democratisation in Zambia and Botswana: Exploring political culture at the grassroots’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 13, 1: 3-33; reprinted in: Tom Young,. ed., 2004, Readings in African Politics, International Africa Institute in cooperation with Indiana University Press and James Currey, London etc., pp. 202-214

State penetration and the Nkoya experience, western Zambia, 1800-1986

aspects of the Nkoya in national politics

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1986, ‘The post-colonial state, “state penetration” and the Nkoya experience in Central Western Zambia’, in: W.M.J. van Binsbergen, F. Reijntjens & G.S.C.M. Hesseling (eds), State and local community in Africa, Brussels: Cahiers du CEDAF, pp.31-63.

Can anthropology become the theory of peripheral class struggle?
Reflections on the work of Pierre-Philippe Rey

Can a foreign researcher make a positive contribution to the society she or he studies? Must such a contribution be of a radical political nature? Can it be? Examples taken from the author's Nkoya research

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1984, ‘Can anthropology become the theory of peripheral class struggle?: Reflexions on the work of P.P. Rey’, in: Van Binsbergen, W.M.J., & G.S.C.M. Hesseling, eds, Aspecten van staat en maatschappij in Afrika: Recent Dutch and Belgian research on the African state, Leiden: African Studies Centre, pp. 163-80; German version published as: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1984, ‘Kann die Ethnologie zur Theorie des Klassenkampfes in der Peripherie werden?’, Osterreichische Zeitschrift fur Soziologie, 9, 4: 138-48; revised version included as chapter 3 in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., Intercultural encounters: African and anthropological lessons towards a philosophy of interculturality, Berlin/Muenster: LIT

Labour migration and the generation conflict
An essay on social change in central western Zambia

aspects of Nkoya life in the middle of the 20th century, with special emphasis on labour migration, chieftainship and witchcraft

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1975, ‘Labour migration and the generation conflict: Social change in Western Zambia’, paper read at the 34th Annual Meeting, Society for Applied Anthropology, Section: Anthropological Contributions to the Study of Migration, Amsterdam, 19-22 March 1975.

Chiefs and the state in independent Zambia

general study of Zambian chieftainship in the postcolonial period, inspired by the Nkoya situation, which features in examples

van Binsbergen W. M. J., 1987, ‘Chiefs and the State in Independent Zambia : exploring the Zambian National Press’, in: J. Griffiths & E. A. B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal (eds), Journal of Legal Pluralism, special issue on chieftainship in Africa, n° 25-26, pp. 139-201.

Nkoya royal chiefs and the Kazanga Cultural Association in western central Zambia today: Resilience, decline, or folklorisation?

click here for French version

Chieftainship is a time-honoured idiom that does not follow the logic of the state and other modern formal organisations; a voluntary association such as the Kazanga Cultural Association comes much closer to that logic. How do chieftainship and Kazanga interact among the Nkoya to effect a transformation of chieftainship?

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1999, ‘Nkoya royal chiefs and the Kazanga Cultural Association in western central Zambia today: Resilience, decline, or folklorisation?’, in: E.A.B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal & R. van Dijk, eds., African chieftaincy in a new socio-political landscape, Hamburg/ Munster: LIT-Verlag, pp. 97-133

Les chefs royaux nkoya et l’Association culturelle Kazanga dans la Zambie du centre-ouest aujourd’hui: Resiliation, declin ou folklorisation de la fonction du chef traditionnel?

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previous article in French version

Slightly compressed French version of: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1999, ‘Nkoya royal chiefs and the Kazanga Cultural Association in western central Zambia today: Resilience, decline, or folklorisation?’, in: E.A.B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal & R. van Dijk, eds., African chieftaincy in a new socio-political landscape, Hamburg/ Munster: LIT-Verlag, pp. 97-133; French version now in the press in: Perrot, C.-H., ed., Actes du colloque sur la chefferie en Afrique (Paris 1999)

Mukanda: Towards a history of circumcision rites in western Zambia, 18th-20th century

traces the history of male puberty rites from from the last centuries before colonial rule, and assesses its conjuncture as a marker, first of Nkoya identity, than of non-Nkoya identity

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1993, ‘Mukanda: Towards a history of circumcision rites in western Zambia, 18th-20th century’, in: J.-P. Chretien, avec collaboration de C.-H.Perrot, G. Prunier & D. Raison-Jourde, eds., L’invention religieuse en Afrique: Histoire et religion en Afrique noire, Paris: Agence de Culture et de Cooperation Technique/Karthala, pp. 49-103.

Violence, state formation, and cultural discontinuity in west central Zambia, 1600-1996 (PDF)

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an important chapter on kingship in Western Zambia (including Nkoya) in the 19th century; argues that chieftainship became a central expression of ethnic identity in the course of the 20th century, despite the fact that in the precolonial period the royal court, with its violently exploitative power, was essentially discontinuous vis-à-vis the culture of reconciliation and non-violence that governed Nkoya villange life

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1996, ‘ ‘‘Then give him to the crocodiles’’: Violence, state formation, and cultural discontinuity in west central Zambia, 1600-1996’, in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., ed., Anthropology on violence: A one-day conference, Amsterdam: Department of Cultural Anthropology/ Sociology of Development, Vrije Universiteit, pp. 75-91;
Dutch version: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1993, ‘ ‘‘ Geef hem dan maar aan de krokodillen’’: Staatsvorming, geweld en culturele discontinuiteit in voor-koloniaal Zuidelijk Centraal Afrika’, contribution to a special issue on state formation, guest editors H. Dahles & A. Trouwborst, Antropologische Verkenningen, 12, 4: 10-31, 1993;
final version published as: ‘Then give him to the crocodiles’’: Violence, state formation, and cultural discontinuity in west central Zambia, 1600-2000’, in: van Binsbergen, W.M.J., in collaboration with Pelgrim, R., ed., The dynamics of power and the rule of law: Essays on Africa and beyond: in honour of Emile Adriaan van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal, Berlin/Muenster: LIT for African Studies Centre, pp. 197-219.

Class formation, modes and branches of production, and the penetration of capitalism in the Kaoma rural district, Zambia, 1800-1978

traces the history of modes of production among the Nkoya from the 17th century onwards

van Binsbergen, W.M.J., 1978, ‘Class formation and the penetration of capitalism in a Zambian rural district’, paper read at the seminar on Class Formation in Africa, 18-19 May, 1978, Leiden: African Studies Centre

Books and articles on Nkoya culture, language, history and politics by Tatashikanda (Professor Wim van Binsbergen)

1. Religion

2. Ethnicity, history, chieftainship, politics