The article focuses on the origins, context, and political significance of Adamson Mushala's rebellion against the Zambian one-party state. While making no substantial military gains, Mushala succeeded in destabilizing the North-Western Province, the site of his insurgency, and creating an atmosphere of fear and paranoia among local and national leaders of the ruling United National Independence Party (UNIP). The Zambian postcolonial state was threatened by the enduring relevance of such allegiances. Mushala capitalized on the strength of local systems of ethnic affiliation, following in the footsteps of chieftain authorities, who had expressed their rejection of UNIP's national project by leading their people across the barely visible colonial borders separating an enduring Lunda polit
