Reviews of:
Death, Belief and Politics in Central African History. By Walima T. Kalusa and Megan Vaughan
Looking For Mrs Livingstone. By Julie Davidso

Haines, Elizabeth

Sichone, Owen

English

Scholarship @ Cornell Law

Zambia Social Science JournalVolume 4Number 2 Volume 4, Number 2 (November 2013) Article 7Book ReviewsOwen SichoneCopperbelt UniversityElizabeth HainesUniversity of LondonFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/zssjPart of the African History Commons, and the African Studies CommonsThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. It has been acceptedfor inclusion in Zambia Social Science Journal by an authorized editor of Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. For more information,please contact jmp8@cornell.edu.Recommended CitationSichone, Owen and Haines, Elizabeth (2013) "Book Reviews," Zambia Social Science Journal: Vol. 4 : No. 2 , Article 7.Available at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/zssj/vol4/iss2/7  ZAMBIA	  SOCIAL	  SCIENCE	  JOURNAL	   62    Book  Reviews      Death,   Belief    and  Politics   in   Central   African  History  By  Walima  T.  Kalusa   and  Megan  Vaughan  (Lusaka:  Lembani  Trust),  2013,  384pp  +  xxvi,  ISBN:  978-­‐9982-­‐68-­‐001-­‐1  soft  cover.    The   last  book   I   read   that  discussed  Malawi  and  Zambia   together  as  Central  Africa  was  Robert  Rotberg’s  The  Rise  of  Nationalism  in  Central  Africa,  The  Making  of  Malawi  and  Zambia,  1873–1964,    published   by   Harvard   University   Press   in   1965.,   and   although   the   two   authors   ignore  Rotberg’s  book,  it  actually  laid  the  foundation  for  their  own  work,  which,  despite  the  references  to  anthropology,  theology,  and  belief  systems,  is  mainly  a  political  history.  Rotberg  studied  the  fall  of  the  Central  African  Federation  or  of  Rhodesia  and  Nyasaland,  but  what  is  the  reason  for  Kalusa  and  Vaughan  combining  Zambian  and  Malawian  history  today?  I  really  cannot  say.      This  book  is  ‘a  set  of  essays’,  as  the  blurb  says,  and  all  of  them  are  stand  alone  essays,  as  actually  they  have  already  been  published  as   journal  articles  and  that   is  how  they  should  be  read.  The  theme  of  death  permeates  everything   in  both  ancient  and  modern  history  and  so   it  cannot  be  ignored  and  by   the  same  token  cannot  be  made  a  special   topic.  There   is  no  death  without   life  and  all  that  it  entails.  Clearly  politics  and  belief  are  always  present  when  death  is  discussed  but  so  are  health,  or  recreation,  or  even  profit  and  capitalism.    In  Chapter  1,  ‘  Translating  the  Soul:  Death  and  Catholicism  in  Northern  Zambia’,  Megan  Vaughan  analyses  how  translation  creates  new  and  curious  unintended  meanings   for  both  missionaries  and   the   scholars   who   followed   them.   Take   for   example   ukupyana.   The   literal   meaning   is  succession,   but   the   focus   of   both   the   White   Fathers   and   the   historians   is   on   the   rituals  accompanying   succession.   Thus,   when   Bemba   warlord   Mwamba   asked   Father   DuPont   to  succeed  him  and  inherit  his  wives,  there  is  no  reference  in  the  Catholic  or  historians’  versions  of  the  story   to   ‘removing  death   from  a  surviving  spouse’   -­‐   the  preferred  translation  of  ukupyana  used  by  many  in  the  HIV/AIDS  industry  for  reasons  we  cannot  discuss  here.      Why  is  the  life/death  struggle  translated  as  a  sex/death  link  by  the  White  Fathers  and  European  scholars?  This  is  a  complex  puzzle  but  for  a  better  understanding  of  the  African  perspective,  one  would   have   to   read   Milingo’s   discussions   on   the   world   in   between   or   study   the   Lenshina  doctrine,  which  also  exposed  the   limitations  of  European  religion  abroad.  The  same  applies  to  the  references  to  previous  anthropological  work  on  shades,  spirits,  and  ancestors  covered  in  the  second  chapter.      Kalusa’s  ‘Death  on  the  Copperbelt’  in  chapters  2  to  4  takes  us  over  familiar  territory  of  Zambia’s  modernisation:  social  stratification,  workers  struggles,  and  the  nationalist  movement.  I  am  sure  the   book   will   be   an   important   reference   for   students   of   Zambian   history.   However,   the  ethnographic  present  has  been  dead   in  anthropology   for  a   long   time,  so  Kalusa’s  strong  belief  that   there   is  such  a   thing  as  an  African  culture  of  death  and  that  anthropologists  present   it  as  static   is   simply   not   plausible   as   a   close   reading   of   even   colonial   era   anthropologists   like   Al  Epstein  will   show   him.   Take   for   example   the  Chisungu   ritual.   In   the   1930s,   Audrey   Richards  observed  a  ceremony  in  rural  Bemba  land  already  aware  that  things  are  not  what  they  used  to  be   (they   never   are).   In   the   ‘50s,   she   returned   to   Zambia   and  was   asked   by   banafimbusa   for  advice  on  how  to  conduct  proper  chisungu  ceremonies  for  young  women  on  the  Copperbelt.  But  what   is  a   correct   ceremony?  Participants  may   follow  a   certain   template  but  no   two  weddings  can   be   the   same.   Why   should   funerals   be   different?   Even   if   we   took   away   the   colonial  interference  in  African  rituals,  we  would  still  have  several  ritual  experts  arguing  about  what  is  correct   on   such   occasions.,   and   one   thing   anthropology   teaches   is   that   ancestral   culture   and  tradition   are   always   about   power   and   wealth   today,   no   matter   how   far   back   in   history    ZAMBIA	  SOCIAL	  SCIENCE	  JOURNAL	   63    contestants  may  go   to   find   their  precedence.  As   I  have  argued   in  another  context,   it   is  history  and  not  anthropology  that  produces  dead  culture.    The   final   section   on   Malawi   explores   the   themes   of   suicide   and   deaths   of   presidents   and  attempts  to  bring  history  back  into  the  world  of  the  living  descendants  of  the  recently  departed.  But  having  not  done   justice  to  the  original  clash  of  cultures  between  missionaries  and  African  colonial  subjects  there  is  still  no  understanding  of  exactly  why  the  Christianity  of  T.  B.  Joshua  is  in   such   close   harmony  with   the   local   concepts   of   spiritual   power.   It   would   seem   that   death,  belief,   and   politics   are  more   closely   interconnected   than   the   historians   imagined.   Rituals   and  traditions   are   invented   and   contested   not   just   in   Central   Africa.   That   is   what   most   politics  normally  culminate  in.  Power  struggles  are  power  struggles  and  blaming  the  political  confusion  caused  by  power  hungry  contestants  on  some  kind  of  tribal  chief’s  succession  guidebook  is  just  unfortunate.   One   would   gain   better   understanding   by   looking   more   closely   at   the   political  economy  of  the  Republic  today.    By  all  means,   study   the  book,  but  do  read  Rotberg,  Chirwa,  Englund,  Meebelo,  and  Roberts  as  well  to  understand  where  the  historical  study  of  Malawian  and  Zambian  political  culture  came  from.      Owen  Sichone  The  Copperbelt  University         ZAMBIA	  SOCIAL	  SCIENCE	  JOURNAL	   64    Book  Reviews      Looking   For  Mrs   Livingstone.    By   Julie   Davidson   (Edinburgh:   Saint   Andrew  Press,   2012),  272      ‘We  have  one  last  relic  to  visit  at  Kolobeng  before  we  leave  the  haunt  of  the  wild  boar…  Albert  Piet   leads   us   down   the   hill   towards   the   river   and   a   thicket   of  wild  mimosa,  where   there   is   a  clearing  staked  with  more  posts  linked  with  chain’  (165).    Julie  Davidson’s  biography  of  Mrs  Livingstone  is  rigorously  and  tirelessly  personal.  As  Davidson  herself  mentions  several  times,  sources  that  have  solid  facts  about  the  wife  of  the  famous  David  are   few   and   far   between.   Looking   for   Mrs   Livingstone   is   intended   for   a   lay   audience,   and  although   it   offers   a   certain   quantity   of   evidence,   its   existence   relies   entirely   on   imaginative  bridges.  Davidson  avoids  excessive  historical  speculation,  and  instead  uses  her  own  journeys  in  Africa   to   fill   the  gaps.   In   the   insert,  historical  photographic  portraits  of   the  Livingstone   family  bookend   the   author’s   travel   snapshots.   She   is   writing   two   parallel   stories,   that   of   Mary  Livingstone  herself,  and  that  of  her  search  for  Mrs  Livingstone.  The  two  are  interwoven,  roughly  following  the  chronology  of  Mary’s  life,  from  her  childhood  at  the  Moffat’s  mission  in  Kuruman,  through  her  marriage,  her  travels  by  Livingstone’s  side,  her  ‘exile’  in  Britain,  and  her  final  return  to   the   continent.   This   double   narrative   means   that   the   reader   is   ‘discovering   contemporary  Africa’   through   Davidson   being   led   down   the   hill   towards   the   thicket   of  wild  Mimosa,   at   the  same  time  that  she   is   ‘discovering  history’.  As  such,   large  chunks  of   the  book  are   likely   to   feel  clunky  and  irrelevant  to  those  whose  lives  are  lived  in  Southern  Africa.  Nonetheless,  Davidson  brings  sensitivity  and  imagination  to  the  double  narrative,  and  it  meets  with  some  success.    Firstly,   Davidson   is   highly   attuned   to   her   own   emotional   relationship   to   the   historical  characters.  This  allows  her  to  pick  up  on  and  draw  out  sentiment  in  other  historians  who  have  presented   the   Livingstones,   from   fame-­‐seeking   explorers   such   Devereux   in   1869,   to   those  writing  lives  as  moral  models.  It  also  keeps  her  sharply  aware  of  what  everyone  in  the  book—from  pastors,  to  tourist  agents  to  taxi  drivers;  those  in  Chupanga,  like  those  in  Aberdeen—might  want   from  Mary  Livingstone’s   story.  The  power  of   historical   biographies   to  make  money   and  shape  futures  is  a  live  issue  and  she  addresses  it  head  on.    Secondly,   Davidson   emphasises   another   component   of   historical   writing   that   is   often  suppressed,  the  act  of  witnessing.  She  does  this  actively  through  her  pilgrimages  to  various  sites  of  Mary  Livingstone’s  life,  but  also  stylistically:  her  writing  resounds  with  ghosts,  traces,  spoors,  and   legacies.   Romantic   notions   aside,  Davidson’s   pursuit   of  witnessing   seemed   to  me   to   bear  fruit.   I   think   it   would   have   been   quite   impossible   for   such   a   solidly   pragmatic   account   of  missionary  life  in  that  period  to  have  emerged,  had  the  author  not  made  these  journeys  in  her  heroine’s  footsteps.  Both  strands  of  the  book,  the  story  of  Mary  and  the  story  of  Julie,  focus  on  moving,  washing,  mending  clothes,  eating,  healing,  and   laughing.  Davidson  is  careful   to  record  efforts   in  the  everyday  toil  of  nourishment  and  nurture  made  by  the  whole  cast  of  characters,  male   and   female,   living   and  deceased.   I   am  pleased   to   say   that   this   is   an   ever  more   common  feature  of  historical  writing,  but  Davidson  does  it  skilfully  and  elegantly.      Finally,  while  governments,  and  institutions  form  part  of  the  background  of  the  book,  the  author  focuses   on   political   paths   and   networks   created   at   a   very   intimate   level.   It   is   a   history   of  personal  responses  to  dramatic  events,  and  follows  the  fates  of  white  and  black  individuals  and  families   from   the   nineteenth   and   into   the   twenty-­‐first   century   as   they   move   upstream,  downstream,  across  rivers  and  state  boundaries,  searching   for  places  to  build   lives   that  might  work.   These   three   aspects   –   the   persistence   of   personal   networks;   the   importance   of   the  everyday;  and  the  role  of  empathy  in  historical  writing  –  are  fluently  woven  through  the  book.    ZAMBIA	  SOCIAL	  SCIENCE	  JOURNAL	   65    For  me,  they  saved  it  from  the  ‘lightness’  of  the  evidence,  and  the  dangers  of  sentimentality,  and  made  Looking   for  Mrs.   Livingstone   an   interesting   and  worthwhile  perspective  on   stories   that  might  otherwise  seem  well  trodden.      Elizabeth  Haines  University  of  London                                                                                          

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