Twilight on the Zambezi: Late Colonialism in Central Africa (review)

This study gives a series of snapshots of the final moments of colonial rule in Western Zambia, taken from multiple vantage points. The views of policymakers in London, settlers pushing for a united Central African Federation including Zimbabwe and Zambia, low-ranking colonial officials, and African leaders during 1959 are presented in separate chapters. Taking inspiration from Kirosawa's masterpiece Rashomon, Herbert attempts to place politics among the Lozi people in local, regional, and international contexts. One of her stated goals is to bring into a historical discussion of an African community the perspectives of individual officials and European authorities. In some ways, she succeeds too well. This work does a much better job of exposing varied European attitudes toward Africans and the continued presence of settlers in Africa than uncovering insights on indigenous communities.

The study first examines daily life among the Lozi as recognized by colonial officials. Besides revealing the idiosyncrasies of administrators and furnishing a general review of their training and background, this section does an admirable job of describing the everyday activities and goals of officers governing the Lozi. Through interviews with former administrators and the use of their private papers, Herbert gives a convincing sense of how officials thought of their subjects. Mundane details of Worcestershire sauce and tax collections make for interesting reading; however, there is little attempt to explore the meanings embedded in daily practices. A graphic description of a British administrator using stinger ants to force suspected "witches" to confess (p. 33) should inspire a host of questions on modernity and the supernatural, rather than be tossed in a pile with all the other colorful anecdotes. Thick description should not mean thin analysis!

The penchant to describe rather than investigate becomes even more questionable in the second chapter. Lozi rulers, propped up by indirect rule, set up a wide-ranging hierarchy of positions to administrate their territory. Some subjects are much better covered than others. The narrative traces the community in terms of the local regime's bureaucracy, housing, ethnic identity, and the importance of migration to South Africa. Almost completely absent from this discussion are the voices of Africans themselves, save those at the apex of political power in the community. Evidence drawn from officials reminiscing on the past or colonial correspondence obviously has value; however, the author's decision to privilege her English contacts comes across painfully clear in her rather static portrayal of African life in the region. It is one thing to hear songs have "a gaiety and sense of fun," but it would be better to examine the meanings of the lyrics or arrangements (p. 58). In an interesting discussion of Lozi state rituals, the author might have tried to explore the multiple and varied readings of these ceremonies instead of assuming groups were simply "attached to the rituals of royalty" (p. 79).

When dealing with Europeans' policy decisions, the study is much more solid. The last two chapters consider respectively settler attitudes in Southern and Northern Rhodesia toward unification and Whitehall's role in examining where the region of Batorseland would fit in a changing colonial order. Sir Roy Welensky's bid to push for the Central African Federation and the struggles of various nationalist parties to undermine it take center stage. African political parties did not have much influence among Lozi people in the late 1950s; like other leaders propped up by indirect rule, Lozi royal family members relied on state support while vying for influence in their home communities. The final section deals with the slow move by politicians in London away from the federation ideal toward independence. The author does a good job illustrating the factions, personality conflicts, and divisions within the high circles of the British colonial administration at the end of European rule over Zambia.

All in all, Twilight on the Zambezi has a strangely dated feel. In many spots, it reads...