Across the Copperbelt : Urban & Social Change in Central Africa's Borderland Communities

The Central African Copperbelt, encompassing the mining communities of Katanga (DR Congo) and Zambia, has been central to the study of modernization and rapid social and political change in urban Africa. This volume expands upon earlier studies of industrial mining, male-dominated formal labor organization and political change by examining both sides of the border from pre-colonial history to the present and encompassing a wide range of economic, social and cultural identities and activities. Bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines, the contributors explore copperbelt communities' sense of identity - expressed in love stories, comic strips and football matches, their precarious and inventive ways of living, their involvement in church and education, and the processes and impact of urbanization and development, environmental degradation and changing gender relations. A major contribution to borderland studies, in showing how the meaning and relevance of the border to the copperbelt's mixed and mobile population has changed constantly over time, the book's engagement with communities at the nexus of social, economic and political change makes it a key study for those working in global urban development.MILES LARMER is Professor of African History, University of Oxford; ENID GUENE is Research Associate in Cultural History, University of Oxford; BENOT HENRIET is Assistant Professor in History, Vrije Universiteit Brussels; IVA PESA is Assistant Professor in History, University of Groningen ; RACHEL TAYLOR is Research Associate in the History of Haut Katanga (DRC), African Studies Centre, University of Oxford.This book is available under the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC. It is based on research that is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no: 681657): 'Comparing the Copperbelt: Political Culture and Knowledge Production in Central Africa'. The first comparative historical analysis - local, national and transnational - of the cross-border Central African copperbelt; a key work in studies of labour, urbanisation and African studies. The Central African Copperbelt, encompassing the mining communities of Katanga (DR Congo) and Zambia, has been central to the study of modernisation and rapid social and political change in urban Africa. This volume expands upon earlier studies of industrial mining, male-dominated formal labour organisation and political change by examining both sides of the border from pre-colonial history to the present and encompassing a wide range of economic, social and cultural identities and activities. Bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines, the contributors explore copperbelt communities'sense of identity - expressed in comic strips and football matches, their precarious and inventive ways of living, their involvement in church and education, and the processes and impact of urbanisation and development, environmental degradation and changing gender relations. A major contribution to borderland studies, in showing how the meaning and relevance of the border to the copperbelt's mixed and mobile population has changed constantly over time, the book's engagement with communities at the nexus of social, economic and political change makes it a key study for those working in global urban development. This book is available under the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC. It is based on research that is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no: 681657):'Comparing the Copperbelt: Political Culture and Knowledge Production in Central Africa'. The first comparative historical analysis - local, national and transnational - of the cross-border Central African copperbelt; a key work in studies of labour, urbanisation and African studies. The Central African Copperbelt, encompassing the mining communities of Katanga (DR Congo) and Zambia, has been central to the study of modernisation and rapid social and political change in urban Africa. This volume expands upon earlier studies of industrial mining, male-dominated formal labour organisation and political change by examining both sides of the border from pre-colonial history to the present and encompassing a wide range of economic, social and cultural identities and activities. Bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines, the contributors explore copperbelt communities' sense of identity - expressed in comic strips and football matches, their precarious and inventive ways of living, their involvement in church and education, and the processes and impact of urbanisation and development, environmental degradation and changing gender relations. A major contribution to borderland studies, in showing how the meaning and relevance of the border to the copperbelt's mixed and mobile population has changed constantly over time, the book's engagement with communities at the nexus of social, economic and political change makes it a key study for those working in global urban development. This book is available under the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC. It is based on research that is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement 681657): 'Comparing the Political Culture and Knowledge Production in Central Africa'. Front cover Contents Illustrations Notes on Contributors Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Part 1: Micro-Studies of Urban Life 1. Beyond Paternalism: Pluralising Copperbelt Histories 2. Being a Child of the Mines: Youth Magazines and Comics in the Copperbelt 3. Divergence and Convergence on the Copperbelt: White Mineworkers in Comparative Perspective, 1911–1963 4. Football on the Zambian and Katangese Copperbelts: Leisure and Fan Culture from the 1930s to the Present 5. Beware the Mineral Narrative: The Histories of Solwezi Town and Kansanshi Mine, North-Western Zambia, c.1899–2020 Part 2: The Local Copperbelt and the Global Economy 6. Kingdoms and Associations: Copper’s Changing Political Economy during the Nineteenth Century 7. Of Corporate Welfare Buildings and Private Initiative: Post-Paternalist Ruination and Renovation in a Former Zambian Mine Township 8. From a Colonial to a Mineral Flow Regime: The Mineral Trade and the Inertia of Global Infrastructures in the Copperbelt 9. Houses Built on Copper:The Environmental Impact of Current Mining Activities on ‘Old’ and ‘New’Zambian Copperbelt Communities Part 3. Producing and Contesting Knowledge of Urban Societies 10. ‘The British, the French and even the Russians use these methods’: Psychology, Mental Testing and (Trans)Imperial Dynamics of Expertise Production in Late-Colonial Congo 11. The Production of Historical Knowledge at the University of Lubumbashi (1956–2018) 12. The Decolonisation of Community Development in Haut-Katanga and the Zambian Copperbelt, 1945–1990 13. Reimagining the Copperbelt as a Religious Space Select Bibliography Index "The Central African Copperbelt, encompassing the mining communities of Katanga (DR Congo) and Zambia, has been central to the study of modernisation and rapid social and political change in urban Africa. This volume expands upon earlier studies of industrial mining, male-dominated formal labour organisation and political change by examining both sides of the border from pre-colonial history to the present and encompassing a wide range of economic, social and cultural identities and activities. Bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines, the contributors explore copperbelt communities' sense of identity - expressed in comic strips and football matches, their precarious and inventive ways of living, their involvement in church and education, and the processes and impact of urbanisation and development, environmental degradation and changing gender relations. A major contribution to borderland studies, in showing how the meaning and relevance of the border to the copperbelt's mixed and mobile population has changed constantly over time, the book's engagement with communities at the nexus of social, economic and political change makes it a key study for those working in global urban development. This book is available under the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC. It is based on research that is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no: 681657): 'Comparing the Copperbelt: Political Culture and Knowledge Production in Central Africa'"