Reimagining the Copperbelt as a Religious Space

Lämmert, Stephanie

doi:10.2307/j.ctv199tj8b.20

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“…Because women featured so prominently in church life and were among the most active congregants, they also figure more centrally in these archives. 107 Two bibliographies on women in Zambia, published in the early 1990s by Agnes M. Chitambo and Raj Bardouille, provide an excellent guide to the early published literature. 108 A largely web-based initiative focused on Zambian women is the Women's History Museum.…”

Section: Primary Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Women in Zambia

Peša¹

2023

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History

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The history of women in Zambia is dynamic, complex, and varied. In the precolonial period, women held a range of influential positions in society. Through agricultural production, pottery, ritual, and healing, they performed valued tasks complementary to those of men. Descent was most commonly traced matrilineally, affording a woman’s lineage much power over labor, offspring, land, and wealth. The colonial period changed the position of women profoundly. Christianity and colonial policies advocated for an ideal of a nuclear family with a male breadwinner. Concomitantly, commercialization and labor migration made women’s positions more precarious. In rural areas, women struggled to prepare fields because of the absence of men’s labor, whereas in urban areas women were officially only allowed residence as “wives” of male workers. Yet a story of increasing female marginalization and subordination would be far from complete. Moreover, such a narrative obscures everyday gendered contestations. Some women in the colonial and postcolonial periods made a profitable livelihood by selling crops; others moved to town and engaged in trade or brewed beer. Such activities became particularly significant in the wake of economic decline during the 1980s and 1990s. The HIV/AIDS pandemic all too often made women the heads of their households. The history of women in Zambia is, thus, far from singular. Studying its variety reveals Zambian women’s agency and power, even in conditions not of their own choosing.

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Section: Primary Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stephanie Lämmert has emphasized the particular reverence in the Copperbelt for Mary among matrilineal Zambian communities as well as the popularity of the Catholic Women's League. 59 In various Protestant churches, women could hold official church roles. Jehovah's Witnesses have female ministers who preach the gospel from door to door.…”

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confidence: 99%

Women in Zambia

Peša¹

2023

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History

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Reimagining the Copperbelt as a Religious Space

Cited by 1 publication

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Women in Zambia

Women in Zambia

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