Tears of rain: Ethnicity and history in central western Zambia is a non-fiction book by Wim van Binsbergen, first published in 1992 by Kegan Paul International and published as an eBook/Kindle by Routledge in 2016. The book explores the history of ethnic groups in central western Zambia.
Synopsis and structure Tears of Rain: Ethnicity and History in Central Western Zambia focuses on the Nkoya people in western Zambia and their changing identity. The book includes a historical text called Likota lya Bankoya, written in the 1950s by Rev. Johasaphat Shimunika, a Nkoya pastor. Van Binsbergen translated and analyzed this text to explore how Nkoya identity was shaped by colonialism, local politics, and oral tradition. he book shows how the Nkoya used history to claim recognition and resist domination by the Lozi people. It argues that Nkoya identity emerged in response to colonial and postcolonial pressures and was reinforced through written history and political activism. The book also discusses how gender roles changed in Nkoya society, from female ritual authority to male political dominance. Reviewers praised the book's detail, originality, and scholarly ambition. Some noted that the writing was dense and the theory challenging for general readers.
Chapters: Preface Part I. Tears of Rain: Ethnicity and history IN central western Zambia Chapter 1. The contemporary point of departure: The Nkoya-speaking people and their chiefs Chapter 2. The Likota lya Bankoya manuscript Chapter 3. Historical criticism of Likota lya Bankoya Chapter 4. State formation in central western Zambia as depicted in Likota lya Bankoya Chapter 5. State and society in nineteenth-century central western Zambia: Chapter 6. Likota lya Bankoya as cosmology and as history: Aspects of Nkoya symbolism and its transformations Part II. Likota lya Bankoya Part III. The history of the Nkoya people Part IV. Reference Material
Reception and academic reviews
Release information Hardcover: 1992 (First Edition), Kegan Paul International, 518pp. . Paperback: 2016, Routledge, 518pp. . Kindle/eBook: 2016, Routledge.
About the author
Wim van Binsbergen was born in 1947 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He earned his Ph.D. from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He later became a professor of anthropology at the same university and was head of the Department of Political and Historical Studies at the African Studies Centre in Leiden.
See also A history of Zambia Bibliography of the history of Zambia
References Notes
Citations
External links Tears of Rain, Google Books. Tears of Rain, Routledge