Making mining localities : Trajectories and stories of mining and mobility in Zambia

Abstract

The development of Zambia’s copper mines since the 1930s has spurred extensive regional migration and mobility. This chapter investigates the complex relationship between mining and mobility in Zambia, by focusing on the case studies of Luanshya, Mufulira, and Kalumbila. It brings together survey results, life histories, and the rich scholarship on regional mining localities. By doing so, the chapter demonstrates that mobility has been informed by multiple factors, including socio-economic conditions in rural localities; opportunities in agricultural production, forestry, and trade in mining areas; as well as the connections created through social ties and networks. Underlining the need to understand mining-induced mobility beyond frameworks of push-and-pull migration, the chapter highlights the multiple linkages that mining hubs forge and maintain with their expansive hinterlands. Through a focus on both older and more recently established mining localities, the chapter advances a new understanding of the patterns of mobility through which Zambian mining localities are made.

<p>eBook Published 22 December 2023.</p>