Overview
This introduction surveys the evolution of Zambia’s postcolonial historiography from colonial-era, Eurocentric accounts to early nationalist, UNIP-centered narratives that celebrated elite leadership while marginalizing grassroots actors and competing political projects. It critiques subsequent scholarship of the 1970s–1980s for maintaining a center-focused lens that underexplored the lived impacts of state policy and the fractures within Zambia’s ruling class. The authors trace a turn since the 1990s toward studies on democratisation, economic liberalisation, and political memoirs, noting both their contributions and limits. A major historiographical shift is linked to the 2005 Network for Historical Research in Zambia conference and the 2008 volume “One Zambia, Many Histories,” which foregrounded subaltern actors, counter-hegemonic movements, and the diversity of Zambian experiences. Recent works have expanded themes to include political biography, social histories of consumption, and community-level contestations of state power. The introduction identifies remaining gaps—such as the political economy of the one-party era, environmental degradation, donor relations, and public health—and frames the special issue’s contributions on climate change perceptions, the Barotseland Agreement’s historical context, and the incorporation of modern objects into witchcraft practices as steps toward a richer, more inclusive historiography.