Chiefs and the State in independent Zambia: exploring the Zambian national press

Zambia is among the few African countries where chiefs occupy an honorable position at the national level, and where a House of Chiefs is established, complementary to Parliament. This paper examines the relationship between chiefs and the central government on the basis of an analysis of newspaper articles from the 'Zambia Daily Mail' and the 'Times of Zambia' over the period 1 February 1972 to 1 February 1973. Attention is paid to the various images of the chiefs, both positive and negative, as expressed in the newspapers; the career of Princess Nakatindi of Sesheke (d. 1972); the continuity in the relations between chiefs and the central government; the chiefs' search for protection by the State; the subjugation of the chiefs by State bureaucracies; and the selective use of chiefly symbolism. The analysis shows that modern politics and traditional leadership do not constitute two separate worlds, but that State and chieftaincy are closely interlocking aspects of modern Zambian life. App., bibliogr., notes, ref