Dress Cultures in Zambia
Interwoven Histories, Global Exchanges, and Everyday Life

Explores both Zambian dress practices from the late-colonial period until the present and African contributions to globally circulating fashions.

Karen Tranberg Hansen (Author)

9781009350341, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 May 2025

224 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm, 0.37 kg

'This situated historical discussion of Zambian dress reflects Hansen's excellent, long-term research in Zambia … Recommended. E. P. Renne, CHOICE

Drawing on half-a-century of research in Zambia and regional scholarship, Karen Tranberg Hansen offers a vibrant history of changing dress practices from the late-colonial period to the present day. Exploring how the dressed body serves as the point of contact between personal, local, and global experiences, she argues that dress is just as central to political power as it is to personal style. Questioning the idea that the West led fashion trends elsewhere, Hansen demonstrates how local dress conventions appropriated western dress influences as Zambian and shows how Zambia contributed to global fashions, such as the colourful Chitenge fabric that spread across colonial trading networks. Brought to life with colour illustrations and personal anecdotes, this book spotlights dress not only as an important medium through which Zambian identities are negotiated, but also as a key reflector and driver of history.

List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Prologue: the global world of dress in Zambia
1. Dress practice as history
Part I. Dressing Well: 2. The migration nexus
3. Dressing for freedom: snapshot 1. The national fabric
Part II. Dress and Undress: 4. Dress, undress, body, and nation
5. Miniskirts and dangerous dress practice: snapshot 2. Chitenge
6. The dramaturgy of body politics: snapshot 3. Accessories
Part III. Fashionable Transformations: Chapter 7. Youth and urban cultures of consumption: snapshot 4. Salaula
Chapter 8. Fashioning demonstrative displays:snapshot 5. 'Chinese clothes'
Chapter 9. Dressing Zambian: snapshot 6. A digital fitting room
Conclusion
References
Index.

Subject Areas: African history [HBJH]