Colonial Bureaucracy, Ethnic Conflict, and Post-Independent Statecraft: Racial Classification in Zambia and Zimbabwe

• In Event: 50460 - Section on Comparative-Historical Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 8: Colonial and Postcolonial Governance

Abstract

This project examines how and why state racial classification varies in post-independent Africa, focusing on Zambia and Zimbabwe. While racial classification has been extensively studied in North and Latin America, Africa remains underexplored despite its deep entanglement with colonial racial orders and racial capitalism. This research addresses this gap by investigating the historical and political processes shaping racial classification in Zambia and Zimbabwe, two neighboring countries with shared colonial histories but distinct post-independence trajectories. Despite both being British colonies and members of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (1953–1963), Zambia and Zimbabwe diverged significantly after independence. Zambia, which gained independence under Black majority rule in 1964, moved away from colonial racial categories, incorporating ethnicity and tribe into its classification schemes. Zimbabwe, after a protracted liberation struggle culminating in independence in 1980, initially abandoned racial categories but reinstated them in the 1992 census, likely to mitigate ethnic tensions following the Gukurahundi massacres (1982–1987). Using archival research, interviews with government officials and census experts, and oral histories from affected communities, this project traces the political decisions and contestations behind these classification shifts. It argues that racial classification in post-independent Africa is shaped by the strength of colonial bureaucracies, the presence of ethnic conflict, and post-independence statecraft. Contrary to assumptions that racial classification tend to reflect colonial legacies, this study shows how postcolonial states actively reshape classification systems to manage ethnic tensions and consolidate national identity. By analyzing African cases, this research advances theories of statecraft, colonialism, and racial classification, offering a comparative perspective on how race is made and remade in state governance. It broadens existing frameworks beyond the Americas, contributing to a global understanding of race and state formation.

Author

• Yao Lu, University of California-Davis