Dissertation Research: Political Structure and Ideology of the Mpezeni Ngoni, Eastern Zambia

由于非殖民化、社会压力、环境问题和世界经济体系的变化，非洲社会的政治机构正在发生变化。许多团体正在复兴欧洲殖民之前就存在的政治结构，并对其进行修改，以满足当代的需求。在这个项目中，研究人员将研究姆佩泽尼·恩戈尼(赞比亚东部)政治变革的社会和文化层面。这个社会正在重新建立一个在殖民时代被压制的君主制和随之而来的仪式。研究人员将通过关注君主制在赞比亚国家体系中的地位及其对农场主的影响来发现权力和权威在这种新形势下是如何表现出来的。他将帮助解释民族主义和种族部落主义似乎相互矛盾的过程，这些过程正在影响国家的政治结构。

Political institutions in African societies are changing as a result of decolonization, social pressures, environmental problems, and changes in world-wide economic systems. Many groups are reviving political structures that were extant before European colonialization and modifying them to meet contemporary needs. In this project, the researcher will study the social and cultural dimensions of the Mpezeni Ngoni's (eastern Zambia) political transformations. This society is reinstituting a monarchy and its accompanying rituals which had been suppressed during the colonial era. The researcher will discover how power and authority are being expressed in this new situation by focusing on the monarchy's place within the Zambian state system and its effect on agriculturalists. He will help explain the seemingly contradictory processes of nationalism and ethnic tribalism that are affecting the political structure of the country.