Postcolonial Imbusa: Bemba Women’s Agency and Indigenous Cultural Systems

Imbusa, a rite of passage for marriage among the Bemba people of Zambia, is one of the most salient and resilient rituals that shapes and informs the private and public life. It is one of the most formidable cultural forces that defines behaviors and determines everyday relations between women and men at home, church, and work. Postcolonial Imbusa: Bemba Women’s Agency, and Indigenous Cultural Systems by Mutale Mulenga-Kaunda offers a glimpse into the lived imbusa and how the teaching proposes women’s agency and subjectivity. Mulenga-Kaunda argues that the salience and resilience of imbusa, despite the contact with various cultures and religions, makes it a critical feminist decolonial resource for constructing life-giving postcolonial womanism. Through combined interviews and philosophical analysis, this book discovers how the knowledge of imbusa was produced and how such knowledge constitutes postcolonial and decolonial nego-feminism.