Chapter 3 From Life Histories to Social History
Narrating Social Change through Multiple Biographies
In: The Individual in African HistorySearch for other papers by Iva Peša in
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Abstract
Relying on more than 300 interviews conducted in Mwinilunga District, north-west Zambia, this chapter asks to what extent life histories can contribute to the writing of social history. How do individual stories fit into, challenge, or alter dominant theories of social change? Can or should historians devise alternative categories to more closely reflect the ambiguities and specificities of individual lived experiences? This chapter examines the ‘modernist narrative’ of labour migration in Southern Africa and juxtaposes this to life histories of migrant labourers from the area of Mwinilunga. It proposes a focus on consumption and self-realisation to understand individual motivations and aspirations. By revealing individuality, complexity, and contradiction, life history accounts provide a richer basis from which to write about social change. Foregrounding individual trajectories, motivations, and aspirations challenges more structural narratives of migration. Through a detailed empirical case study, this chapter seeks to contribute to historiographical debates on biography, life history, and social change.