Chanda Penda | Stellenbosch University (original) (raw)

Conference Presentations by Chanda Penda

American Name Society (ANS) 2020 Conference, 2020

Despite Zambia, like many other nations, being described in gendered terms as “Motherland”, in re... more Despite Zambia, like many other nations, being described in gendered terms as “Motherland”, in reality the names of public places such as streets, neighbourhoods, townships, properties and others reflect a “Fatherland”. In addition, the names still project a colonial heritage, overshadowing local heritage. Nearly 45 % per cent of neighbourhoods in Lusaka bear English names, and slightly more than a quarter of these place names come from names of Europeans who settled on the respective lands in the colonial period. Moreover, as in other sub-Saharan African cities, ambiguity or non-existence of formal naming systems directly impacts on the ability of residents to benefit from basic services such as postal and related courier services, access to certain banking services, and access to technology such as GPS, mobile telecommunications; others are ambulance response and other location-based services and business opportunities that require exact identification of address, property or location. A study in selected African cities revealed that some residents attached having a unique address to higher social status. UNGEGN identified the absence of street naming in some sub-Saharan African cities as a contributing factor to the lack of personal identity.
The exercise of naming and renaming streets, townships and other public places is an essential function in management of land use. It is linked to developments such as township establishment and subdivision. Naming/renaming and/or numbering public places helps to identify properties in the provision of various municipal services, ranging from development to emergency services. The Lusaka City Council does not have policy on naming/renaming public places/properties, especially in highly populated settlements. There is therefore need for a standard system for naming public places in Lusaka District.

University of Helsinki names conference, 2019

Presented at the 'Personal Names and Cultural Reconstructions' conference

Books by Chanda Penda

Encyclopedia of Zambian Names, 2019

As is common in many Bantu societies, Zambian names come from the natural environment, circumstan... more As is common in many Bantu societies, Zambian names come from the natural environment, circumstances of birth and the social setting. Names from circumstances of birth include physical appearance, position of birth, place of birth, and so on. Those from the natural environment include names from plants, animals and other natural phenomena. Nevertheless, the broadest category in Zambian nomenclature is the socio-psychological environment. My recent unpublished quantitative analysis of selected publicly available school registers in Kitwe and Lusaka showed that between 2013 and 2017, 71% of the 13 thousand students sampled used foreign first names-the remaining meagre percentage used local language based first names. This chapter is, however, descriptive rather than structural, of traditional Zambian anthroponyms as they exist at present.

Papers by Chanda Penda

Anthropology Southern Africa, 2024

The onset of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in late 2019 gave way to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic th... more The onset of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in late 2019 gave way to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic that changed the world. These changes impacted many spheres of ritualised social life, including burial, funerary and cultural rituals, and rites of passage. In this article, we focus on the reorganisation of life and the reimagining of rituals arising from the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to ancestral veneration in Cacadu and Queenstown (Eastern Cape, South Africa), burial practices amongst Basotho (Lesotho), state funerals in Lusaka (Zambia), funerary and mortuary practice generally in South Africa, and everyday cultural practices of care in Eldorado Park (Gauteng, South Africa). In these sites, lockdown regulations saw ritual, burial and funerary practices carried out in novel, uncanny ways that unsettled communal support systems and obligations. This included the slaughtering of animals, or lack thereof, and changes in customary mourning practices at both communal and state level. In extrapolating the above, this article relies on ethnographic data gathered by way of in-depth interviews, participant observation and auto-ethnography, to explore and discuss how the pandemic has changed and (re)shaped burial, ritual and funerary practices in Southern Africa.

Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri, Jun 30, 2020

Journal of Law and Social Sciences, 2020

Personal name usage in Zambia, as is common elsewhere, has undergone changes – reflecting the ove... more Personal name usage in Zambia, as is common elsewhere, has undergone changes – reflecting the overall cultural and historical changes in the nation. This article identifies the changes which took place in personal naming patterns in Zambia since independence and discusses the wider socio-cultural and political factors which caused the changes in personal naming patterns in independent Zambia. The period after independence in 1964 represents a complex of various interacting histories of the nation, which have significantly impacted naming patterns. These include, transitions from mandatory requirement for adherents of the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian organisations to adopt baptismal names of European saints and enforcement, by school authorities, of usage of European first names by indigenous Northern Rhodesians during British colonial domination, to freedom to choose first names following political independence. Further developments include the closer mingling of local ...

Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri. Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics

Names constitute a key component of the cultural heritage of any region. Though geographically, c... more Names constitute a key component of the cultural heritage of any region. Though geographically, culturally and linguistically apart, Estonia and Zambia share some elements and motivations in naming. Zambia’s British colonial experience and Estonia’s Danish, German, Polish, Swedish and Russian/ Soviet influence in the past made significant changes to personal and place names in both regions. Following independence, both states made strides in the indigenisation of names for promoting local heritage and national identity. Zambia predominantly focused on changing the names of some towns, and of the country (from Northern Rhodesia to Zambia). On the other hand, the Estonian onomastic experience has been more comprehensive – regulating both personal and place names, enacting corresponding laws and maintaining the Institute of the Estonian Language to oversee language and name planning, among other responsibilities. Kokkuvõte. Osward Chanda ja Peeter Päll: Nimekorraldus Sambias ja Eestis:...

United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) Bulletin, 2021

Zambia is made up of 73 ethnic languages and dialects which are clustered around seven national l... more Zambia is made up of 73 ethnic languages and dialects which are clustered around seven national languages namely, Bemba, Kaonde, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja and Tonga. Zambian Sign Language was recently added to the list as the eighth national language. English, a legacy of British colonisation, is the official language. This diverse linguistic heritage is also visible in geographical names.

Journal of Law and Social Sciences, 2020

Personal name usage in Zambia, as is common elsewhere, has undergone changes-reflecting the overa... more Personal name usage in Zambia, as is common elsewhere, has undergone changes-reflecting the overall cultural and historical changes in the nation. This article identifies the changes which took place in personal naming patterns in Zambia since independence and discusses the wider socio-cultural and political factors which caused the changes in personal naming patterns in independent Zambia. The period after independence in 1964 represents a complex of various interacting histories of the nation, which have significantly impacted naming patterns. These include, transitions from mandatory requirement for adherents of the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian organisations to adopt baptismal names of European saints and enforcement, by school authorities, of usage of European first names by indigenous Northern Rhodesians during British colonial domination, to freedom to choose first names following political independence. Further developments include the closer mingling of local tribes/languages, the rise of charismatic churches, and Islam, among others. The methodology includes quantitative text analysis of the publicly available comprehensive University of Zambia (UNZA) graduate directory which contains names of all the institution's graduates for the fifty-year period from its foundation in 1966 to 2016. This work samples 2504 names extracted from the graduate directory between 1976 and 2016 in ten-year-intervals as follows: 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016. The highest institution of learning in Zambia is located in the capital, Lusaka. UNZA students are drawn from multi-ethnic backgrounds, mostly featuring Zambian language groups. The period under consideration includes both people who were born/named before and after independence. Other methods used in the context of the wider thesis were ethnographic field interviews with 23 respondents in Chongwe, Kafue and Lusaka districts, and personal communication with seven others by electronic means. Among the field respondents, four were aged between their mid-60s and 73, while the rest were of varying ages between 20 and 52. The purposive selection criteria for the four elderly participants included age-those who had some experience of life under British colonial rule. The other group was randomly selected, observing balance in gender, socioeconomic status and political views. The study confirms an increase in the usage of first names drawn from local languages. Over the study period, usage of indigenous Zambian personal names increased from 7.9 per cent to 31.6 per cent. The study also shows different generic patterns of first name usage among the different ethnic groups.

ESUKA Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics, 2020

Names constitute a key component of the cultural heritage of any region. Though geographically, c... more Names constitute a key component of the cultural heritage of any region. Though geographically, culturally and linguistically apart, Estonia and Zambia share some elements and motivations in naming. Zambia's British colonial experience and Estonia's Danish, German, Polish, Swedish and Russian/Soviet influence in the past made significant changes to personal and place names in both regions. Following independence , both states made strides in the indigenisation of names for promoting local heritage and national identity. Zambia predominantly focused on changing the names of some towns, and of the country (from Northern Rhodesia to Zambia). On the other hand, the Estonian onomastic experience has been more comprehensive-regulating both personal and place names, enacting corresponding laws and maintaining the Institute of the Estonian Language to oversee language and name planning, among other responsibilities.

American Name Society (ANS) 2020 Conference, 2020

Despite Zambia, like many other nations, being described in gendered terms as “Motherland”, in re... more Despite Zambia, like many other nations, being described in gendered terms as “Motherland”, in reality the names of public places such as streets, neighbourhoods, townships, properties and others reflect a “Fatherland”. In addition, the names still project a colonial heritage, overshadowing local heritage. Nearly 45 % per cent of neighbourhoods in Lusaka bear English names, and slightly more than a quarter of these place names come from names of Europeans who settled on the respective lands in the colonial period. Moreover, as in other sub-Saharan African cities, ambiguity or non-existence of formal naming systems directly impacts on the ability of residents to benefit from basic services such as postal and related courier services, access to certain banking services, and access to technology such as GPS, mobile telecommunications; others are ambulance response and other location-based services and business opportunities that require exact identification of address, property or location. A study in selected African cities revealed that some residents attached having a unique address to higher social status. UNGEGN identified the absence of street naming in some sub-Saharan African cities as a contributing factor to the lack of personal identity.
The exercise of naming and renaming streets, townships and other public places is an essential function in management of land use. It is linked to developments such as township establishment and subdivision. Naming/renaming and/or numbering public places helps to identify properties in the provision of various municipal services, ranging from development to emergency services. The Lusaka City Council does not have policy on naming/renaming public places/properties, especially in highly populated settlements. There is therefore need for a standard system for naming public places in Lusaka District.

University of Helsinki names conference, 2019

Presented at the 'Personal Names and Cultural Reconstructions' conference

Encyclopedia of Zambian Names, 2019

As is common in many Bantu societies, Zambian names come from the natural environment, circumstan... more As is common in many Bantu societies, Zambian names come from the natural environment, circumstances of birth and the social setting. Names from circumstances of birth include physical appearance, position of birth, place of birth, and so on. Those from the natural environment include names from plants, animals and other natural phenomena. Nevertheless, the broadest category in Zambian nomenclature is the socio-psychological environment. My recent unpublished quantitative analysis of selected publicly available school registers in Kitwe and Lusaka showed that between 2013 and 2017, 71% of the 13 thousand students sampled used foreign first names-the remaining meagre percentage used local language based first names. This chapter is, however, descriptive rather than structural, of traditional Zambian anthroponyms as they exist at present.

Anthropology Southern Africa, 2024

The onset of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in late 2019 gave way to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic th... more The onset of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in late 2019 gave way to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic that changed the world. These changes impacted many spheres of ritualised social life, including burial, funerary and cultural rituals, and rites of passage. In this article, we focus on the reorganisation of life and the reimagining of rituals arising from the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to ancestral veneration in Cacadu and Queenstown (Eastern Cape, South Africa), burial practices amongst Basotho (Lesotho), state funerals in Lusaka (Zambia), funerary and mortuary practice generally in South Africa, and everyday cultural practices of care in Eldorado Park (Gauteng, South Africa). In these sites, lockdown regulations saw ritual, burial and funerary practices carried out in novel, uncanny ways that unsettled communal support systems and obligations. This included the slaughtering of animals, or lack thereof, and changes in customary mourning practices at both communal and state level. In extrapolating the above, this article relies on ethnographic data gathered by way of in-depth interviews, participant observation and auto-ethnography, to explore and discuss how the pandemic has changed and (re)shaped burial, ritual and funerary practices in Southern Africa.

Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri, Jun 30, 2020

Journal of Law and Social Sciences, 2020

Personal name usage in Zambia, as is common elsewhere, has undergone changes – reflecting the ove... more Personal name usage in Zambia, as is common elsewhere, has undergone changes – reflecting the overall cultural and historical changes in the nation. This article identifies the changes which took place in personal naming patterns in Zambia since independence and discusses the wider socio-cultural and political factors which caused the changes in personal naming patterns in independent Zambia. The period after independence in 1964 represents a complex of various interacting histories of the nation, which have significantly impacted naming patterns. These include, transitions from mandatory requirement for adherents of the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian organisations to adopt baptismal names of European saints and enforcement, by school authorities, of usage of European first names by indigenous Northern Rhodesians during British colonial domination, to freedom to choose first names following political independence. Further developments include the closer mingling of local ...

Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri. Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics

Names constitute a key component of the cultural heritage of any region. Though geographically, c... more Names constitute a key component of the cultural heritage of any region. Though geographically, culturally and linguistically apart, Estonia and Zambia share some elements and motivations in naming. Zambia’s British colonial experience and Estonia’s Danish, German, Polish, Swedish and Russian/ Soviet influence in the past made significant changes to personal and place names in both regions. Following independence, both states made strides in the indigenisation of names for promoting local heritage and national identity. Zambia predominantly focused on changing the names of some towns, and of the country (from Northern Rhodesia to Zambia). On the other hand, the Estonian onomastic experience has been more comprehensive – regulating both personal and place names, enacting corresponding laws and maintaining the Institute of the Estonian Language to oversee language and name planning, among other responsibilities. Kokkuvõte. Osward Chanda ja Peeter Päll: Nimekorraldus Sambias ja Eestis:...

United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) Bulletin, 2021

Zambia is made up of 73 ethnic languages and dialects which are clustered around seven national l... more Zambia is made up of 73 ethnic languages and dialects which are clustered around seven national languages namely, Bemba, Kaonde, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja and Tonga. Zambian Sign Language was recently added to the list as the eighth national language. English, a legacy of British colonisation, is the official language. This diverse linguistic heritage is also visible in geographical names.

Journal of Law and Social Sciences, 2020

Personal name usage in Zambia, as is common elsewhere, has undergone changes-reflecting the overa... more Personal name usage in Zambia, as is common elsewhere, has undergone changes-reflecting the overall cultural and historical changes in the nation. This article identifies the changes which took place in personal naming patterns in Zambia since independence and discusses the wider socio-cultural and political factors which caused the changes in personal naming patterns in independent Zambia. The period after independence in 1964 represents a complex of various interacting histories of the nation, which have significantly impacted naming patterns. These include, transitions from mandatory requirement for adherents of the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian organisations to adopt baptismal names of European saints and enforcement, by school authorities, of usage of European first names by indigenous Northern Rhodesians during British colonial domination, to freedom to choose first names following political independence. Further developments include the closer mingling of local tribes/languages, the rise of charismatic churches, and Islam, among others. The methodology includes quantitative text analysis of the publicly available comprehensive University of Zambia (UNZA) graduate directory which contains names of all the institution's graduates for the fifty-year period from its foundation in 1966 to 2016. This work samples 2504 names extracted from the graduate directory between 1976 and 2016 in ten-year-intervals as follows: 1976, 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016. The highest institution of learning in Zambia is located in the capital, Lusaka. UNZA students are drawn from multi-ethnic backgrounds, mostly featuring Zambian language groups. The period under consideration includes both people who were born/named before and after independence. Other methods used in the context of the wider thesis were ethnographic field interviews with 23 respondents in Chongwe, Kafue and Lusaka districts, and personal communication with seven others by electronic means. Among the field respondents, four were aged between their mid-60s and 73, while the rest were of varying ages between 20 and 52. The purposive selection criteria for the four elderly participants included age-those who had some experience of life under British colonial rule. The other group was randomly selected, observing balance in gender, socioeconomic status and political views. The study confirms an increase in the usage of first names drawn from local languages. Over the study period, usage of indigenous Zambian personal names increased from 7.9 per cent to 31.6 per cent. The study also shows different generic patterns of first name usage among the different ethnic groups.

ESUKA Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics, 2020

Names constitute a key component of the cultural heritage of any region. Though geographically, c... more Names constitute a key component of the cultural heritage of any region. Though geographically, culturally and linguistically apart, Estonia and Zambia share some elements and motivations in naming. Zambia's British colonial experience and Estonia's Danish, German, Polish, Swedish and Russian/Soviet influence in the past made significant changes to personal and place names in both regions. Following independence , both states made strides in the indigenisation of names for promoting local heritage and national identity. Zambia predominantly focused on changing the names of some towns, and of the country (from Northern Rhodesia to Zambia). On the other hand, the Estonian onomastic experience has been more comprehensive-regulating both personal and place names, enacting corresponding laws and maintaining the Institute of the Estonian Language to oversee language and name planning, among other responsibilities.