Living for the City: Social Change and Knowledge Production in the Central African Copperbelt by Miles Larmer

Living for the City is a sweeping history of the Central African Copperbelt across the twentieth century, with a special focus on the late colonial and early independence eras. Although the book is primarily a social history, it also offers an intellectual history, emphasizing the process of knowledge production over time. Its scope is broad, covering the lived experiences of Copperbelt residents on either side of the Zambia–Democratic Republic of Congo border in everything from nationalism to music. Each chapter offers a distinct set of arguments related to a theme of social or political life. To make these arguments, Larmer draws richly from numerous archives, more than 100 oral interviews, and earlier scholarship that is alternately treated as primary (as it contributes to intellectual history) or secondary source material. Throughout the book, Larmer contrasts the experiences of residents on either side of the border, complicating the meta-narrative of the Copperbelt...