'Modernisation' was one of the most pervasive ideologies of the twentieth century. Focusing on a case study of the Kariba Dam in central-southern Africa and based on an array of primary sources and interviews the book provides a nuanced understanding of development in the turbulent late 1950s, a time when most colonies moved towards independence.

Autorentext
Julia Tischler is a Researcher in African History at the International Research Center 'Work and Human Lifecycle in Global History' at Humboldt-University, Berlin, Germany. Her PhD dissertation, on which her monograph is based, received the Hedwig-Hintze-Prize for the best doctoral thesis in History, awarded every two years by the German Historical Association (Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands).

Inhalt
Introduction PART I: PLANNING KARIBA 1. Global High Modernism and the Kariba Dam Scheme 2. 'Scientific' Decision-Making? 3. Developing a Powerful White Nation  4. Negotiating Development: the Kariba Loan Talks PART II: PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING THE RESETTLEMENT 5. African Development and the Resettlement Question 6. A Dam Against the 'Primitive': White Discourse about the Gwembe Tonga 7. Renegotiating African Development: the Resettlement in Northern Rhodesia 8. The 'Efficiency' of Settler Rule: the Resettlement in Southern Rhodesia PART III: INTERVENING IN THE KARIBA DAM PROJECT 9. In the Middle of Development: Hezekiah Habanyama and the Gwembe Tonga Native Authority 10. Struggling with Development: the Perspectives of the Gwembe Tonga 11. A Black Dam for the People: Nationalist and Left-wing Critiques PART IV: BUILDING THE KARIBA DAM 12. A Microcosm of the Modern Nation: Controlling the Kariba Construction Site 13. Coping, Protesting, Improving their Lives: Kariba's Workers PART V: THE END OF JOINT DEVELOPMENT: PLANNING LAKE KARIBA Conclusion Bibliography Index