Osward Chanda
Osward Chanda, alias Chanda Penda, is a PhD candidate in History at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, currently in his second year. He holds a Master of Arts in Cultural Heritage Studies from Central European University and previously taught Intangible Cultural Heritage at the University of Zambia. Framed in the Postcolonial paradigm, his doctoral research titled 'Identity and Social Change in Zambia: Names and Naming Practices amongst the Bemba-speaking People, 1895-1974' seeks to give nuanced contributions to discourses on how European Christian missionaries, the colonial government and labour migration influenced identity and social change among colonised peoples. With a primary focus on personal and place names, he examines archival sources from the White Fathers Archive, the National Archives of Zambia, baptismal records from selected mission stations, and newspapers in addition to oral interviews in both urban and rural settings. The research also highlights the nicknaming of Europeans by Africans, as well as the reclaiming of African identity in the post-independence period. Apart from his active scientific involvement as an onomastician and historian, Chanda also occasionally represents Zambia at the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN).
Recent publications:
Botes, T., Ngqula, Z., Rampeta, B., Baloyi, T., & Penda, C. (2024). Continuity and discontinuity of rituals: Covid-19 pandemic in Southern Africa. Anthropology Southern Africa, 47(1), 59–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/23323256.2023.2263060
Chanda, P. (2020). Personal name trends in independent Zambia: A reflection on the fluidity of living heritage. Journal of Law and Social Sciences (University of Zambia, Lusaka), 4(1), 28–40. https://journals.unza.zm/index.php?journal=JLSS&page=issue&op=view&path[]=43
Chanda, O. (2020). Portable inheritance: The living heritage of traditional names in postcolonial Zambia (Master’s thesis). Central European University, Budapest. https://sierra.ceu.edu/record/b1428492
Chanda, O., & Päll, P. (2020). Treatment of names in Zambia and Estonia: A comparative analysis. ESUKA – Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics, 11(1), 235–247. https://doi.org/10.12697/jeful.2020.11.1.10
Chanda, O. (2019). Gazetteer of Zambian geographical names. Place Names Database (KNAB). Tallinn: Institute of the Estonian Language. http://www.eki.ee/knab/valik/zm_inf.htm