Monday, 30 June 1986: A Brief Visit to the University of Zambia

August 8, 12:45PM, Pretoria, South Africa 

I spent several hours on the campus of the University of Zambia which was temporarily closed due to a student boycott and protest over alleged governmental interference in campus affairs.  It is an attractive, sprawling campus about five miles from downtown Lusaka.  There is new construction going on which is probably a good thing but I was more concerned about the lack of recent additions to the library’s geography collection.  There was almost nothing on the shelves published since the late 1970s.  I assumed that indicated funding problems.


An early photo of the University of Zambia campus which was founded in 1966.  Photo source:  https://www.unza.zm/international/?p=history


I had a short meeting with the head of the geography department, Dr. E. Shamilupa Kalapula, a friendly African chap who had received his PhD. from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.  Clark is recognized as one of the leading geography departments in the eastern U.S.  There are about a dozen geographers on the University of Zambia staff, and I learned that they are involved in a number of local research projects, focusing especially on urban development.

From Dr. Kalapula’s 1987 paper, “Electrification of peri-urban areas in Lusaka, Zambia”  Source:  Geography, Vol. 72, No. 3 (June 1987), pp. 243-246

 

 


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