ABSTRACT
In part one of this chapter I examine the opportunity structure of Zambia’s urban centres, by focusing upon the employment situation as it developed along the Line-of-Rail. That situation is then contrasted, in part two, with opportunities found in Mbala, the rural district town nearest to the Mambwe area. Developments in Line-of-Rail employment are assessed on the basis of secondary material; while the situation in Mbala is portrayed with the help of first-hand data. For Mbala I collected labour histories in three UNIP sections of Masaiti, the town’s squatter settlement. These labour histories contain information about the nature of employment and social organization in the district town and also, importantly, about the nature of Mambwe return migration.
