Women’s History Museum of Zambia premieres the second season installment of “Leading Ladies”. The series is a short animated Zambian podcast series that tells the obscured and often hidden stories of Zambian women who have held significant positions of leadership.
The debut season featured women from the pre-colonial era who have made important but largely untold contributions to Zambia’s history. Season two will focus on the post-colonial narrative of women’s leadership that has not been fully explored.
The animated podcast is a collaboration between the Women’s History Museum and Hivos Southern Africa Region that has partnered with the organisation to create season two with season three in the works, that will include stories from Malawi and Zimbabwe. This will facilitate the goal to broaden the narrative to include stories from across the border and contribute to the discourse of erasures of history common in the Global South.
The museum sourced the stories from the documents of the National Archives of Zambia as well as many of the individuals who are still living and able to share their story. In season two the stories present a more contemporary and recent accounts of Zambian Leading Ladies – the characters include, a scientist, a truck driver, a racial justice advocate, a justice seeker, a health care advocate and many more. The stories were written by Mulenga Kapwepwe and the podcast was produced by Samba Yonga, both who are co-founders of the museum. The podcast also features the artistic talent of a number of young Zambian artists that the museum continues to collaborate with.
“These stories challenge the idea that, in the past, women were not capable of being leaders or contributing significantly to our societies”, says co-founder of the museum and story writer Mulenga Kapwepwe.
The idea is to have it as a travelling exhibition which can be shared on many platforms such as radio and TV both locally and internationally.
“The aim of the series is to highlight and mainstream these stories so Zambia’s historical narrative gains new knowledge and perceptions of women are influenced positively”, says partner co-founder and producer of the podcast, Samba Yonga.
The series will start airing on 16th September, 2020 on all the museums online platforms. The web series will be free and available for everyone to access.
this is great stuff. we as a party and government who have championed women’s involvement in governance (e.g, first female vice president of the country under our leadership) are very interested in such forums. please continue. you have our blessings