ABSTRACT
The Kunda of Zambia are a societal group that has assimilated many people from other regional societies. The Kunda generally are matrilineal, but because some of the people they have assimilated follow patrilineal kinship patterns there is occasionally competition between maternal and paternal kin for the loyalties of children. Still, visimi, the songs which children sing, are usually taught to them by their mothers or their maternal kin in the various regional dialects of their mothers. The lessons these songs teach tend to be about ways to build and manage alliances for survival. The Kunda explain that these songs teach children to follow the “ways of staying” (makhalidwe, or traditional knowledge) of their mothers and maternal kin.