A Democracy of Chameleons: Politics and Culture in the New Malawi (Kachere Books, No. 14.)
from Nordic Africa Institute
After thirty years of autocratic rule under "Life President" Kamuzu Banda, Malawians experienced a transition to multi-party democracy in 1994. A new constitution and several democratic institutions promised a new dawn in a country ravaged by poverty and injustice. This book presents original research on the economic, social, political and cultural consequences of the new era. A new generation of scholars, most of them from Malawi, cover virtually every issue causing debate in the New Malawi: poverty and hunger, the plight of civil servants, the role of the judiciary, political intolerance and hate speech, popular music as a form of protest, clergy activism, voluntary associations and ethnic revival, responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and controversies over women’s rights. Both chameleon-like leaders and the donors of Malawi’s foreign aid come under critical scrutiny for supporting superficial democratization. The book ends with a rare public statement on the New Malawi by Jack Mapanje, Malawi’s internationally acclaimed writer.
Dancing Prophets: Musical Experience in Tumbuka Healing (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology)
by Steven M. Friedson
from University Of Chicago Press
Tumbuka healers diagnose diseases by enacting divination trances in which they "see" the causes of past events and their consequences for patients. Music is the structural nexus where healer, patient, and spirit meet—it is the energizing heat that fuels the trance, transforming both the bodily and social functioning of the individual. Friedson shows how the sound of the ng'oma drum, the clapping of the choir, call-and-response singing, and the jangle of tin belts and iron anklets do not simply accompany other more important ritual activities—they are the very substance of a sacred clinical reality.
This novel look at the relation between music and mental and biological health will interest medical anthropologists, Africanists, and religious scholars as well as ethnomusicologists.
The Story of Medicine and Disease in Malawi: The 130 Years Since Livingstone
by Michael King
from S.N.
The End of Chidyerano: A History of Food and Everyday Life in Malawi, 1860-2004 (Social History of Africa)
by Elias C. Mandala
from Heinemann
In this groundbreaking work, Mandala argues that there is more to food studies than the analysis of famine--that hunger exists only as an integral part of abundance. Basing his case on the history of southern Malawi, he identifies several factors that explain why, though notorious for its annual food deficits, the region is not a land of frequent famine. By proving that seasonal hunger does not lead to famine in the absence of political crisis, and showing in detail how rare events get their meaning from the everyday, Mandela underscores the need to understand the daily and seasonal routines of food cultivation and eating in their own right.
Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa: The Making of Malawi and Zambia, 1873-1964 (Ctr for Intl Affairs)
by Robert I. Rotberg
from Harvard University Press
The Power of Animals: An Ethnography
Malawi in Pictures (Visual Geography. Second Series)
Race and Politics: Partnership in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
Magomero: Portrait of an African Village
by Landeg White
from Cambridge University Press
An insider's view of African historians' principal concerns--the slave trade, Christian missions, colonialism, land alienation and nationalism--is presented through this personalized account of a Malawi village from 1859 to the present.
African historians' principal concerns--the slave trade, Christian missions, colonialism, land alienation and nationalism--are viewed from the perspective of a Malawi village from 1859 through the present.
An Introduction to the History of Central Africa: Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe
by A. J. Wills
from Oxford University Press, USA
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