Initiation Rites for Boys in Lomwe Society in Malawi and Other Essays


Book Description

Research in traditional religion in Malawi has shifted from broad ecological religions to communal rituals, as traditional rituals are scrutinised, partly in connection with the study of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and transmission of the virus. The eight essays in the collection demonstrate ample attempts to understand communal rituals in their various contexts.




Church, State, and Society in Malawi


Book Description

Missionary history in Africa asserts that political history on the continent cannot be understood without an in depth understanding of the workings of the missions: missionary activities and ideologies were central to political consciousness. The Anglican Church was involved in society, education, health and politics right from its first foray into Malawi. This study considers the nature of the involvement of that Church in society, and how it engaged with the State from its genesis in the colonial period through the post-independence period to the new post-Banda political dispensation in 1994. It illustrates how the Church was involved on both sides of the independence struggle; and interrogates why it fell conspicuously silent thereafter.




A Practical Guide to Understanding Ciyawo


Book Description

A Practical Guide to Understanding Ciyawo has been developed over fourteen years and systematically explains for the novice the important aspects of Ciyawo grammar for effective communication. A practical grammar guide, the instruction is accessible, giving the basics of pronunciation, to building verb tenses, to ways of combining the different elements of the language in order to form sentences.




Religion and Culture in a Changing Malawi


Book Description

Joseph Chaphadzika Chakanza was born in 1943 at Mchacha Village, T.A. Malemia in Nsanje District where he grew up and discovered his vocation as a Catholic priest, being ordained in 1969. After studies for a Master's degree at the University of Aberdeen, he returned to Malawi and was appointed Lecturer in Religious Studies at Chancellor College, University of Malawi, in 1977. During the 1980s he took study leave to complete his DPhil in Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford. Thereafter he remained at Chancellor College until his retirement in 2007, serving for many years as the inspirational Head of the Department of Religious Studies. After retirement he embarked on a further period of teaching at the Catholic University of Malawi. His stature in the Catholic Church was recognised when he was made a Monsignor in June 2019. He died in his home diocese of Chikwawa in April 2020.




Fake Healing Claims for HIV and Aids in Malawi


Book Description

In this book Klaus Fiedler offers a candid critique of religious faith healing claims - a critique that extents to the Voluntary Male Medical Circumcision Campaign (VMMCC). The book reveals the lack of substantive evidence to back such healing claims and the contradiction between the VMMCC claims and the consequences of those claims in sexual health and practice.




The Zionist Churches in Malawi


Book Description

This book presents an African Christian movement full of vitality and creativity. The reader will meet believers who drink milk so that they may dream about angels, reports about funerals where the mourners dance with the coffin on their shoulders and church members who are ritually not allowed to fertilize their fields or wear neck ties. The authors unique insight into Malawis Christian community addresses important issues in society. Why have Spirit Churches, including Pentecostalism, been so successful in Malawi? Why do some religious groups still refuse medical help, up to the point that children die of cholera? How did the independent churches deal with the colonial trauma? In this masterful portrait, Strohbehn takes the reader from industrial mine compounds to rural colonies, where churches have set up their own spiritual and political rule. He carefully dissects the fine lines between traditional notions and Christianitys influence. We find a spiritual portrait of the Ngoni people, a fascinating cultural analysis of dancing and an encounter with a unique style of preaching.




Wisdom of the Yawo People. Yawo Proverbs and Stories


Book Description

Wisdom of the Yawo People is a collection of traditional proverbs and stories from the Yawo people of South Eastern Africa. The literature contains deep wisdom rooted in African soil, which will be applicable to people everywhere. The proverbs are told in both the Yawo language and English and reveal the end result of greed, laziness and pride. They also promote the value of welcoming strangers, belonging and being respectful. Each proverb and story is accompanied by a short interpretation, and illustration.




Victory Over Fear: Charms, Witchcraft and Worldview in South-Central Malawi


Book Description

In this volume, the author presents much of his field research into the use of African traditional religious charms, in the Zambezi Evangelical churches of South-Central Malawi. He details the kinds of charms used, by whom, exactly how, the underlying motives, and the particular purposes. He shows how charm-dependency creates a problem for discipleship within the churches. An anthology of real-life stories of charm-usage is presented which makes for interesting reading. The basic tenets of a Chewa worldview are also articulated to demonstrate how charm-dependency and other witchcraft related activities are stimulated and perpetuated by deep-seated worldview assumptions. The voices of local pastors, student-pastors, and African authors are ‘heard’ throughout, providing a contextual feel. This book is an excellent practical resource for teaching and learning, for those involved in discipleship, theology, ATR, missions and cultural perspectives.




The Palgrave Handbook of African Men and Masculinities


Book Description

This handbook provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary overview of key theoretical and analytical approaches, topics and debates in contemporary scholarship on African masculinities. Refusing to privilege Western theoretical constructs (but remaining in dialogue with them), contributors explore the contestations around and diversities within men, masculinities and sexualities in Africa; investigate individual and collective practices of masculinity; and interrogate the social construction of masculinities. Bringing together insights from scholars across gender studies, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history, literature and religion, this book demonstrates how recognizing and upholding the integrity of African phenomena, locating and reflecting on men and masculinities in varied African contexts and drawing new theoretical frameworks all combine to take the discourse on men and masculinities in Africa forward. Chapters examine a range of issues within the context of masculinities, including embodiment, sport, violence, militarism, spirituality, gender roles, fatherhood, homosexuality, health and work. This handbook will be valuable reading for scholars, researchers, and policymakers in Gender Studies (particularly Masculinity Studies) and Africana Studies.




The Zionist Churches in Malawi


Book Description

This book presents an African Christian movement full of vitality and creativity. The reader will meet believers who drink milk so that they may dream about angels, reports about funerals where the mourners dance with the coffin on their shoulders and church members who are ritually not allowed to fertilize their fields or wear neck ties. The author's unique insight into Malawi's Christian community addresses important issues in society. Why have 'Spirit Churches,' including Pentecostalism, been so successful in Malawi? Why do some religious groups still refuse medical help, up to the point that children die of cholera? How did the independent churches deal with the colonial trauma? In this masterful portrait, Strohbehn takes the reader from industrial mine compounds to rural colonies, where churches have set up their own spiritual and political rule. He carefully dissects the fine lines between traditional notions and Christianity's influence. We find a spiritual portrait of the Ngoni people, a fascinating cultural analysis of dancing and an encounter with a unique style of preaching.