Religion and Culture in a Changing Malawi

Joseph Chakanza

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.

Sujets

• Ethnic Studies
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: Luviri Press
• Date de parution: 23 janvier 2024
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9789996060250
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

R  C   C M

Joseph Chaphadzika Chakanza

Religion and Culture

in a Changing Malawi

Copyright 2023 Kenneth R. Ross and Montfort Media

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from the publishers.

Co-Published by Luviri Press P/Bag 201, Luwinga, Mzuzu 2

and Montfort Media P.O. Box 280, Balaka

ISBN ISBN eISBN

978-99960 -60-20-5 (Luviri Press) 978-99960-77-25-8 (Montfort Media) 978-99960- 60-25-0

The publishers are represented outside Malawi by: African Books Collective Oxford ( [e-mail] ) www.africanbookscollective.com

Index: Hope Kaombe

Cover Design: Josephine Kawejere

Religion and Culture in a Changing Malawi Joseph Chaphadzika Chakanza Montfort Media

Luviri Press Balaka/Mzuzu 2023

Table of Contents Editorial Introduc.on

Part 1

Expressions of Malawian Culture Tradi.onal Religion: Dead or Alive? Proverbs: The Wisdom of the People Nyau Cult Today: What is it? (Part 1) Nyau Cult Today: What is it? (Part 2) Nyau Cult – Chris.an Church Today The Tchopa Dance: Nature and Performance Coping with Famine: the Tradi.onal Way Preachers and Healers: Their Knowledge and Power

Part 2

Sex, Marriage and Family Life Sex and Sexuality: Cultural Perspec.ve Culture, Gender and HIV/AIDS: Soulmates? Cultural Prac.ces and HIV/AIDS Infec.on HIV/AIDS and Culture in Malawi The Mganda Dance: Wedding Songs with a Purpose Polygamy in Times of HIV/AIDS Pandemic Tradi.onal Birth Rituals in Malawi TheMbumba(Lineage) Set Up Today in Malawi Orphans and Orphan Care

Part 3

Health and Healing Tradi.onal Medicine: Has it Any Future? Tradi.onal Healers in Malawi, Part 1 Tradi.onal Healers in Malawi, Part 2

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20 21 27 33 38 47 53 60 65

70 71 77 83 87 93 100 104 111 117

121 122 126 134

Health and Healing: Spirit Mediumship Kunadza Mchape ’95 The Search for AIDS Cure: Malawi Herbalists Charisma.c Movement: Stop Suffering!

Part 4

Death and Dying Dying a Happy Death: The African Perspec.ve Death and Funeral Rites: A Reflec.on Graveyards: Past and Present Funerals in Town: How Affordable? Communica.ng with the Ancestors Today

Part 5

Cultural Issues in a Changing Society Culture and Change in Malawi Incultura.on in the African City: Cri.cal Appraisal Malawi aer May 18: Life in all its Fullness Bribery and Corrup.on: Any Cultural Roots? Sorcery: Pastors’ Unresolved Issue What to a Name? Culture and Religious Influences Spirit Mediums Get Chris.an Symbols Taéoo and Taéooing – A Survey The Chiefs’ Media.on Offer: Any Prospect? The Culture behind Shops with Names The ‘Bwalo Paradigm’: Strategy for Development Culture: Hindrance or an Asset to Empowerment

Publicaons of Joseph Chaphadzika Chakanza

Index

141 147 154 160

167 168 172 178 185 192

198 199 207 210 216 219 225 231 237 243 248 253 258

265

269

Editorial Introduction

Critic and Champion of Malawian Religion and Culture

Kenneth R. Ross and Fulata Lusungu Moyo

The late Joseph Chaphadzika Chakanza, Catholic priest, University Professor, and community leader, had a rare understanding of culture and religion in Malawi. As a keen observer of society and a tireless researcher, Chakanza was well placed to assess what was taking place at the cultural and religious levels as the country passed through a time of rapid social change during the last years of the twentieth century and the early years of the twenty-first. It is fortunate that during those years, from 1995 until 2008, he was a frequent contributor toThe Lampmagazine, writing almost invariably on issues related to Malawian culture and religion.

The Lampwas a product of the movement for multi-party democracy and saw its mission as bringing a Christian critique to the political life of the nation. Wisely, however, its editors realized that the best way to fulfil this mission would be to take account of life in Malawi on the broadest possible canvas. With its eighth issue in April 1997, the magazine changed the strap-line in its title so that it was no longer just "Christians and Politics” but now "Christians, Politics and 1 Culture.” Time and again it was to Chakanza that its editor would 2 turn for articles on the cultural dimension.

1  Editorial: "The Elder Brother,"The Lamp8 (April-June 1997), 1. 2  See further Kenneth R. Ross, “Beïer to Light a Lamp than to Curse the Darkness: The ContribuÔon of The Lamp Magazine to Public Theology in Malawi 1995-2022,” in Felix Chimera Nyika, Mzee Hermann Y. Mvula and Kenneth R. 6

This book comprises the articles that Chakanza published inThe Lampduring these eventful years. Taken together, they magazine represent a kind of encyclopaedia of Malawian religion and culture. As a magazine aimed at the general public,The Lamp required Chakanza to write in an accessible style. His articles were limited in length to around 1,500 words and he was not permitted to include scholarly references or footnotes. In one way, this was a limitation since he was not able to demonstrate the erudition that underpinned his writing. On the other hand, it forced him to distil his extensive knowledge into a relatively brief and easily digestible text. As a result, the articles collected in this book can serve as an introduction for anyone seeking to better understand Malawian culture and religion. There is an extensive scholarly literature on many of the themes that feature here but what can be harder to find is an authoritative yet accessible introduction. The present book is offered as primer that can help those finding their way into the study of Malawian religion and culture while at the same time it will still satisfy the curiosity of those who have already advanced in this field.

The articles have been reproduced here exactly as they first appeared. No attempt has been made to update them. This runs the risk that they might appear dated as many of them are now twenty years old, or more. This might include in some cases the use of a language that is outdated, for example, in terms of the HIV/AIDS discourse as well as some gender stereotypical language. Most of the themes, however, are so deeply grounded in enduring cultural realities that they have perennial relevance. Even when the articles are concerned with specific events that were taking place at the time, these are treated in a way that sets them in the context of the underlying cultural dynamics. While cultural change is one of the themes to which

Ross (eds),A Theology of Public and Polical Engagement, Zomba: TSM Press, 2023, 152-78.

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Chakanza constantly returns, it is striking that the issues with which he grapples remain current two decades later. The book is therefore published in the confidence that its concerns remain relevant and important 20-30 years after the articles were originally written.

As a highly trained cultural anthropologist, Chakanza was equipped to critically appraise the Malawian culture to which he himself belonged. He thus became a “critical insider” – able to combine knowledge derived from his own upbringing and personal experience with the conceptual tools of scholarly analysis. A distinctive strength in Chakanza’s work was the combination of appreciation of traditional culture with the ability to embrace emerging perspectives especially in gender equality and human rights. As a practicing Catholic priest, he was a “participant observer” in the meeting between Malawi’s traditional religions and the Christian faith, building with all his originality on the work of another anthropo- logist-priest with long experience of the Lower Shire, Matthew 3 Schoffeleers. It is well known that Malawi underwent a political transition during the early 1990s, which resulted in the country abandoning the one- party system that had prevailed since the attainment of independence 4 in the 1960s in favour of a democratic multi-party system. Chakanza was one of the scholars who contributed to the study of the political 3  See Maïhew Schoffeleers,River of Blood: The Genesis of a Martyr Cult in Southern Malawi, c. AD1600, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992; Maïhew Schoffeleers and A.A. Roscoe (eds),Land of Fire: Oral Literature from Malawi, Lilongwe: Likuni Press, 1985; Maïhew Schoffeleers,Religion and the Dramasaon of Life: Spirit Beliefs and Rituals in Southern and Central Malawi, Blantyre: CLAIM-Kachere, 1997. 4  See Denis Venter,Malawi’s Transion from One-Party Autocracy to Enfeebled Democracy, Mzuzu: Mzuni Press, 2023; Kings M. Phiri and Kenneth R. Ross (eds),Democrazaon in Malawi: A Stocktaking, Blantyre: CLAIM- Kachere, 1998.

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change, particularly through his analysis of the role of the Catholic Church, which has been widely acknowledged to have been the catalyst of the democratic movement that transformed Malawi’s 5 political landscape. However, where Chakanza made his most distinctive contribution was in exploring and discerning the cultural dimensions of the social change that was unfolding in Malawi around the turn of the millennium.

The advent of multi-party democratic government in Malawi also entailed changes that had a profound effect at the cultural and religious levels. A tightly disciplined and highly controlled society rapidly gave way to one marked by a high degree of increased individual freedom. At the same time, a relatively isolated and enclosed society gave way to one that was ever more exposed to the influence of global cultures. This was the time when the internet was invented and gradually became accessible to more and more of Malawi’s citizens. Henceforth their way of life would be influenced not only by their ancestral traditions but also more and more by cultural forces originating elsewhere. At the same time, this was the period during which Malawi was hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This was not only a medical emergency but also a cultural challenge, one that affected society at many levels and called for a rethinking of many issues. In this regard, Chakanza’s call to Malawian communities to re-evaluate some of their cultural practices that otherwise provided an enabling environment for increased incidence of HIV/AIDS was courageous and urgently relevant.

When it comes to the question of the value or validity of traditional culture in contemporary society, Chakanza tends to take a nuanced

5  Joseph C. Chakanza, “The Pro-Democracy Movement in Malawi: The Catholic Church’s ContribuÔon,” in Matembo S. Nzunda and Kenneth R. Ross (eds),Church, Law and Polical Transion in Malawi 1992-94, Gweru: Mambo- Kachere, 1995, 59-74.

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