商品詳細

Using a wide range of materials, including archaeological data, oral interviews, archival documents and secondary literature, this is an analysis of how particular historical and cultural forces coalesced during the 20th century to form the basis for the nation of Malawi. The interplay of forces resulted in the Chewa identity, which dominates the political, cultural and social environment of the country today. In identifying how the past created the present, the authors start with the origin of hominids in Malawi and trace the evolution of organization and traditions in the societies of the territory. One of the most notable social and structural forces intruding in this process was European conquest and colonialism, which led to the demarcation of the boundaries of the new state. This imposition did not create a completely new Malawi; instead, it catalyzed the re-creation of an idealized earlier civilization that became the ideological basis for both the nationalist resistance of the 1950s and the ensuing independent nation. The book provides insights into both the historical particulars of Malawi's emergence as a state and the universalistic problems associated with state formation in the 20th century.