Ethnicity, language and national unity: The case of Malawi
Date
1978-09
Authors
Vail, Leroy
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Abstract
In late 1976, in the Mkuyu detention camp, outside Malawi's old colonial
capital, Zomba, there were detained fifty-five university graduates. Forty-five were from the Northern Region (4). Between 1975 and 1976 many senior administrators
and lecturers at the University of Malawi were detained. Over 90 per cent
were from the Northern Region. In early 1976 sixteen people employed at the
vital National Statistical Office were detained. All were from the Northern Region (5). Children from northern Malawi now being enrolled in school are being
entered by their parents as non-Northern in origin and with new surnames. As
a growing manifestation of a deepening 'Chewa' ethnic awareness, anti-Northern
policies are common in Malawi today, destroying rapidly the remaining shreds of
the national feeling inspired by the movement against the Central African
Federation in the late 1950s and early 1960s and bring into question continued
political stability once President Kamuzu Banda, already in his late seventies,
passes from the scene.
Description
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented September 1978
Keywords
Ethnicity. Malawi