Remembering Kamuzu: The Ambiguity of the Past in Malawi’s Central Region

Abstract

There is now a well-established literature on the relationship between memory and politics in southern Africa, but little work has looked at memory and politics in Malawi. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this article argues that nostalgia for former President Hastings Kamuzu Banda in Malawi’s Central Region is not only a product of dissatisfaction with politics in Malawi in the present but also a consequence of the way in which Kamuzu ruled the country in the past. Kamuzu cultivated a political culture that made the hardships that people experienced under him appear to have more proximate, personal causes. The ambiguity fostered in this respect enables people in rural Lilongwe district to remember Kamuzu with fondness more than two decades after his fall. In making this argument, the article demonstrates how paying close attention to personal experiences and life histories can shed new light on the historical basis of popular memory.