Expansion and Enclosure
Ritual Landscapes and the Politics of Space in Central Malawi
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4603897 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Probst (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 179-198 |
| Publication date | 2002-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southern African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0305-7070 • E-ISSN: 1465-3893 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03057070120117033 |
| OpenAlex | W1991574451 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 19 |
The article explores historical change in the relationship between two important ritual institutions among the Chewa in Central Malawi. Focusing on the territorial rain shrine at Bunda and the village-based mask societies of nyau , both institutions are seen to form a ritual landscape that informs people's practices and perceptions. While, at the level of ideology, the significance of this arrangement still holds, in actual practice many of the interlocking rules and norms have been given up. The article illustrates this situation by referring to the different developments in the two institutions. While the rain shrine has diminished in importance the mask societies have thrived. Using Appadurai's theory of locality as a heuristic tool, it is argued that the decline of the former is linked to the flourishing of the latter. Rather than becoming enshrined and encapsulated, as has happened with the rain shrine, nyau have managed to remain in command of the ritual media and techniques to produce a meaningful context for social action and identity. In view of the ongoing political and economic crisis of the Malawian nation-state, on the one hand, and the (relative) success of nyau , on the other, this development has led to a reshaping and reordering of the relationship between the rural and the urban in contemporary Malawi
Action (physics · Aesthetics · Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Environmental ethics · Flourishing · Identity (music · Ideology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Anthropological Studies and Insights · History · Law · Social Psychology
Guns and rain
Spirit Possession, Modernity, and Power in Africa
The Long Revolution
The Creation of tribalism in southern Africa
The production of locality
The Production of Locality
Catholics, Peasants, and Chewa Resistance in Nyasaland 1889–1939
The Power of Animals
History and tradition in East Central Africa through the Eyes of the Northern Rhodesian Ceŵa
Divinity and Experience
Power and the praise poem
Anglican Missionaries and a Chewa Dini Conversion and Rejection in Central Malawi
Catholics, Peasants and Chewa Resistance in Nyasaland 1889-1939
Those Who Play with Fire
Dancing Prophets
Woodland and Village
A Chewa cosmology of the body
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,2 |
| Citation span | 2006 - 2026 (21) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |