Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0229/02298.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 18KB | 294 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02298}
$Pretitle{372}
$Title{Malawi
Chapter 5B.   Urban Patterns}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Harold D. Nelson, Maragita Dobert, Gordon C. McDonald, James McLaughlin, Barbara Marvin, Doanld P. Whitaker}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{traditional
spirits
beliefs
malawi
witchcraft
african
christian
church
churches
first}
$Date{1973}
$Log{}
Country:     Malawi
Book:        Malawi, A Country Study
Author:      Harold D. Nelson, Maragita Dobert, Gordon C. McDonald, James McLaughlin, Barbara Marvin, Doanld P. Whitaker
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1973

Chapter 5B.   Urban Patterns

     The traditional pattern of social relations changes in the urban
environment. Status is more clearly based on degree of sophistication, level
of education, type of occupation, and material possessions than on succession
to traditional position. Most of the well-educated Africans, who are also
those with the more remunerative and prestigious occupations, live in towns.
They adopt Western styles of living and tend, increasingly, to be monogamous.
According to a 1972 study, ninety-six couples chose the Western marriage law
in 1970 as compared to only nine in 1966. Such a decision is considered a
manifestation of independence, as the customary African marriage constitutes a
union between two kin groups rather than between two persons. Although the
vast majority of Malawians continue to be married in the customary way, an
increasing number, not necessarily urban, are united under an officially
sanctioned form of marriage that combines Christian rites and customary
practices. There were 8,550 such marriages registered in 1970, but they did
not affect the validity of previously concluded customary marriages.

     Members of the professional elite tend to identify with each other
regardless of ethnic origin. Doctors, registered teachers, members of the
clergy, lawyers, and government officials prefer to marry educated women and
try to give their children a modern education. Also part of the modern elite
are women in nursing and teaching, two of the professions open to them.

     Although the professions and all occupations entailing deskwork are
highly regarded, the majority of urban Africans in Malawi perform manual and
unskilled labor. Most of them are first generation town dwellers, and a large
number are transients. They adapt to the urban social setting in a number of
ways, the most important of which is membership in voluntary associations.
Social clubs, dance teams, unions, the political party, and mutual aid
associations serve to provide the town dweller with a network of contacts and
companions. Some of these associations are based upon ethnic or regional
affiliation, but many cross such boundaries.

     The impact of education and Western values has given rise to new strains
and conflicts that affect the urban family. Traditional kinship relations
consist mainly of a web of reciprocal rights and obligations that in a
subsistence economy lead to relatively little strain; in the long run a man's
obligation to his kin tends to be balanced by their obligations to him. In the
modern urban situation, demands are often made in terms of traditional ties,
but reciprocity may not be possible. Moreover, the burden of such obligations
may prevent a man from allocating his resources in new ways open to him. Thus,
a man who migrates to an urban center may have to support kin who follow him
before he is firmly established himself. Even if his income is fairly high and
steady, he may be unable, because of his obligations to kin, to use it for
other purposes, including a higher level of living for his immediate family.

     Whatever the strains imposed by what has been called family parasitism,
the willingness of many Malawians to assume old obligations in new situations
provides a transitional mechanism for taking care of illiterate, unprepared
rural migrants. They are supported by kin until they find work and are
gradually introduced to urban life-styles.

Religious Life

     In early 1974 official statistics on the religious affiliations of
Africans in Malawi were not available, although unofficial sources estimated
the number of Christians at about 35 percent of the total population and
Muslims at 12 percent. The rest were thought to adhere to traditional African
beliefs. The lack of clear-cut allegiance to a specific creed makes accurate
figures difficult to obtain. Many people perhaps unknowingly combine elements
of traditional beliefs with those of Christianity or Islam. Malawians who
profess to be Christians or Muslims often continue to believe in ancestral
spirits and witches, and many consult a diviner in cases of misfortune.
Conversely, those who do not regard themselves as Christians are affected in
varying degrees by missionary activity, Western education, and other changes
in their ways of life. Part of their traditional system has withered and has
been replaced by elements of Christian-influenced beliefs and practices.

Traditional African Beliefs

     Traditional African religious beliefs are preoccupied with preservation
and increase of the vital life force that is assumed to permeate everyone and
everything. Such beliefs are closely tied to the land, the chief, and the
family group, which includes the living and the dead. These are not beliefs
consciously espoused but are part of the culture into which a person is born.

     Although details of traditional beliefs and practices vary from one
ethnic group to another, the general characteristics are similar. All include
a belief in a creator God or Supreme Being (mulungu in Chichewa) who is
considered omnipotent, timeless, and remote from men. He is not conceived of
as a judge. The Christian missionaries took advantage of this traditional
belief in introducing their concept of God. Under their influence the role of
the high God has become more prominent even among non-Christians.

     Closer and genuinely involved in the affairs of the living, according to
traditional belief, are various spirits who are conceived as intermediaries
between the high God and the living. If the spirits are pleased, say
traditional believers, worldly success is assured; if they are displeased,
members of one's family may fall ill or a current enterprise fail.
Traditionally, set rituals were performed routinely to honor spirits and
incur their good favor. Major rituals were usually tied to special events in
the life cycle (birth, puberty, death) or to stages in the seasons involving
cultivation, hunting, and fishing. By the early 1970s few Malawians
participated regularly in rituals, but many engaged in them in times of
trouble.

     According to traditional belief, there are two kinds of spirits, mizimu
(ancestral spirits) and nature spirits associated with natural phenomena. The
mizimu themselves are not worshipped, but people worship through them, as they
are considered to be near the high God. The mizimu include the tutelary
spirits of particular families who are thought to prevent evil spirits from
entering a homestead where, if slighted, they may provoke illness and other
disasters. Regular prayers and occasional animal sacrifices are offered to
them by the head of the matrilineal or patrilineal group on its behalf. This
continued communication with departed spirits preserves the family as a
tightly knit group; it also encourages conformity because ancestors serve as
models that, at least theoretically, are not to be surpassed. Even among
Christian converts, few would deny that ancestral spirits are still
influential.

     The spirits of departed chiefs are thought to be concerned with matters
of the community at large. The living chiefs are responsible for prayers and
sacrifices at particular times, such as the rain prayers they offer at special
shrines before the start of the rainy season.

     Belief in sorcery and witchcraft is an important aspect of the
traditional belief system and one that seems to persist even when othe