The future we’ve promised our girls
We can do more than tell young African girls to work hard in school. We need a real plan for the fully self-actualized people we want them to be.
Malawi
Disappearing from view
The multifaceted effects of gender-based violence on girls in Malawi.
More than a freedom fighter
A new book about Rose Chibambo lifts the veil of post-colonial romanticism from her story. We get a moving, nuanced portrait in her own words.
The grand plan to save forests has failed
Communities that live and work in African woodlands must become central to conservation efforts.
Our turn to eat
Reflections on Malawi’s recent election rerun, false starts and the hope that public representatives in Africa become accountable to their electorates’ aspirations.
Buddha in Africa
A new documentary about China's colonization of Malawi reveals how one colonial hand opens the door for another.
A democracy of chameleons
Malawi is experiencing a crisis over the legitimacy of the democratic state itself.
The world has lost a giant of development economics
Thandika Mkandawire (1940-2020) bravely stood up for social policies and the developmental state.
Death’s new rules
Coronavirus will force all of us to grapple with a new sense of mortality.
The black son shines
Masauko Chipembere's first solo album is a remarkable achievement and a timely musical reminder of the circular nature of pan-Africanist consciousness.
Gutting the public sector serves no one
Structural Adjustment Programs, implemented by the World Bank and IMF in developing countries, leave the administrative state especially unequipped to deal with climate change.
The narrative of homophobia in Africa
The identities, liberal or homophobe are cultural and political. They are not a perfect mirror of the narrative of homophobia in Africa.
Homophobic liberals
In Malawi, artists, especially poets—usually associated with progressivism and intellectualism—are the vanguard of a new homophobia.
Pentecostal penance provides dubious prosperity
Prosperity preachers in Africa have been the subject of much media coverage, but may not be as popular as it would seem.
The Legend of John Chilembwe
Despite official neglect, the memory of Chilembwe, a resistance leader, lives on as a symbol of courage and sacrifice in Malawi.
Hamba kahle, Raphael Tenthani
Tributes are pouring in from around the world for Raphael Tenthani, who has died in a traffic accident aged 43. Known to BBC World Service listeners for his excellent reporting from Malawi, and to all Malawians as “The Muckraker” for his fearless column in the Sunday Times, Tenthani was a scourge of corrupt political elites […]
Malawi’s crazy mobile phone rates
Why the silence on a story of pressing concern to ordinary Malawians?: Corporations in Malawi have more media influence than the government.
Can Malawi cope with another severe flood?
The floods that have devastated much of the southern region of Malawi represent one of the worst natural disasters in the country’s history.
The birth of Malawian hip hop
Bantu Khamuladzi are pioneers of Malawian hip hop. Like most first generation African hip hop artists, they mimicked American styles, then found their own voices.