Tom Mcnamara | Université de Liège (original) (raw)
Post-doctoral Research at the University of Liege in Belgium studying the anthropology of mining
Doctoral research on the anthropology of Development at the University of Melbourne in Australia
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Among the myriad witchcraft narratives which operate in rural Malawi is the understanding of the ... more Among the myriad witchcraft narratives which operate in rural Malawi is the understanding of the supernatural as empowering the nation's elite and its international donors. This narrative clashes with academic and other literature that ignores contextual understandings of the supernatural and reduces witchcraft accusations to a resistance to development, and leads to the belief (on the part of some academics and many development practitioners) that the solution to witchcraft accusations lies in more development. Conversely, however, this particular Malawian intersection of development and witchcraft/supernatural narratives creates a situation where further development can inadvertently entrench both rural Malawians' renderings of the supernatural and their disempowerment vis-à-vis donors and technocrats. To support this claim, the article builds upon works detailing the intimate relationship between witchcraft and development and foregrounds the Malawi case to show how those invested in development may reinforce witchcraft beliefs.
The use of English in a northern Malawian village often represents a challenge to local norms and... more The use of English in a northern Malawian village often represents a challenge to local norms and morality. This article examines the cultural meaning of the Northern Malawian chiTumbuka language; initially examining how suppression of this language has served as an institutional technique for marginalising Northern Malawians. It then explores how Chewas (the dominant linguistic group) understand English as a language of opportunity, demanding English-based education for their children and code-switching into English as a sign of prestige. The article provides ethnographic evidence of the relationship between language selection and morality among the Tumbuka, the largest northern Malawian cultural group. It demonstrates that the reduced economic opportunities that English mastery provides a Tumbuka means that they cannot use speaking English to claim prestige. Instead Tumbuka associate their peers' English use with a collection of transgressions against a morality that is linked to rigid social hierarchies and a static culture. When speaking English, a Tumbuka was often seen, at the very least, to be clumsily social climbing. They were also frequently understood to be overtly challenging their elders' ability to guide development and to be questioning the need for the continuation of a Tumbuka language and culture. By exploring how language selection is interpreted as communicating these moral contraventions, this chapter builds upon the volume's analysis of how language constructs morality. It demonstrates that language selection interacts with factors like history and economic opportunity to communicate various moral positions.
Malawi is a socially conservative country with a complicated dependence on donors. The treatment ... more Malawi is a socially conservative country with a complicated dependence on donors. The treatment of same-sex sexuality active people in the nation reflects these factors. Homosexuality in Malawi is disparagingly conflated with western decadence and the nation's debate on gay rights convolves homosexual acts, homosexual identities, urbanisation, westernisation and secularism. This article will combine observations from 11 months of living in rural Malawi and an analysis of the major Malawian newspapers between 18 May and 20 October 2012, a period where gay rights was a major news issue. It will explore why the arguments found in Malawian newspapers in favour of removing laws against same-sex sexual activity were unconvincing to rural Malawians and why both rural Malawians and the media perceived a conflict between homosexuality and a rurally embedded static Malawian culture. The article will argue that two factors of rural Malawians' understanding of homosexuality clash with donor concepts of gay rights: their understanding of homosexuality as an 'act' rather than an identity and rural Malawians' belief that homosexuality is an imposed western artifice. It will also demonstrate that these understandings are entrenched by the heavy handed actions of donors and a gay rights discourse based on a homosexuality different to the one rural Malawians understand.
The paper examines the utilization of NGOs in changing conceptions over what makes a person educa... more The paper examines the utilization of NGOs in changing conceptions over what makes a person educated and the advantages and liabilities that presenting one's-self as educated provides among Malawian small farmers. Through an ethnographic account it will be demonstrated that locally embedded actors incorporate the presence of a variety of NGOs in their education related negotiations and meaning making. It is argued that the presence of NGOs provides opportunities for many of the less enfranchised to challenge the notion (often presented by rural Malawian elites) that only those who go to schools are educated. Such claims assist people to negotiate for resources that are either divided among the community or family. Nevertheless, not all poor are in a position to make such claims, for example, female members of poor male-headed households.
Among the myriad witchcraft narratives which operate in rural Malawi is the understanding of the ... more Among the myriad witchcraft narratives which operate in rural Malawi is the understanding of the supernatural as empowering the nation's elite and its international donors. This narrative clashes with academic and other literature that ignores contextual understandings of the supernatural and reduces witchcraft accusations to a resistance to development, and leads to the belief (on the part of some academics and many development practitioners) that the solution to witchcraft accusations lies in more development. Conversely, however, this particular Malawian intersection of development and witchcraft/supernatural narratives creates a situation where further development can inadvertently entrench both rural Malawians' renderings of the supernatural and their disempowerment vis-à-vis donors and technocrats. To support this claim, the article builds upon works detailing the intimate relationship between witchcraft and development and foregrounds the Malawi case to show how those invested in development may reinforce witchcraft beliefs.
The use of English in a northern Malawian village often represents a challenge to local norms and... more The use of English in a northern Malawian village often represents a challenge to local norms and morality. This article examines the cultural meaning of the Northern Malawian chiTumbuka language; initially examining how suppression of this language has served as an institutional technique for marginalising Northern Malawians. It then explores how Chewas (the dominant linguistic group) understand English as a language of opportunity, demanding English-based education for their children and code-switching into English as a sign of prestige. The article provides ethnographic evidence of the relationship between language selection and morality among the Tumbuka, the largest northern Malawian cultural group. It demonstrates that the reduced economic opportunities that English mastery provides a Tumbuka means that they cannot use speaking English to claim prestige. Instead Tumbuka associate their peers' English use with a collection of transgressions against a morality that is linked to rigid social hierarchies and a static culture. When speaking English, a Tumbuka was often seen, at the very least, to be clumsily social climbing. They were also frequently understood to be overtly challenging their elders' ability to guide development and to be questioning the need for the continuation of a Tumbuka language and culture. By exploring how language selection is interpreted as communicating these moral contraventions, this chapter builds upon the volume's analysis of how language constructs morality. It demonstrates that language selection interacts with factors like history and economic opportunity to communicate various moral positions.
Malawi is a socially conservative country with a complicated dependence on donors. The treatment ... more Malawi is a socially conservative country with a complicated dependence on donors. The treatment of same-sex sexuality active people in the nation reflects these factors. Homosexuality in Malawi is disparagingly conflated with western decadence and the nation's debate on gay rights convolves homosexual acts, homosexual identities, urbanisation, westernisation and secularism. This article will combine observations from 11 months of living in rural Malawi and an analysis of the major Malawian newspapers between 18 May and 20 October 2012, a period where gay rights was a major news issue. It will explore why the arguments found in Malawian newspapers in favour of removing laws against same-sex sexual activity were unconvincing to rural Malawians and why both rural Malawians and the media perceived a conflict between homosexuality and a rurally embedded static Malawian culture. The article will argue that two factors of rural Malawians' understanding of homosexuality clash with donor concepts of gay rights: their understanding of homosexuality as an 'act' rather than an identity and rural Malawians' belief that homosexuality is an imposed western artifice. It will also demonstrate that these understandings are entrenched by the heavy handed actions of donors and a gay rights discourse based on a homosexuality different to the one rural Malawians understand.
The paper examines the utilization of NGOs in changing conceptions over what makes a person educa... more The paper examines the utilization of NGOs in changing conceptions over what makes a person educated and the advantages and liabilities that presenting one's-self as educated provides among Malawian small farmers. Through an ethnographic account it will be demonstrated that locally embedded actors incorporate the presence of a variety of NGOs in their education related negotiations and meaning making. It is argued that the presence of NGOs provides opportunities for many of the less enfranchised to challenge the notion (often presented by rural Malawian elites) that only those who go to schools are educated. Such claims assist people to negotiate for resources that are either divided among the community or family. Nevertheless, not all poor are in a position to make such claims, for example, female members of poor male-headed households.