Tales of Political Monuments in Malawi: Re-storying National History

Abstract

Countries in Africa have many monuments memorialising specific figures and events in the history of their nations. Statuaries feature prominently among these monuments. This paper examines the positioning of three statues in Malawi. One of the statues is that of the first president of the country, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, another is of the third president, Bingu wa Mutharika, and the other – a statue that was never erected – that of India’s national hero, Mohandas Gandhi. Through an examination of the discourse that has emerged around the monuments, the paper argues that these statues exist as articulations of a fluid and changing vision of nationalism in the Malawian imaginary, which sometimes translates into the emphasising of certain aspects of history, while other aspects become reconfigured under nationalist narratives. These articulations are captured in various forms of media, including poetry, academic discourse, online petitions, and social media memes, among others.