Violence and 'othering' in Colonial and Ostcolonial Africa. Case study: Banda's Malawi. pp. 197 - 213

Abstract

This papar takes binary epistemological and ontological configurations and subjects them to analytical review within the broad context of colonial and postcolonial states in Africa. During a process of conceptual interrogation, an 'othering' trend - and the violence by which the trend too often is accompanied - is traced to their colonial origins, and it is argued that the trend has been passed ford from a colonial to a postcolonial era. The paper's thematic trajectory not least is motivated by a warning issued by Marcus Ramagole, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Venda, against repeating in post-apartheid Sout Africa "the scourge of conquest and domination". Ramagole observes, "a culture of domination is self-perpetuating and requires the presence of the 'other' to dominate, whether the 'other' is white or African". He further asserts "the challenge thrust on us by the responsibilities that come with power is to use it differently to those who once oppressed us" (...