"We Abanda Know Chauwa Is Our Mother": Chewa Ethnicity under Indirect Rule in 1930s Nyasaland

Abstract

The article presents a study which examines Chewa ethnicity under indirect rule in Nyasaland during the 1930s. Particular focus is given on the work of Leo Vail who argues that tribalism in southern Africa is a 20th-century development and is the product of colonial administrators, indirect rule, missionaries and African intellectuals. It examines the ideas the Chewa community what it means to be Chewa, and how a Banda clan identity emerge as an alternative to a unified Chewa ethnic identity.