Tinali, one of the callers last night, asked whether I did research before going to Malawi. More specifically, she referred to research on local culture (in areas of the country I would be working) and the impact that my presence might have on interviews. For information on local culture, I went to Mara Banda and Ellen McCurley (Pendulum Project). For more general information and advice, the list of people I sought out is long. I also looked to articles, studies, and books, and read about work that was being done in different parts of the country.
But now, Tinalii’s question makes me wonder, what books, articles, websites, studies, movies, etc, would any of you recommend to someone going to do work in Malawi? For example, as I mentioned yesterday, I might be presenting for a class of university students who will be going to Malawi this summer. I’d love to offer them some of your ideas.
Could we get a list going on this site?
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Thank you to countless people in the US and abroad for their time, encouragement, ideas, and financial contributions, and to the Malawians I met who shared such personal stories.
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THANKS to the following for their involvement:
It was nice that Tina brought that issue up. Often people leave for Malawi with very limited knowledge of what to expect from the people and how to act, and it can be awkward. While it is not possible to read all there is about Malawi, its different cultures and all the different places of interest (and nobody has the time for that), it's important in my opinion to know a bit about the culture, especially if one is going to work with people and their communities. Unfortunately, there's not much on the internet about Malawi. Anyone got some links? The only ones I could find are for people visiting as tourists.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting, Chris. I just saw that you reviewed the following books on your site, and will add them to the list.
ReplyDelete"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope"
William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
http://chibwana.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/to-the-boy-who-harnessed-the-wind/
"Dead Aid"
Dambisa Moyo
http://chibwana.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/developmentaid/
Here's one more link that I found which contains some important information for those planning on going to Malawi. http://www.friendsofmalawi.org/learn_about_malawi/index.html
ReplyDeleteOh, here's one more link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.malawimissions.org/