Jack Mapanje as an Imbongi.
HOW JACK MAPANJE FULFILLS THE ROLE OF AN “IMBONGI”- ON HIS ROYAL BLINDNESS PARAMOUNT CHIEF KWANGWALA.
Africa is one of the world 's continents, having a unique physical make up of its own which comprises of some of the distinct features in the likes of mountains, lakes, falls and plains just to mention a few. It is from this outset that one of the integral branches of literature particularly African literature sprouted. Practiced and expressed in the southern central nation of Malawi, African literature was used as a tool in a fight for change and was used to question the monstrous leadership of the Malawi nation which was being practiced by the then country 's president late Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
Chirambo (2009: p1) highlights that the government of former president for life Dr. H.K. Banda and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in Malawi was a dictatorship that relied on coercion as well as mobilization of grassroots popular support and consent to maintain itself in power for 30 years (1964–1994). It was this governance that gave birth to different self camouflaging writing styles, a point which Kerr (1987) agrees to by saying that writers formed a Malawian creative writing movement which used literary methods that frequently outwitted Banda and his ever vigilant formal and informal censors. Jack Mapanje, James Gibbs, Leroy Vail and Landeg White all give accounts of how writers managed to beat censorship. Using oral forms, new metaphors from Malawi 's indigenous languages, suggestive words, puns, and certain popular phrases, they managed to camouflage some of the critical literature for circulation without reprisal. Depicting such a writing style some of the writers emerged as messengers. These messengers in African literature are termed as “Imbongis”. This essay intends to bring to the fore how Jack Mapanje fulfills the role of an imbongi through his writings basing its discussion on a three stanza poem “On His Royal Blindness Paramount Chief
Africa is one of the world 's continents, having a unique physical make up of its own which comprises of some of the distinct features in the likes of mountains, lakes, falls and plains just to mention a few. It is from this outset that one of the integral branches of literature particularly African literature sprouted. Practiced and expressed in the southern central nation of Malawi, African literature was used as a tool in a fight for change and was used to question the monstrous leadership of the Malawi nation which was being practiced by the then country 's president late Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
Chirambo (2009: p1) highlights that the government of former president for life Dr. H.K. Banda and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in Malawi was a dictatorship that relied on coercion as well as mobilization of grassroots popular support and consent to maintain itself in power for 30 years (1964–1994). It was this governance that gave birth to different self camouflaging writing styles, a point which Kerr (1987) agrees to by saying that writers formed a Malawian creative writing movement which used literary methods that frequently outwitted Banda and his ever vigilant formal and informal censors. Jack Mapanje, James Gibbs, Leroy Vail and Landeg White all give accounts of how writers managed to beat censorship. Using oral forms, new metaphors from Malawi 's indigenous languages, suggestive words, puns, and certain popular phrases, they managed to camouflage some of the critical literature for circulation without reprisal. Depicting such a writing style some of the writers emerged as messengers. These messengers in African literature are termed as “Imbongis”. This essay intends to bring to the fore how Jack Mapanje fulfills the role of an imbongi through his writings basing its discussion on a three stanza poem “On His Royal Blindness Paramount Chief
References: Chirambo, R. (2001) “Protesting Politics of ‘Death and Darkness’ in Malawi.” :Journal of Folklore Research 38.3. Chirambo, R. (2009) “Subverting Banda’s Dictatorship in Malawi: Orality as Counter-Discourse in Jack: PDF. Chimombo, S. (1987) “Napolo Poems”. Zomba: Manchichi Publishers. Kerr, D. (1987) “Theater in Malawi ', The Drama Review 31”, Summer. Mafeje, A. (1967) “The Role of the Bard in a Contemporary African Community” :Journal of African Languages.