A History of the Chewa People in Africa

The Chewa are an ethnic group residing in Malawi and originally migrated from Malambo, from the Luba region of modern day Democratic Republic of the Congo sometime just after the 1st millennium.

Although the political structure of Chewa society has repeatedly led to disintegration, due to the duel clan and matrilineal nature of chiefly succession, the people themselves have proved themselves to be a strong people. Despite the interference from missionaries and government officials, the Chew had still been able to keep much of their traditions and history alive.

One aspect they were able to preserve was their native religion. In the early 20th century, European missionaries were founded near the Chew lands, determined to save their ‘heathen souls’. However, prior to the Great War in 1914, the Chewa began to fear the pressure of the Christians’ when it came to their culture and their way of live.

Indeed, we can see this through the exile of Chanjiri. In 1907, Chanjiri, a prophetess from Mozambique, denounced the Europeans after the appearance of a fiery meteor. She claimed that they would destroy the traditional African way of life and promised that if people would follow her she would ‘free them from the tax of the English and Portuguese’ and lead them through the imminent conflagration which would accomplish this. She attracted a large following of Chewa, even after her exile into Portuguese territory, but she drew attention to the undercurrent of uneasiness of European rule and religious forcefulness (Page, p.175).

The Chewa are a matrilineal society, and is made up of several complex variables. The husband lives with his wife, their children and her kinsmen. The mother is expected to remain with her brothers and sisters and holds the authority over their children. Subsequently, the husband has little control or power in the family and indeed, it is the wife’s brother or the children’s maternal uncle who holds more power than the husband. He becomes her nkhoswe, the sustainer of their social, economic and legal interests. Without an nkhoswe, the wife would become a virtual slave in both social and judicial matters (Phiri, p.259). Women usually married a few months after reaching puberty (12 – 14 years old), although the men are generally older than their spouses.

Bibliography:

Page, Melvin E. (1980) The Great War and Chewa Society in Malawi, Journal of South African Studies, Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Phiri, Kings M. (1983) Some Changes in the Matrilineal Family System among the Chewa of Malawi since the Nineteenth Century, The Journal of African History, Cambridge University Press.