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.

Changing Patterns of Language Utilization in the Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is situated in the middle of Central Africa. In 1960 she won her independence from France in 1960 and has undergone significant changes within those decades.

One of these changes is regarding languages. The Congo has around 50 different ethnic groups within her borders; these all have their own distinct languages and dialects and the inhabitants all correspond to different varieties.

The government recognises three major languages; French for education and business since gaining her independence, as well as Lingala and Munukutuba (also known as Kituba), as national languages. “All three languages are heard on national radio and television. Lingala, spoken to the north of Brazzaville, grew up as a trade language along the Congo River, which is only navigable above Brazzaville. Munukutuba is spoken to the west and south of Brazzaville and grew up along the trade routes to the ocean, especially along the railroad, which was completed in 1934”.

Because of this, all those who live in the Congo have between subjected to these languages; French is often claimed as the official language, another as the ethnic dialect and another national language. Everyone will learn these, albeit to different levels of proficiency. “Unless these three layers of language are reserved for functionally distinct domains as in diglossic situations, they will be in competition with each other and it is likely that changing patterns of language utilization will be observed. Indeed, it appears that Congo has been undergoing such a change and that many domains of usage are 'leaking', thus creating a linguistic situation similar to what Fishman calls 'bilingualism without diglossia', characterized by instability and transition”.

Scholars have made extensive studies into the changing patterns of language utilization in the Congo, especially into Lingala and Munukutuba. Using questionnaires in French, the results showed that the younger generations were more likely to have a different mother tongue to that of their parents. This could be explained through the shifting political and educational systems that have taken place in recent decades.

The changing mother tongue patterns are of great importance for scholars. For so many centuries, the African people have had their lives altered dramatically due to European influence. It has only been recently that the African people have been able to go back to their roots with pride. The fact that French is being more rapidly replaced by native languages, such as Lingala and Munukutuba, is proof of that.

Bibliography:

Woods, David R. (1994) Changing Patterns of Language Utilization in the Republic of Congo, African Languages and Cultures, Taylor & Francis, Ltd.