Page 60 - 2020 SoM Journal Vol 73 No 1 FINAL_Neat

52 The Society of Malawi Journal

examines the ways in which mainstream Christian churches have used their
privileged position to shape educational policy for their own ends.
Augustine Musopole contrasts the career of an anti-colonial activist
about whom McCracken had written, Flax Musopole, with that of Flax's cousin,
the Reverend Amon Musopole, the writers' father. He examines their very
different response to the struggle for independence and relates this to their
attitudes to Christianity. Here and in numerous other chapters the reader is made
aware of the closeness of some of the contributors to the issues and people about
whom they are writing. Without losing academic impartiality the book is clearly
about real people, a skill of which McCracken himself was such a master.
In two chapters Bryson Nkhoma examines the changing agricultural
policies of the Colonial Government and their limited effectiveness in the face of
the strategies used by Malawian farmers to set their own agricultural agenda. Gift
Kayira provides a somewhat similar analysis of the role of the post-colonial
Government in regulating the economy, and the constraints on its effectiveness.
In a chapter written with Paul Chazunda Banda, Kayira takes up
McCracken's interest in groups of marginalised people by focusing on the largely
unacknowledged role of women, workers and youth in the struggle for
Independence. Mwayi Lusaka engages with his theme of the development of
ethnic identities in pre-colonial time by examining the origins and the roles of the
presently emerging Heritage Associations in what he calls a new mode of heritage
production. Ruth Mandala examines the significance of McCracken's work on
urban history in the context of Africa's urban historiography and demonstrates
how it helps to lay the groundwork for future studies.
In the final chapter Kenneth Ross describes the contribution of John McCracken,
along with that of two other Scotland-based scholars, Andrew Ross and Jack
Thompson, to the historical understanding of Malawi, and assesses the
contribution of their lives and work to relations between the two countries.
In addition to the general bibliography there is a full list of McCracken's
Malawi related publications, both of which provide a valuable resource for further
research.
I am sure that this book would have given the man it honours much
pleasure and satisfaction, not least in its list of contributors, a mixture of
established scholars and emerging talent, but also the breadth of the topics that it
covers and the interconnectedness of a number of different disciplines. These
things give evidence not only that his legacy is appreciated but also that by
building on it, scholars are moving the study forward. Ever a team player, I am
sure that John would be delighted.
Politics, Christianity and Society in Malawi sets itself the aim of setting
a new benchmark for the future study of Malawi's history and to lay a sound
foundation for further study. I think readers will agree that it has reached this goal
and as such is a fitting and worthy tribute to the man who inspired it.