The Traditionalization of Women's Dancing, Hegemony, and Politics in Malawi

Abstract

Gilman explores the idea of "tradition" by teasing out some relationships between contemporary scholarly notions of tradition as process and more conservative ideas about tradition as reified, superorganic, authentic artifacts that are passed through time and space relatively unchanged. Through an exploration of how tradition has been perceived and used in Malawi's political sphere, Gilman argues that though tradition does exist as a selective process—people choose to endow certain cultural practices with special meaning because they link them to the past—they often do so unconsciously. It is because people think of traditions as directly linked to the past that they have a deep-felt commitment to continue them into the future. It is this distinction between the reality of tradition as process and the idea of tradition as authentic and static that makes it powerful hegemonically. In Malawi, political leaders have exploited women as political dancers and praise singers in the name of local "tradition," notably during the dictatorial rule of Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda (1964-94) and throughout the contemporary multiparty era. Because many people in Malawi have come to accept women's political dancing as their tradition, many endow it with special meaning and feel committed to continuing it into the future even when it contributes to the perpetuation of political and economic inequities.