Stewart Maganga

 In 1978, Michael Jackson and his brothers composed and sang a song called "Destiny". In actual fact, the album that they would release that same year would be called "Destiny". This was a year prior to Michael Jackson releasing the albums "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" four years later. Just to bring some context to the story altogether, it is worth mentioning that in 1968, Michael and his four brothers signed a contract with Motown  Records resulting in their debut album released the following year titled "Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5" which culminated in the release of their debut single "I Want You Back". This would be followed by three other notable singles, "ABC", "The Love You Save" and "I Will Be There". Other singles include "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Looking Through the Windows". Thereabout 1972, their hit-making days were drying out. This was as a result of pre...

 On 21 April 1966, Haile  Selassie I, the Emperor of Ethiopia, made a historic visit to Jamaica. For many Jamaicans, it was the visit of a respected African leader. For the Rastafari movement, however,  it was something far more profound: the arrival of a figure they revered as divine. Sixty years later, the visit remains one of the most powerful symbolic moments in the history of Rastafari for it represents a rare encounter between a global socio-religious movement and the living person it identifies as the embodiment of divinity.                                                           A Day That Jamaica Had Never Seen Before When Selassie's plane arrived at the airport in Kingston, thousands of Rastas had gathered to witness the moment. The crowd was electrified with excitement. Nyabinghi drums were beating, chants filled the...

It dawned on me that yesterday would have marked the seventh anniversary of the passing of Afro rock- folk singer, Tony Bird, a name not spoken of in the mouths of most Malawians. Could it possibly be that he is tied to the complex colonial legacy with Nyasaland to the extent that his name is not often mentioned when it comes to exploring the annals of Malawi's history? I thought that I would take this moment to discuss my thoughts on a man who yes was white especially when considering the complex race relations that existed in colonial Nyasaland and as someone who is a descendant of a people that were once colonised as well as a music enthusiast.                                                                                        ...

 In the next four years, the Rastafari movement will have entered its 100th year. This is quite an achievement for a movement that has continued to survive despite the odds. To me, it speaks of the resilience of this oft-misunderstood movement.  It also speaks of how the Rastafari movement in my country Malawi has continued to survive despite the question that Margaret Nyondo Musyani  posed in the title of her 2006 thesis "Is Rastafari Going to Survive in Malawi?". I will speak about in depth in just a moment but for now it is imperative that I begin by providing my assessment on the state of Rastafari scholarship specifically in view of the upcoming 100th anniversary coming up in four years. There is no doubt that a lot has been achieved in the last decades in so far as scholarship is concerned. This is significantly so as the movement has moved from being dismissed as a fringe spiritual-cultural expression to one that has gained recognition in academic, theological and ...

 Hello and welcome I'm Stewart Maganga, an anthropologist by training. You might wonder how I ended up in this field. To be honest, I never planned it. Back in 2002, my goal was to become a lawyer. At that time, I had no idea what anthropology was—hardly surprising, since most secondary schools worldwide, including those in Malawi, don’t offer it. My path changed when I was preparing to enter university. That same year, I found myself sharing a flat with a Rastafarian—a person and culture I knew nothing about at the time. That encounter sparked a curiosity that would shape the rest of my life. I had always been drawn to the humanities and social sciences, but I didn’t expect this curiosity to turn into a lifelong passion for anthropology and, specifically, for studying Rastafari in Malawi and Africa. I’ve long wanted to create a blog, but life’s busy schedule often got in the way. Now, I’m making the time. This space is where I share my thoughts, research, and reflections on topi...