Introduction: An Environmental History of Malawi
In the introduction to this seminal work on the environmental history of Southern Malawi, Brian Morris strongly affirms the need not only to explore the ‘dialectic’ between ‘cyclical time’ (as reflected in agricultural production) and the ‘arrow of time’ (as reflected in unique events)—as the Malawian scholar Elias Mandala extols—but also to view time as a historical process. To this end Morris gives an illuminating account of the history of the Shire Highlands by detailing specific socio-historical processes. These include, for example, the rise of the Yao chiefdoms in the nineteenth century, the development of the plantation economy in the early decades of the twentieth century, the complex events relating to the Chilembwe rebellion of 1915, as well as the conflicts around soil conservation in the post-war years.
A guide to UMass Library resources, web sites, and information about ecovillages around the world, with space dedicated to Living Routes, a study abroad program.