Journal of Humanities

Foreword to Journal of Humanities Special Issue: Emerging Issues in Southern Africa: Critical Perspectives

Simon Mathias Makwinja, Yamikani Ndasauka — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

No Abstract.

Legal and Policy Gaps Affecting Digital Rights in Malawi

Jimmy Kainja — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Digital rights are human rights in the digital era, specifically on the internet. Digital rights are becoming critical as people increasingly spend a lot of time online, accessing different services and information that are key to human survival and well-being. Resolution 362 (on the Right to Freedom of Information and Expression on the Internet in Africa) of The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and resolution on the Promotion, Protection, and Enjoyment of Human Rights on the Internet of the United Nations Human Rights Council affirmed that same rights that people enjoy offline must also be protected online. This paper assesses legal and policy gaps affecting digital rights in Malawi, thereby making a critical contribution to scholarship in this area. In addition to the literature and policy review of digital rights in Malawi, the study used a questionnaire as a data collection tool, targeting purposefully selected key informants from Malawi’s telecommunication sector, media associations, NGOs, and telecommunication regulators to assess challenges affecting digital rights in Malawi. The study found that achieving digital rights in the country remains a distant dream for most people due to the expensive cost of the internet, insufficient telecommunication and electricity infrastructure, restrictive legal framework, and low digital literacy. These factors make access to the ICTs and the internet inaccessible for most people, denying them access to and participation in political, social, and economic activities enabled by digital platforms.

The Church and the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Intricate Role of Masculinities of the Clergymen

Rachel NyaGondwe Fiedler, Atipatsa Kaminga, Rhodian Munyenyembe, Francis Kudzula — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This article seeks to determine how the masculinities of clergymen influenced the church’s responses to Covid-19. In Malawi, about 70% of confirmed Covid-19 cases were men, and about 83% of those who died were men. Pastors influence the church’s response to the world. There are many responses from the Churches to the need for prevention and care during Covid-19. Nevertheless, there is a lack of research on the church’s responses to Covid-19 in the global south and how the masculinities of clergymen played a role in the church’s reactions during Covid-19. The article, thus, focuses on clergymen’s masculinities of power and authority in influencing the church’s responses to Covid-19. This article builds on grounded theory and qualitative methods. The article is based on data from two evangelical and two mainline churches in the four cities of Malawi. The study found that the masculinities of clergymen had little influence on the responses of evangelical churches during Covid-19. However, the masculinities of clergymen significantly impacted the responses of mainline churches within the confines of Sunday services but not outside it. We found that African realities, such as African beliefs in healing, among others, limited the role of masculinities of clergymen in evangelical churches during and after Sunday services. This article discusses ways of solidifying the roles of clergymen in the church responses.

Politics and Media: The Covid-19 Pandemic and its Discursive Public

Pascal Newbourne Mwale, Boniface Tamani, Tawina Chisi-Kasunda — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Public communication about the Covid-19 pandemic occurred at the intersection between the media and politics. The two realms, politics and media, have been critical in what the public has been given as ‘information’ about the pandemic in its evolution globally. This barrage of conflicting information ranges from the cause/s of the pandemic, its signs and symptoms, its side effects, its prevention and control measures, its purported cure/s, its vaccines, and its variants. As a result, a great deal of misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and propaganda has been put across to the unwitting public. Media have been the channel of this problematic barrage of the public’s information about the pandemic. In a democracy, media constitute an arena for public deliberation and debate called the public sphere. However, we argue that in the case of the pandemic, mediatised communication has potentially been susceptible and vulnerable to misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories. The overabundance of information about the pandemic in the media is termed infodemic. As vehicles of the infodemic, media have become a conduit for advancing a monological or one-sided view of the pandemic. Consequently, alternative interpretations (or unorthodox views) of the pandemic have been elided, summarily dismissed, or silenced, leading to the monological view about the pandemic, thereby generating what we characterise as ‘pandemic epistemicide.’ This epistemicide, we argue further, has exacerbated what we coin as ‘manufactured mass ignorance’ about the pandemic, leading to global vaccine hesitancyPublic communication about the Covid-19 pandemic occurred at the intersection between the media and politics. The two realms, politics and media, have been critical in what the public has been given as ‘information’ about the pandemic in its evolution globally. This barrage of conflicting information ranges from the cause/s of the pandemic, its signs and symptoms, its side effects, its prevention and control measures, its purported cure/s, its vaccines, and its variants. As a result, a great deal of misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and propaganda has been put across to the unwitting public. Media have been the channel of this problematic barrage of the public’s information about the pandemic. In a democracy, media constitute an arena for public deliberation and debate called the public sphere. However, we argue that in the case of the pandemic, mediatised communication has potentially been susceptible and vulnerable to misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories. The overabundance of information about the pandemic in the media is termed infodemic. As vehicles of the infodemic, media have become a conduit for advancing a monological or one-sided view of the pandemic. Consequently, alternative interpretations (or unorthodox views) of the pandemic have been elided, summarily dismissed, or silenced, leading to the monological view about the pandemic, thereby generating what we characterise as ‘pandemic epistemicide.’ This epistemicide, we argue further, has exacerbated what we coin as ‘manufactured mass ignorance’ about the pandemic, leading to global vaccine hesitancy.

Digital Citizenship as a Requisite competence for Teacher Educators in Malawi

Foster Gondwe, Elias Mwakilama, Bob Maseko — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper explores digital citizenship, defined as norms of behaviour regarding technology use, as a technology competence for teacher educators in Malawi. Developing teacher educators as digital citizens is essential as teacher education institutions change, such as transitioning to online instruction following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. We reviewed the research literature and teacher education policy documents to show how teacher educators can facilitate the development of ethical use of educational technology in Malawi. Theoretically, by foregrounding the ethical use of digital technology in education, we join critical scholarship that reflects on the socio-political implications of digital technology and imagine the future of education through technology. We have proposed professional development activities and content areas for teacher educators. We have also discussed further research that can advance scholarship on the role of teacher educators in facilitating the development of ethical use of educational technology in Malawi.

Implications of Corruption on Public Administration in Malawi

Susan Mtuwa, Asiyati Lorraine Chiweza — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The paper interrogates the functionality of the public administration machinery and the bureaucrat in an environment where institutional corruption exists. The National Anti-Corruption Strategy II (NACS II), a policy document launched by Malawi Government in 2019, recognises corruption as one of the significant impediments to national development targets. NACS II indicates corruption derails social and economic development efforts resulting in poor service delivery. There is a general belief among the citizenry in Malawi that corruption has become institutionalised Chunga and Ned, 2022). The internal systems of institutions that are responsible for the provision of public service have been riddled with corruption manifested through weaknesses in critical areas such as human resource management systems, public procurement systems, and public finance management systems; weak controls in the execution of budgets leading to the misuse of public resources and maladaptive practices such as embezzlement. Based on secondary data, the paper explores the implication of such institutionalisation of corruption in the internal systems of public institutions based on Weberian theory on public administration and the bureaucrats. The Weberian theory argues that a bureaucrat is regarded as an agent of the state who is characterised as functioning not on an inherent sense of motivation but on an externally imposed set of criteria of neutrality, impartiality, ethics and professionalism .

Environmental Pollution and Climate Change: An Ethical Evaluation of the Carbon Tax Policy in South Africa

Zama Nonkululeko Masondo, Ovett Nwosimiri — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Environmental pollution and climate change have been considered the main environmental challenges affecting the world’s ecosystem, including that of South Africa. They cause poverty, land degradation, and health hazards. One of the leading causes and contributing factors of environmental pollution and climate change is carbon emissions into the atmosphere. As a way to curb these emissions, Carbon tax policy has been introduced in various countries, including South Africa. In 2019, a Carbon tax was introduced to assist South Africa in delivering on the commitments made in the Paris Agreement in 2015. If the policy is effectively applied, it will raise revenues while reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Before and after introducing the Carbon tax policy in South Africa, there has been debate and discussion on its impact on the environment, economy, and society. Based on the debate and discussion, it has been observed that more attention is paid to the economic implications and benefits of the tax on South Africa than the ethical implications. Thus, this paper aims to contribute to the ongoing debate and discussion by ethically evaluating the Carbon tax policy in South Africa.

A Chinyanja, Ciyao and Chitumbuka Conception of Malaria

Mzati Nkolokosa — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper explores an African conception and understanding of malungo, the Chinyanja name for malaria. Regarding the cause, symptoms, treatment and prevention of malaria, the dominant Western paradigm is at variance with the Malawian experience of malungo. Malawian indigenous ways of knowing and doing, including treatment and prevention of malungo, derive from centuries of experience that produced an independent epistemology that Western science rejects as myths and misconceptions. For the past four decades, researchers have reported low knowledge of malaria in Malawi while using the term malungo during data collection. Anchored in anti-colonial theory and hermeneutics, this paper reviews the 2017 Malawi Malaria Indicator Survey and discusses malungo from the African epistemology perspective. The paper further suggests that malaria and malungo be studied through Western and African lenses to understand whether or not the two are one or different conditions. A clear understanding of malungo and malaria as one or two conditions would lead to developing competent interventions.