Expansion and enclosure: Ritual landscapes and the politics of space in Central Malawi

The article explores historical change in the relationship between two important ritual institutions among the Chewa in Central Malawi. Focusing on the territorial rain shrine at Bunda and the village-based mask societies of nyau, both institutions are seen to form a ritual landscape that informs people's practices and perceptions. While, at the level of ideology, the significance of this arrangement still holds, in actual practice many of the interlocking rules and norms have been given up. The article illustrates this situation by referring to the different developments in the two institutions. While the rain shrine has diminished in importance the mask societies have thrived. Using Appadurai's theory of locality as a heuristic tool, it is argued that the decline of the former is linked to the flourishing of the latter. Rather than becoming enshrined and encapsulated, as has happened with the rain shrine, nyau have managed to remain in command of the ritual media and techniques to produce a meaningful context for social action and identity. In view of the ongoing political and economic crisis of the Malawian nation-state, on the one hand, and the (relative) success of nyau, on the other, this development has led to a reshaping and reordering of the relationship between the rural and the urban in contemporary Malawi.