A Different Yardstick: The Gendered Political Discourse in Malawi

The 2014 election campaign in Malawi focussed on gender rather than facts. In this brief we argue that the campaign showed a strong, conservative, culturally driven bias against Banda and other women leaders. the discourse on Banda’s performance and subsequent loss in the election was not so much in terms of a leader who failed, but as a woman who failed. Through an analysis of the widely distributed video clip entitled Sesa Joyce Sesa ( Sweep out Joyce sweep her out ), and other videos, pictures, and blogs, we demonstrate that the yardstick in politics in Malawi is different for women. Malawi held tri-partite (local, national assembly, and presidential) elections in April 2014. The incumbent female president Joyce Banda lost the presidency and the number of women in the parliament was reduced from 43 to 33. During the 2014 election campaign there were numerous, very negative portrayals of President Joyce Banda as a woman. The campaign discourse was couched within her gender. Banda’s womanhood was used against her to undermine her legitimacy as president, and to judge her performance. Typically and repeatedly it was said “a woman cannot lead a country”, “a cow cannot pull a cart”, and “the head of the house is a man”. Joyce Banda’s Presidency Vice-President Joyce Banda came to power by default when President Bingu wa Mutharika died in office in April 2012. Initially, Malawians welcomed her ascendancy to power, and many held the expectation that she would turn the economy around. Banda’s response to citizen expectations, donor expectations, and her own ambitions were to make simultaneous approaches. She quickly restored donor confidence, she devaluated the local currency and reduced the import bottlenecks, and she improved the relations with neighbouring countries. She went on to reverse a number of her predecessors’ less popular decisions, and she improved the human rights situ

Zur Aufgabe des christlichen Kommunikators: Theologische Überlegungen

Es geht mir hier darum, einige Gedanken zu äußern, wie wir als Christen unsereAufgabe als Kommunikatoren sehen können, welche Bedeutung sie hat und welcheHerausforderung sie für jene bedeutet, die aktiv im Kommunikationswesen engagiertsind. Ich bin der Ansicht, daß Kommunikatoren zunächst einmal Kommunikatoren sind und dann erst Christen. Die zwei Komponenten sind beim christlichen Kommunikator in einer Person vereint. Schon allein die Tatsache, Kommunikator zu sein, bedeutet eine sehr hohe Aufgabe. Darüber hinaus aber auch noch Christ zu sein besagt, daß die Aufgabe als Kommunikator von christlichem Ideengut erfüllt und belebt wird. Dies ist von besonderer Bedeutung, denn nicht jeder Kommunikator geht seiner Aufgabe unter christlichen Aspekten nach. (...)EnglishBeing a communicator is already a very sacred job. God created men as a social being and society cannot be without mutual information, without communication. Thus, the communicator is standing right in the heart of human existence. In fulfiHing his task, he is helping in God's plan towards perfection of the world, a plan, which, according to God's will, can only be accomplished through mutual giving and receiving. The picture of the Communicator in the Bible is double: the tower of Babel, where men try to build up a world without God, but consequently, breaking down communication, and Pentecost, where all men understood the message of the Spirit despite the different languages. Christ becoming man became God's communication with and for us. In him, all communication is highlighted. Also theOld Testament prophet is example for the communicator. He was not determinated by a defined function in society, but was bound only towards the Word of God. The prophets were God's conscience with the people like any modern communicator has to be today. lt is the duty of the christian communicator to be at this service for the establishment of God's Kingdom

Central bank governance, accountability and independence : the case of the Reserve Bank of Malawi.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.This dissertation measured using appropriate methodology the degree of independence of the Reserve Bank of Malawi based on the Reserve Bank of Malawi Act of 1989. Furthermore the dissertation assessed the vulnerability of this independence in the context of good governance and a variety of internal and external threats on the independence. This comes from the understanding that even though central banks are accorded independence, there are situations where practice deviates from what the charters state. Therefore the dissertation provides recommendations on how to strengthen the Reserve Bank Act to support its legal independence

"Marital sexual infidelity as a risk factor for HIV infection : the role of the Anglican Church in Malawi in modelling mutual relationships in Christian marriages".

M. Th. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2015.This textual study has found that marital sexual infidelity behaviour (MSI) is a risk factor for the spread of HIV. The study has showed that the Anglican Church in Malawi (ACM) stresses morality to build strong marriages and enhance fidelity; however this study has revealed that the ACM has not yet developed teaching materials on pre-marital counselling and programmes that can enhance mutual relationships and just sex in marriages. This study confirmed that dependence on morality alone cannot be a solution to reduce MSI. Therefore it proposed the use of alternative means of engaging married partners in order to assist them to enhance mutual relationships and just sex for the purpose of decreasing MSI which in turn may lower HIV infection in marriages. Using the theoretical framework of justice in sexuality proposed by Margaret Farley (2008), the study proposes that the ACM should development faith based pre-marital counselling teachings and programmes that can enhance mutual relationships and just sex in marriages in the hope of building strong marriages. The study uses the methodological framework of context, text and appropriation. The context is MSI and the aim is to invent alternative methods of enhancing mutual relationships and just sex which can then be appropriated in the ACM

Race at the margins: A Critical Race Theory perspective on race equality in UK planning.

Despite evidence of the growing ethnic diversity of British cities and its impact on urban governance, the issue of racial equality in UK planning remains marginal, at best, to mainstream planning activity. This paper uses Critical Race Theory (CRT) to consider the reasons why the ‘race’ and planning agenda continues to stall. CRT, it is argued, offers a compelling account of why changes in practice over time have been patchy at best, and have sometimes gone into reverse

Clergy in Place in England : Bias to the Poor or Inverse Care Law?

Faith traditions frequently proclaim priority for the poor and socially marginalised, emphasising individual and collective responsibility towards those in poverty. Ordained ministers or clergy – possibly the main investment of religious organisations – play a key role in encouraging and fulfilling that commitment in their local settings. This paper considers the availability of clergy to provide pastoral care in areas of high socio-economic deprivation. Data from the 2011 census of England are used to correlate area variations in the number of clergy with household and neighbourhood deprivation. Findings show that clergy are distributed inversely to socio-economic deprivation at the ecological level. Fewer clergy are available or readily accessible in the most deprived areas, raising questions about their ability to respond pastorally and act politically on behalf of the poor. Market forces that draw clergy deployments towards less deprived areas warrant further investigation