#Malawi  And By Extension Africa Not  Poor  But A Victim Of  Western Social Constructions  Or  Labels Of Poverty!

Malawi is not a poor country but rather a victim of Western constructions or representations or labels of poverty. It is those constructions or representations of labeling our communities or perceiving them in Western terms as poor that culminates in conditioning our populaces into a mindset of perceiving themselves as miserable lot deserving to be pitied or offered handouts because they are presumably poor. If  I were to ask..... in traditional communal terms what defines one as wealthy or well off even among the Zulu of South Africa today? ..... Obviously it's having a good homestead, livestock, good produce , a good family.... no deprivation etc!            In Urban terms or Western terms I do not know whether that could be construed as poverty or wealth as we construe wealth in having millions of money and/or assets. The argument I'm driving at is that it actually might be in the first place our perceptions of wealth and poverty, albeit Western perceptions that actually culminated in us being labeled poor not the status quo or the social reality of a poor Malawi in particular or poor Africa in general. Go to South Africa.... among the Zulu for instance as already alluded to.... what is their perception of wealth and what is their perception of poverty? We might argue in terms of civilization quite OK that maybe in terms of poor health services, in terms of standards of education, in capitalist gross domestic product terms etc ...or in terms of social amenities..... we could be construed as backward but I strongly believe that does not make us a poor people as a country. Socially or economically different might suffice as backward, underdeveloped or poor might even be a gross overstatement. The point is our poverty as Malawi or even as Africa in general is in actual sense a western conditioning ....or....rather a western label....or… a western social construction. It is a psychological western label that became a self-fulfilling prophecy. A conditioning ...a mindset that needs to be worked on and liberated from chains of western representations and constructions.  Perceptions especially among grassroots people that need to be changed. A shift or overhaul  of paradigm to think in other terms outside the western box.... belief in ourselves and in the fact that we are actually not poor but a rich people. A blessed people with rich resources and not only that but a culture rich in #Umunthu that we need not let go but sustain with pride!

Marisen ‘Maestro’ Mwale