Goodbye, Dr Banda : Lessons for the West From a Small African Country Hardback
by Alexander Chula
Hardback
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Description
‘You may never have been, may never go, may never even have heard of the place – but Malawi will repay your attention.
It is one of the smallest, poorest countries in Africa, often overlooked; but its relationship with us in the West has been extraordinary.’In a ruined dictator’s palace, Alexander Chula – a classicist-turned-doctor, fresh out of Oxford – stumbles upon an oak treasure chest.
Inside is a priceless, antique edition of Julius Caesar’s Gallic War.
This unexpected talisman of Western high culture belongs to the mercurial Dr Banda, a man of many parts: scholarly physician, anti-colonial hero, brutal tyrant, and fallen philosopher-king. Banda leads the author deep into the heart of this mysterious country, there to uncover a bizarre meeting of worlds: between one of Africa's most fascinating indigenous cultures and the best and worst of our own.
Here tribal ritual collides with Greek theatre; masked dancers with roving classicists; poets and pop stars with missionary-explorers; hippies and kleptocrats with long-suffering peasants. The story is enigmatic but exhilarating, by turns edifying and deeply uncomfortable.
But we would do well to examine it: Malawi presents urgent lessons which resonate piercingly in our vexed age of culture wars and identity crisis.
Information
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In Stock - More than 10 copies availableFree UK DeliveryEstimated delivery 2-3 working days
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:320 pages
- Publisher:Birlinn General
- Publication Date:04/05/2023
- Category:
- ISBN:9781846976278
Information
-
In Stock - More than 10 copies availableFree UK DeliveryEstimated delivery 2-3 working days
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:320 pages
- Publisher:Birlinn General
- Publication Date:04/05/2023
- Category:
- ISBN:9781846976278