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Title: The Chiwaya War: Malawians and the First World War by Melvin E. Page ISBN: 0-8133-0735-X Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $80.00

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: Invaluable Study of an African Colony at War
Comment: This long-awaited work sadly seems to have been in print for all of 30 minutes (sic). "The Chiwaya War" is based on Melvin Page's 1977 dissertation, and normally the passage of 20+ years means that the research gets stale. In this instance, the long hiatus enabled him to write an even finer book, with mature reflection leading to better insights. It exemplifies the New Military History, with more attention given to what happens behind the front, greater focus on the ordinary rank-and-file, and examination of the effects of militarization on society at large. With Nyasaland/Malawi's dense population, it was a prime recruiting ground for askaris (soldiers) and even more for tengatenga (the Carrier Corps) who performed vital military labor throughout 1914-18. Malawian combat troops earned a deserved, if partly stereotyped, reputation for courage. Page shows clearly that forced migration and withdrawal of large amounts of labor from rural districts led to food shortages, changes in the gender division of labor, the spread of infectious disease, and a famous 1915 rebellion led by John Chilembwe. "Chiwaya War" also demonstrates how the oral data available in each generation changes over time; the author's 1970s field sojourn was probably the last chance to interview appreciable numbers of former carriers, askaris and their wives. It has a much deeper grasp of Africans' experience of war than the standard battle-oriented accounts of the East African campaign like C. Miller, "Battle for the Bundu" and L. Mosley, "Duel for Kilimanjaro." Such a close study of Malawi's wartime ordeal will never be possible again, unless it draws heavily on Page's own data. A similar work on Senegal is J. Lunn, "Memoirs of the Maelstrom." On Chilembwe, see G Shepperson & T. Price, "Independent African" and L. White, "Magomero." A good recent study of military life in East Africa is T. Parsons, "The African Rank-and-File."