Research Areas

History of development, Culture and Ethnic identities in 20th and 21st-century Malawi,

Profile

Gift Wasambo Kayira holds a doctorate degree in history from West Virginia University. His research interests revolve around histories of development, culture and ethnic identities in 20th and 21st century Malawi. Some of his works have appeared in the Journal of Eastern African Studies, Journal of Public Administration and Development Alternatives, the African Studies Quarterly, and Journal of Southern African Studies. He is the author of The State and the Legacies of British Colonial Development in Malawi: Confronting Poverty, 1939-1983, Lexington Books, 2023.

Publications

• Journal Article
  Gift Wasambo Kayira and Paul Chiudza Banda (2023), "The Cotton Industry and the Struggle to Arrest Poverty in Malawi: A Historical Stocktaking", Malawi Journal of Social Science 22, pp. 29-51 (2023)
  https://www.unima.ac.mw/announcements/mjss-volume-22-25-04-2023

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• Book
  Gift Wasambo Kayira (2023), The State and the Legacies of British Colonial Development in Malawi: Confronting Poverty, 1939-1983. Lanham, New York, London: Lexington Books. (2023)
  https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666921656/The-State-and-the-Legacies-of-British-Colonial-Development-in-Malawi-Confronting-Poverty-1939%E2%80%931983

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• Book Chapters
  Paul Chiudza Banda and Gift Wasambo Kayira (2023) “Malawi-China Relations: A Strategic But Weak Developmental Partnership,” in Bekeh Utietiang Ukelina (ed.), Who Own Africa? Nationalism, Investment, and the new Scramble. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2022, pp. 246-268. (2023)
  https://lup.be/products/184904?_pos=2&_sid=843f0b4f1&_ss=r

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• Journal Article
  Book Review: Gift Wasambo Kayira (2022), “Constructions of State Opposition in Colonial and Postcolonial Malawi,” Journal of Southern African Studies, 425-427. A Review of Paul Chiudza Banda, The State, Counterinsurgency and Political Policing in Colonial and Postcolonial Malawi. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2020). (2022)
  

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• Book Chapters
  Gift Wasambo Kayira and Paul Chiudza Banda (2022), “Ethnicity, Regionalism, and Nation Building Challenges in post-1994 Malawi: Whither a Federal State System,” in Kenneth R. Ross, Asiyati L. Chiweza, & Wapulumuka O. Mulwafu (eds.), Beyond Impunity: New Directions for Governance in Malawi. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 282-305. (2022)
  https://openuctpress.uct.ac.za/uctpress/catalog/view/12/13/60

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• Book Chapters
  Bryson Nkhoma, Gift Wasambo Kayira, and Paul Chiudza Banda (2022), “Pandemics, Politics and Governance: Contestation Over State Management of Covid-19 in Malawi,” in Kenneth R. Ross, Asiyati L. Chiweza, & Wapulumuka O. Mulwafu (eds.), Beyond Impunity: New Directions for Governance in Malawi. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, pp. 324-326 (2022)
  https://openuctpress.uct.ac.za/uctpress/catalog/view/12/13/60

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• Journal Article
  Gift Wasambo Kayira, (November 2021), "Petitioning the State: Group Councils and the Development of Political Consciousness in Malawi, 1940s-1950s" Journal of Southern African Studies 47, no. 6, pp. (2021)
  https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2021.2003137

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• Journal Article
  Book Review: Gift Wasambo Kayira (2021), African Studies Quarterly 20, no. 3 (October 2021): 123-125. A Review of Yusuf, M. Juwayeyi, Archaeology and Oral Tradition in Malawi: Origins and Early History of the Chewa. Cape Town: UCT Press, 2020, pp. 242. (2021)
  

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• Book Chapters
  Gift Wasambo Kayira (October 2021) “Community Development in Post-independence Malawi: Deciphering some local Voices.” in Nicholas Githuku (ed.), A Tapestry of African Histories: With Longer Times and Wider than Geopolitics. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2021), 223-244. (2021)
  https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793623942/A-Tapestry-of-African-Histories-With-Longer-Times-and-Wider-Geopolitics

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• Book Chapters
  Mavis Thokozile Macheka and Gift Wasambo Kayira (2021), “Confronting Poverty, Hunger, and Food Insecurity: Lessons from Malawi and Zimbabwe,” in Godwell Nhamo, David Chikodzi and Kaitano Dube (eds.), Sustainable Development Goals for Society Vol. 2 (Springer, 2021): 33-45 (2021)
  https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-70952-5_3

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• Journal Article
  Gift Wasambo Kayira, Paul Chiudza Banda and Amanda Robinson, (2019), "Ethnic Associations and Politics in Contemporary Malawi, "Journal of Eastern African Studies 13, no. 4, pp. 718-738. (2019)
  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17531055.2019.1678925

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• Journal Article
  Gift Wasambo Kayira and Paul Chiudza Banda (2018), "Chiefs and the Politics of Local Government in Malawi: A Historical Perspective" Journal of Public Administration and Development Alternatives 3, no. 1.1, pp. 84-97. (2018)
  https://journals.co.za/doi/10.10520/EJC-11d9f07804

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