Goodbye, Dr Banda: Lessons for the West From a Small African Country

‘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.’ How to engage with cultures profoundly unlike our own? We travel the world compulsively, wanting to reach out, but seldom feeling sure of how to do so. A small African country presents us with a near perfect case study. From David Livingstone and the early missionaries, through British colonialists, to today's tourists, aid workers, and even Madonna, Malawi has experienced the whole gamut of Westerners, all trying to connect. This has made for an extraordinary meeting of worlds, between one of the continent's most fascinating indigenous cultures, and the best and worst of our own. Unexpected and exhilarating, by turns edifying and uncomfortable, it is a story with urgent lessons for our vexed age of identity crisis and multi-cultural faltering. Here tribal ritual collides with Ancient Greek theatre; roving classicists with ancestral spirits; poets and pop stars with missionary-explorers; hippies and kleptocrats with long-suffering peasants – a tumultuous masquerade around the enigmatic Dr Banda.

About the Author :
Alexander Chula is an NHS doctor and writer. He was born and raised in London, and is of mixed Thai and British ancestry. He read Classics at Worcester College, Oxford, then medicine at the University of London. He has worked in Malawi both as a teacher of Latin and Greek and as a doctor.

Review :
'Extremely rich and interesting... Many people, alas, read to confirm their prejudices; this book will make people reflect on and think about what they have never considered before' 'Chula's powerfully thought-provoking book shows the folly of treating Western high culture as merely a tool for self-flagellation. Properly embraced, it can be a route for engagement with the equal wealth of other cultures, rather than division' 'Triumphantly upends the familiar narrative . . . a quxiotic attempt to show us what countries can learn about love and art from rural Malawians' 'This is an impressively researched, beautifully written book. I loved the empathy Chula brings to Malaŵi’s myths, our past and our present. The history of missionaries like Robert Laws and Chauncy Maples showed his thoroughness in research. This is a book to read and enjoy' 'Goodbye, Dr Banda is one of those rare books that are hard to classify, but are all the more delightful for that very reason. It is a highly unusual personal memoir, but it is also a sympathetic and perceptive portrait of a country and its past. It is a quite superb book that will linger with the reader for a long time after it is read' 'A rewarding, delightful and personal examination of Dr Banda’s struggle to reconcile his indigenous Chewa culture with the culture of the Greek and Latin Classics ... Radical, deep and surprising, with gentle but trenchant observations on African versus Western cultural dynamics' 'This book gets better and better as it goes along. Fascinating, extremely well written, and a very important – though under-stated – contribution to the ongoing debate about colonialism' 'Alexander Chula casts a subtle but penetrating light on both Africa and the West. There is nothing quite like it' 'A riveting – and cautionary – tale of a collision of two cultures, as seen through the eyes of a young classicist turned medical doctor, who discovers that Ancient Greek legend and the rituals of the Chewa people have much in common. Brilliantly observed and packed with insights, the result is an African classic' 'I have read this with great enjoyment. Learning about the tradition of classics in Malawi since Banda is fascinating, and the author’s personal experiences as a teacher at Kamuzu Academy – and at Oxford prior to that – are vivid, memorable, and described with directness and elegance' 'Absolutely engaging from beginning to end, Goodbye, Dr. Banda is very likely to position Chula as a leading literary voice in years to come. I recommend this work for the way it informs, its cultural insights, and for its keenly observed detail' 'Timely, erudite, and a fascinating insight into the complex diversity that is the real modern Africa' 'Astute and thoughtful observations of an African microcosm contain important lessons for the larger discussion of the impact of Western colonialism. There is wisdom here, elegantly expressed' '[Chula] has an authoritative voice, an empathetic writing style and a very shrewd eye. He has written a social monograph, a national history, and philosophical treatise on our times that deserves a warm and wide reception' 'A superbly written dedication to the beauty and strength of modern Africa. Essential reading' 'A stimulating read that will linger in the mind!'