Treated as ‘niggers’ in our own country: lived experiences of Rastafarians in the Democratic Malawi

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on the lived experiences of Rastafarians in post-1994 Malawi. The one significant change brought about by the elections of 1994 was the amendment of the constitution which had long ignored issues pertaining to human rights. Despite this change, this paper will come to show that democracy did not necessarily improve the conditions of Rastas in Malawi. Some of their concerns include the issue of Rasta children being denied their right to wear dreadlocks into the classrooms, the right to smoke marijuana freely without hindrance from the law and the denial of employment opportunities. This paper brings about the question of whether democratic societies are upholding their ideal of promoting tolerance specifically regarding religious pluralism.

Keywords

• rastafari
• malawi
• democracy
• post-1994
• religious freedom
• constitution
• religious pluralism
• religious minority
• religious discrimination