'The sinking cenotaph': Jack Mapanje's and Steve Chimombo's contestation of monumentalised nationalist public memories of Malawi's President Banda.

This article discusses Jack Mapanje's and Steve Chimombo's contestations of the constitution and monumentalisation of nationalist public memories of former and first president of Malawi, Dr H.K. Banda. After more than a decade since the end of his rule as life president in 1994 and his demise in 1997, the Malawi government has constituted and monumentalised memories of Banda in Malawi through a monumental mausoleum on his grave and a statue in the capital city, Lilongwe. While others have hailed these monuments as fitting tributes for the 'founding father' and 'nationalist hero' of the nation, Mapanje and Chimombo contest such public monumentalisation of Banda's reign in Malawi in their poetry, suggesting that Banda was a dictator undeserving of such posthumous memorialisation. They also suggest that the narratives constituted in the monuments do not represent the interests of the victims of his dictatorship. This article argues that such contestations challenge the constitution of nationalist memories of postcolonial African nations through leaders who instituted totalitarian rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]