Goodbye, Dr Banda

Lessons for the West From a Small African Country

Alexander Chula

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Hardback

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English

Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited
01 September 2023

Biography: science, technology & engineering; Memoirs; Social & cultural history; Cultural studies; Travel & holiday

'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.'

In a ruined dictator's palace, Alexander Chula - a classicist-turned-doctor, fresh out of Oxford - stumbles upon an oak treasure chest. Inside is a priceless, antique edition of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. This unexpected talisman of Western high culture belongs to the mercurial Dr Banda, a man of many parts: scholarly physician, anti-colonial hero, brutal tyrant, and fallen philosopher-king.

Banda leads the author deep into the heart of this mysterious country, there to uncover a bizarre meeting of worlds: between one of Africa's most fascinating indigenous cultures and the best and worst of our own. Here tribal ritual collides with Greek theatre; masked dancers with roving classicists; poets and pop stars with missionary-explorers; hippies and kleptocrats with long-suffering peasants.

The story is enigmatic but exhilarating, by turns edifying and deeply uncomfortable. But we would do well to examine it: Malawi presents urgent lessons which resonate piercingly in our vexed age of culture wars and identity crisis.

'Alexander Chula uses the skill of a born storyteller to describe an extraordinary meeting of worlds...

Brilliantly observed and packed with insights, the result is an African classic.' - Michael Holman

By: Alexander Chula
Imprint: Polygon An Imprint of Birlinn Limited
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 474g
ISBN: 9781846976278
ISBN 10: 1846976278
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 01 September 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

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.

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

'Alexander Chula uses the skill of a born storyteller to describe an extraordinary meeting of worlds. Poets and academics confront kleptocrats in a land of long-suffering peasant farmers. Brilliantly observed and packed with insights, the result is an African classic' -- Michael Holman