Negotiating Fashion Identity in Malawi: The Interplay of Culture, Politics, Religion, and the Emerging Middle Class

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Project period: 01 December 2025   To: 30 June 2026

Project details

This project examines how fashion and dress practices in Malawi function as powerful sites of identity negotiation, cultural expression, and social meaning. Grounded in indigenous and decolonial knowledge perspectives, the study explores how clothing reflects and shapes ethnicity, gender, religion, politics, and emerging middle-class aspirations. Using qualitative methods—interviews, visual analysis, and participatory documentation—the research treats fashion as lived knowledge rather than mere aesthetics. By centering community voices, artisans, and everyday wearers, the project documents Malawi’s sartorial heritage and contemporary transformations, contributing to African-centered scholarship while informing cultural preservation, creative industries, and socially grounded policy and education.