1. The problem of the history of the 'Nkhamanga Empire' is discussed in L. Vail, 'Suggestions towards a reinterpreted Tumbuka history', in B. Pachai, ed., The Early History of Malawi (London, 1972), pp. 148-67.

2. For discussions of this process, see L. Vail, The making of the "Dead North": a study of Ngoni rule in northern Malawi, c. 1855-1907', in J. Peires, ed., Before and After Shaka: Papers in Nguni History (Grahamstown, 1981), pp. 230-67; and L. Vail, 'Ethnicity, language and national unity: the case of Malawi', in P. Bonner, ed., Working Papers in Southern African Studies, Vol. 2 (Johannesburg, 1981), pp. 121-63; as well as the essay by Vail and White in this volume.

3. In this context, it is worth noting that, although I canvassed African academics widely for papers for this conference, not a single one would undertake the writing of a paper which might be seen as 'subversive' to the goal of political 'nation-building'. break