Echoes of Empire: Unraveling the Pervasiveness of Colonial Environmental Injustice in Southern Malawi

Abstract

Environmental injustice remains a pressing issue in marginalized communities. This article, therefore, explores the pervasiveness of colonial environmental injustice in the postcolonial era with a focus on detrimental effects on marginalized communities in Thyolo and Mulanje districts of the Republic of Malawi in Southern Africa. During colonial rule, these areas were subjected to land confiscation and resource extraction, establishing environmental practices that left local communities landless and impoverished. The study examines how colonial legacies have continued to shape land ownership and environmental degradation. This enquiry is guided by three central questions: (1) What is the historical context of colonial environmental injustice in Mulanje and Thyolo? (2) How has colonial environmental injustice harmed the local communities of Mulanje and Thyolo? (3) why policy and legal instruments in postcolonial era fail to address the environmental injustice? Guided by settler colonialism, coloniality, and decoloniality theories, this study draws upon secondary sources, including academic literature, government reports, policy documents, and media articles, to identify patterns of environmental injustice and its socio-economic implications on local communities in the study area. The findings reveal a deliberate and systematic failure by postcolonial governments to address the inherited inequities in land tenure systems and environmental governance, leading to socio-economic disparities. By contextualizing the findings, this article suggests an overhaul of land policy with much consideration for the historical events that have shaped the land dispute between local people in the two districts and estate owners, who happen to be citizens of the former colonial master.