By
This photo essay is about the process of making Nsima flour, the most important food people eat every day in Malawi.
Malawi
The process starts...
Working on the Fields
End of the Season
Waiting for the Harvest
Preparing the Maize
At the Mill:
-
Malawi
Most of the houses in the rural areas of Malawi disappear between the maize fields. -
The process starts...
Maize is planted in the fields and around the houses. -
Working on the Fields
Both men and women work on the fields, one of the daily activities during the rainy season. -
End of the Season
At the end of the rainy season people have to wait until the crops are dried. Slowly, the green colour of the fields turn to brown. -
Waiting for the Harvest
A woman walks in between the maize fields, which are almost ready to harvest. -
Preparing the Maize
The maize is peeled and dried, now it is time to go to the mill. -
At the Mill:
The mill grinds the maize into flour. This flour can be stored and used the whole year until the next rainy season when the process starts again.
You can read here about my fieldwork in Makata village in Malawi.
Liza Koch was a master student Anthropology at the VU. She has written her thesis about the rights and access to customary land for women in southern Malawi
In 2016/17, students in the Master of Social and Cultural Anthropology participated in workshops on ‘Visual and Digital Research Methods’ by Sanderien Verstappen and Lipika Bansal. The workshops aimed at facilitating students and their interlocutors in the field to apply visual methods of research and publication in their research projects. At Standplaats Wereld you can see the end results.