such fantasies lies the exclusionary persecution into which individuals perceived to be
enemies of the state are caught. Therefore, the chapter also intends to examine the poems
in relation to the socio-political circumstances in Malawi which propel the author into a
second exile experience in an age caught in the webs of transnationalism. By so doing, a
brief illustrative reference will be made to the author’s prison experience in The
Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison and Skipping without Ropes. This will be to the
end of showing their intermediate relevance in linking both the exile’s experiences
configured in Of Chameleons and Gods and The Last of the Sweet Bananas. Generally,
the chapter will unfold as a critique of modernity, and will explore in its second part the
transnational possibilities that result from the abstraction and practice of modernity
within the purview of postcolonial nations.
In initiating a discourse on the condition of the African postcolony, perhaps one thing to
do is concentrate on the state of the nation as presided over by its leadership, and measure
in analytical terms, the level of its success and failure with respect to the social imaginary
that predominates. However, it is more important in this chapter to take a more critical
approach in coming to terms with such a contemporary reality of the African nation-state.
This affords one the ability to confront with a greater sense of critical perception the
artificiality of contemporary political mapping by which national borders are defined.
Mapanje’s Malawi is no exception with regard to this fact. That the modern African state
is a product of western imperialism is a trite yet a useful point of departure in this
discussion. Considering the spatial distance between Europe and Africa, the imposition of
such western terms of geographical mapping could only have been possible through long
days of navigation in the achievement of an agenda of colonialism. Travel, in that literal
sense of the word, even if it implies adventure, strikes one ordinarily as innocent. What is
more, the traversal of one’s immediate physical and natural frontiers is natural with
humanity and stands as an indexical marker of man’s resourcefulness. If such travels
account for discoveries, they cannot be said to be limited to a particular group of people
or race. Nevertheless, by probing into the informing rationale of European travels from
the 18th century and their consequences on the African continent, one realizes that they
were to the end of imposing a new cultural consciousness on Africa after the perpetuation