Time

Part 2 of a Blog Series on Time

A Malawian View of Time

A Malawian friend told me some time ago about how time is conceptualised in a different way in Africa when compared with how people think about it in the west.

Having reflected a little bit on what he said I am thinking that it fits in with my previous 'Time' series of blog posts on time (How Lifestyle Affects Time).

It was explained to me that in Africa time is more typically thought of a going around (in a circle) rather than going forward only in a straight line (a western way of thinking about it).

So, for example in Africa if something does not happen at this time today, it might well happen around about this time tomorrow. Or perhaps expressed in a slightly different way, 'that sort of thing needs to happen, perhaps in the morning, or in a particular context and if we miss that point now well then circumstances will come together in the right way again later, possibly tomorrow'.

Presumably then...

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Blog Series on Time

1. Understanding - How Lifestyle Affects Time

This article will look mainly at the implications of the closeness of a community and the patters of interactions, as a way of understanding how people view time. The frequency of chance face to face encounters is significant.

How should someone new to or visiting Malawi cope with some of the differences between life in 'the west' and life in Malawi? Although relevant for visitors and tourists this is perhaps even more important for people who wish to work in Malawi. A lot of westerners who do work in Malawi come here for a short period of time to work on a project...

One difference that is often commented on is time.

My answer to the first question above, the first sentence in this blog post, is that the first thing to do when it comes to handling cultural or societal differences is to understand why there are differences. The reason for this is that if you understand why things are different your...

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