Young Born-Again preachers in post-independence Malawi: the significance of an extraneous identity

During the early 1970s Blantyre, Malawi's main urban centre, witnessed the emergence of a new religious phenomenon. Young boys and girls, referring to themselves as 'aliliki' (preachers), began to attract crowds by conducting large revival meetings. Today, there are some thirty to forty of these Born-Again preachers, who between them run about fifteen organizations. The young preachers promulgate a fundamentalist Christian doctrine characterized by strict morality. This article examines who these young preachers are and how they operate. It also analyses the role of glossolalia or speaking in tongues, arguing that the Born-Again youth find in this religious behaviour the means to claim moral superiority over the older generation. The article shows that the Born-Again identity is constructed in such a way that it fosters a sense of assertiveness among the young by suggesting a religious and moral authority which is exclusively reserved for the 'true' Christian. Notes, ref