We are all human: music, diplomacy and the Tumaini Festival in Malawi’s Dzaleka refugee camp

Abstract

The Tumaini Festival is an annual refugee-led arts event that takes place in the Dzaleka refugee camp near Lilongwe, Malawi. According to Malawian law, refugees and asylum seekers are required to live in the camp and not permitted to work; most have been refugees for years and are unlikely ever to be resettled. Xenophobia and anti-refugee sentiment are also widespread in this South-East African country. This is the setting for the Tumaini Festival, ingeniously created by young artists living in Dzaleka to bring visibility to the vibrant talent in the camp, and to build empathy between those who are refugees and those who are not. Drawing on ethnographic research, this article analyses how the organisers strategically conceptualise and utilise the festival's location, organisational structure, sequencing of events, spatial dynamics and the affective and expressive characteristics of music to effect change in international relationships, community formation and individual wellbeing.