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| John McCracken obituary | John McCracken obituary |
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| My friend and former colleague John McCracken, who has died aged 79, was an outstanding academic and Malawi’s leading historian. | My friend and former colleague John McCracken, who has died aged 79, was an outstanding academic and Malawi’s leading historian. |
| Born in Edinburgh, the second son of two GPs, Kenneth McCracken and his wife, Marjory (nee Davidson Kelly), John was brought up in Kelso and went to St Mary’s school, Melrose, and Sedbergh school, in Cumbria. At St John’s College, Cambridge (1959-62), where he studied history, John encountered the radical new approach to imperial history that was driven by the views of the colonised as well as the colonisers. | Born in Edinburgh, the second son of two GPs, Kenneth McCracken and his wife, Marjory (nee Davidson Kelly), John was brought up in Kelso and went to St Mary’s school, Melrose, and Sedbergh school, in Cumbria. At St John’s College, Cambridge (1959-62), where he studied history, John encountered the radical new approach to imperial history that was driven by the views of the colonised as well as the colonisers. |
| In 1964 he took up a temporary teaching post at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, spending a night in jail after a peaceful protest against the closure by Ian Smith’s government of the only newspaper sympathetic to African nationalism. Later that year John was part of the ecstatic crowd in Blantyre on the day Nyasaland became the independent nation of Malawi, the country that was to inspire his work for the next 50 years. | In 1964 he took up a temporary teaching post at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, spending a night in jail after a peaceful protest against the closure by Ian Smith’s government of the only newspaper sympathetic to African nationalism. Later that year John was part of the ecstatic crowd in Blantyre on the day Nyasaland became the independent nation of Malawi, the country that was to inspire his work for the next 50 years. |
| Declining a post at Edinburgh University, for four years from 1965 John joined the group of historians teaching at the University College of Dar es Salaam who were pioneering a cutting-edge, pro-African understanding of colonial history. At Cambridge he had met Jane Purkis; they married, and Jane took up a job as a university administrator at Dar es Salaam. However after only 10 months of marriage, in 1966 she died in a car accident in Tanzania. | Declining a post at Edinburgh University, for four years from 1965 John joined the group of historians teaching at the University College of Dar es Salaam who were pioneering a cutting-edge, pro-African understanding of colonial history. At Cambridge he had met Jane Purkis; they married, and Jane took up a job as a university administrator at Dar es Salaam. However after only 10 months of marriage, in 1966 she died in a car accident in Tanzania. |
| John completed the PhD that, much extended, would be published as his first book, Politics and Christianity in Malawi 1875-1940 (1977). In 1968 he took up a post at the new Stirling University, where he remained until his retirement in 2002, marrying Juliet Clough, a journalist, in 1972. | John completed the PhD that, much extended, would be published as his first book, Politics and Christianity in Malawi 1875-1940 (1977). In 1968 he took up a post at the new Stirling University, where he remained until his retirement in 2002, marrying Juliet Clough, a journalist, in 1972. |
| Between 1980 and 1983 he and his family returned to Malawi where he spent a fruitful period, on secondment, as professor and head of the department of history at Chancellor College, University of Malawi. There he laid the foundations of two key books and a string of influential articles. His passionate commitment to their academic development is acknowledged by a generation of younger colleagues, especially the Malawian historians with whom he worked across four decades. He was to return to Chancellor as a visiting professor in 2008 for the Scotland Malawi Partnership. | Between 1980 and 1983 he and his family returned to Malawi where he spent a fruitful period, on secondment, as professor and head of the department of history at Chancellor College, University of Malawi. There he laid the foundations of two key books and a string of influential articles. His passionate commitment to their academic development is acknowledged by a generation of younger colleagues, especially the Malawian historians with whom he worked across four decades. He was to return to Chancellor as a visiting professor in 2008 for the Scotland Malawi Partnership. |
| He was a founder and first director of Stirling University’s interdisciplinary Centre of Commonwealth Studies. After retirement he published A History of Malawi 1859-1966 (2012), described by one academic reviewer as “among the best single-country histories ever to be written about any African nation”. It was followed in 2015 by Voices From the Chilembwe Rising, which examined an early anti-colonial revolt in Nyasaland. | He was a founder and first director of Stirling University’s interdisciplinary Centre of Commonwealth Studies. After retirement he published A History of Malawi 1859-1966 (2012), described by one academic reviewer as “among the best single-country histories ever to be written about any African nation”. It was followed in 2015 by Voices From the Chilembwe Rising, which examined an early anti-colonial revolt in Nyasaland. |
| John is survived by Juliet, their children, Matthew and Caroline, and four grandchildren. | John is survived by Juliet, their children, Matthew and Caroline, and four grandchildren. |
| Malawi | Malawi |
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| University of Stirling | University of Stirling |
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