African History Commons^™

Front Matter - Zamani 1, No. 2, Editors Note

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

The editors are pleased to present to you the second issue of Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies. Volume 1 Number 2 has a collection of research and forum articles as well as book reviews. There are four articles that builds from field research with different themes spanning from neolithic to the postcolonial periods. The themes include new neolithic dating; smallpox control in early colonial period in the former German East Africa (now Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi); evasion of colonial taxation; and the connection between land legislations and land conflicts among the peasant and pastoral communities. There are also …

New Chronology For Neolithic Cultures In The Lake Eyasi Basin, Northern Tanzania, Musa Said Mwitondi, Pastory Magayane Bushozi

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

There have been several studies on Neolithic Cultures in the Serengeti National. The recovered archaeological materials include domestic and wild fauna remains, potsherds and lithic artefacts, ochre, and stone enclosures, dating between 7200 and 4900 BP. In the East African Rift System (EARS), conventional ages for Neolithic Cultures are inferred from the most extensively researched Neolithic sites in Kenya, where the oldest Nderit ware, cattle and caprine in the Lake Turkana Basin, northern Kenya, date ca. 5200 BP. Studies on the Neolithic of EARS have been structured to fit into the migration or diffusion models that consider the spread of …

Smallpox Outbreaks And Immunization Policies In Tanzania From The Late Nineteenth Century To The First World War, Lorne Larson

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

An estimated 300 million people died globally from smallpox in the 20th century alone. There was very much a North/South divide in the existence of the disease in that period, with countries across South America, Africa and Asia recording the majority of cases. In 1966 the World Health Organization launched an intensive effort to finally eliminate the disease. The last known endemic case of smallpox was reported in Somalia in 1977, and that outbreak was promptly contained. In 1980 smallpox was declared eradicated – the only infectious disease affecting humans to achieve this distinction. This remains among the most notable …

'Evading The Tax Collector’: Native Responses To The Head Tax In Colonial Njombe, Tanzania, 1920-1960, Peter Chaula, Hezron Kangalawe

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

Tax collection was one of the core preoccupations of the colonial government in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) and other colonies in the Africa that persisted even after independence. Direct taxation formed the basis of colonial taxation in Tanganyika. Head tax was a dominant form of direct taxation with its burden being borne primarily by Africans. This article uses the colonial Njombe District of Tanganyika to explore the responses of the African taxpayers to the head tax. The available data indicates that colonial head tax policies and practices in Njombe elicited varied responses from Africans with covert forms forming the mainstay of …

Revisiting African Religion As An Academic Discipline In Africa: History And Prospects, Ivan B. Kivinge

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

Three main religious traditions—indigenous African beliefs and practices (African religion), Christianity and Islam—have dominated everyday life of communities in Africa today. Scholarship on religion indicates that only African religion originated in Africa— Christianity and Islam are foreign religions. Many Africans today have been active Christians and Muslims, who are sometimes being misleadingly taught that African religion is demonic and forms of paganism. This article employs historical and philosophical approaches to show how the study of African religion has navigated through various historical currents and resultant implications on the way the current generation views it. In the end, the article proposes …

Major Trends In Oral Historiography In Mainland Tanzania, 1960s To The Present: A Review Of Published Sources, Albertus K. Onyiego

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

This article examines the role of oral methodology in reconstructing historical knowledge in Mainland Tanzania over the last six decades. Although greater attention is paid to the period from the 1960s onwards, efforts have been made to illuminate on the use of oral methodology in the period before. The article is organised into four temporal sections, each representing a distinct phase of oral methodology. The first section explores the role of oral methodology before independence. It will be noticed that the gradual use of oral sources in the writing of history in Mainland Tanzania started way back during German and …

A Society For Professional Archaeologists In Tanzania: A Call For Action, Richard K. Bigambo

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

This essay discusses the need for an Archaeological Association of Tanzania and provides its general structure. It argues that the proposed association is essential for promoting the country’s development, heritage preservation and conservation, and promotion of archaeological studies. In addition to providing resources and support for research, training, and education, it would facilitate collaboration and networking, help protect and preserve Tanzania's cultural heritage, and increase public awareness and education about archaeology in Tanzania. The essay also discusses the development of archaeology in Tanzania and the history and contributions of archaeological associations worldwide. This structure for the proposed association would enable …

Review Of Water Brings No Harm: Management Knowledge And The Struggle For Waters Of Kilimanjaro, Maxmillian J. Chuhila

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

Water Brings No Harm is a key text that enables readers to understand the competing claims to resource control between government authorities and local communities on the ground. Scholarship on the relationship between local knowledge and expert knowledge in resource management and control suggests an asymmetrical relationship in which expert opinion assumes the primary responsibility.1 Bender contrasts traditional and imposed systems of resource ownership and management, arguing that there has been a struggle from both sides, as each side believes it has a rightful claim to ownership and management of water source.

Review Of Decolonising Sociology: An Introduction, Armstrong K. Matogwa

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

Decolonizing Sociology is one of the few works in sociology that makes critical assessment of the discipline. It is a kind of self-critique within the discipline that aims to reveal epistemic setbacks that have existed for decades. To arrive to the point, Meghji, has situated his thesis along decolonial sociology, which interrogates dominant sociological theories in the context of imperialism. By so doing, he makes three main arguments as follows; first, what is called sociology is colonial in nature as it is based on the ideas of the Western thinkers namely Marx, Durkheim and Weber which emerged and institutionalized during …

Legal Provisions And Administration Of Land Disputes In Kiteto District, Ca. 1970s – 2000s: The Missing Linkage, Juma Marmo

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

There have been a series of legal interventions on land use in the post-colonial Tanzania to create a good land administration and management in order to end land use conflicts. Scholarship on the legal aspect of land use indicates that legal interventions did not provide lasting solutions to land use conflicts because of their structural and systemic arrangements. In addition, existing scholarship has little focus on the linkage between law enforcement machinery, the peoples’ level of understanding on land laws, and the occurrence of land use conflicts. This paper discusses the violation of laws by peasants, pastoralists, and government officials …

Introduction: Failed Futures? (Post)-Colonial Planning And Future-Making In Tanzania, Ulrike Lindner

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

Future-making and planning as social practices are strongly related to the
surrounding society’s political structures and power relations. In this
special issue of ZAMANI, we conceptualize future-making as physical
changes and social practices that shape future conditions by making future
an issue in the present. We analyse how different approaches to the future,
and also surprises and unintended side-effects, have informed the politics
and practices of planning in Tanzania and its various regions.1 When we ask:
“Failed Futures?” we address future in the plural, a term that has diffused
into historical scholarship rather recently and originates from
futurology/future studies, known …

‘Sold Down The River’: Histories Of Production, Trade, And Transport Along The Waterways Of The Kilombero Valley, Tanzania, Jonathan M. Jackson

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

This article considers the centrality of waterways in the Kilombero Valley of Tanzania to the region’s histories of development from above, particularly in terms of infrastructure, crop production, trade, and transport. Early colonial investigations hoped Kilombero’s riverine system might prove a navigable link from the coast to the Southern Highlands. The British colonial era instead focused more on utilising riverine networks for internal goods transport. Throughout these colonial visions – simultaneously ambitious and naïve – the prevalent dug- out canoe was considered unsafe, inefficient, and replaceable by modernised methods. But the canoe – a symbol of indigenous knowledge and practice …

Imagining Hydropower: Transnational Narratives And Realities Of The Stiegler’S Gorge Project In Tanzania, 1960s–1980s, Emma Athanasio Minja

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

Hydropower development in the Global South has attracted several donor programmes for decades. How have such interventions shaped energy imaginations in Tanzania? Adopting a historical perspective and drawing on transnationalism and travelling frameworks, this article examines hydropower aid interventions and the dynamic shifts of specific actors and discourses in bilateral relations. The primary focus is on Norway, a leading actor in planning the Stiegler’s Gorge hydropower project in Tanzania’s Rufiji Basin in the 1970s to mid-1980s. It seeks to understand how, despite substantial aid support, the project failed to kick off in the face of the country’s post-independence drive for …

Nurturing Traditional Midwifery And Medicine: The Entangled Path Of Health Integration In Post-Independence Kilombero, Tanzania, Veronica Kimani

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

This paper focuses on the Tanzanian government’s ambitious endeavour to enhance health, particularly midwifery services following independence. The initial strategy by the government involved promoting Western medicine by establishing healthcare facilities and training medical personnel. However, the strain of a burgeoning population and limited resources soon became evident, prompting the government to recognise the need for the incorporation of traditional medicine, previously overlooked. This integration posed its own set of obstacles, as the focus on herbal remedies overshadowed crucial aspects of conventional midwifery, such as rituals. While research has shown the resolve of the government towards medical integration between different …

Health Infrastructure Planning In Tanzania, 1961–1980s: The Problems Of Future-Making, Frank Edward, Ulrike Lindner

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

Between 1961 and 1978, Tanzania invested significantly in the health service provision – from training requisite manpower, provision of health education to building the necessary infrastructure in order to improve health conditions of the population. As existing research indicates, the investment paid off considerably in qualitative terms, for instance, with a gradual increase in life expectancy and a decline in infant mortality. This paper examines the vision of the state of health in Tanzania by using the prism of infrastructure. Its focus is on direct and indirect physical infrastructures, particularly medical buildings and facilities. Through the analysis of archival and …

Front Matter - Zamani 1, No. 1, Editors Note

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

This is the maiden issue of Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies. It charts the beginning of a continental journal that is based in an African higher education institution within Africa. It breaks away from the traditional historical journals in Africa of being national or regional and at best being owned and operated by scholars and institutions from Europe and North America. With this maiden issue, the journal seeks to demonstrate that it is part of the bigger knowledge decolonization movement. It seeks to influence historical writing and research by giving more Africanness in ownership, operations, production and knowledge …

Medical Mission Futures: German Protestant Missionaries And Modern Healthcare In Southern Highlands, Tanzania,1891–1940, Luoneko Kaduma

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

The history of colonial missionaries in Tanzania is marked by a complex interplay between evangelical efforts and the provision of Western biomedicine, which functioned as crucial mechanisms for conversion and cultural transformation. Missionaries viewed the improvement of African health as a project aimed at attracting converts and propagating Christianity. However, the available data indicates that, instead of genuinely expressing interest in converting to Christianity, the majority of Africans primarily sought mission medical assistance for medical reasons while maintaining strong connections to their traditional beliefs and healing practices. This paper, drawing from archival documents, ethnographic accounts, and missionary writings, focuses on …

‘Prevention Is Better Than Cure’: Smallpox Vaccination In Postcolonial Tanzania, 1961–1980, Musa Sadock

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

This article examines the smallpox vaccination programme in postcolonial Tanzania from the 1960s to the early 1980s as part of the postcolonial future making in preventive medicine. The article departs from extant scholarship on smallpox vaccination in postcolonial Tanzania, which depicts the intervention as a success, while relegating to the background challenges associated with the intervention. The article argues that the smallpox vaccination programme registered challenges and successes that offer lessons for combating of future epidemics. The achievements of the programme were due to the adoption of specific public health policies, namely mass vaccination and public health education as well …

Performing Masculinities: The Assumption Of Men’S Roles By Women Left Behind By Male Migrant Labourers In Southern Tanzania, Nives Kinunda, Angelus Mnenuka, Samwel Mhajida

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This article examines the empowerment of female farmers in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania due to male labour migration during the British colonial rule. The study sought to highlight the history of gender-based division of labour, the dynamics of labour division during the colonial period, the trend of females’ adoption of males’ activities, and women’s empowerment resulting from their assumption of males’ responsibilities. Data were collected through oral interviews, documentary reviews, group-focused discussions, and archival sources. The data were analysed and interpreted using a gender framework theory, which includes, among other things, gender roles and gender relations. Findings show that …

Memories Of Resistance To Slavery In South-Eastern Tanzania, Nancy Rushohora

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This paper examines the historical representation and memory of slavery in Tanzania, arguing that the current curriculum predominantly employs a Marxist lens that emphasizes the economic dimensions of slavery while overlooking the complexity of resistance. The study’s objective is to present a more comprehensive understanding of Tanzanian slavery, focusing on forms of resistance at Mgao, a 12th–18th century Swahili site. Methodologically, this study draws on ethnographic accounts, documentary sources, and archaeological findings to uncover diverse acts of defiance, including seeking refuge, negotiating relocation, and engaging in violent confrontations. The results reveal that resistance was a widespread, multi-dimensional phenomenon in Tanzanian …

African Women Custodians: Teaching, Toponymy And Tacit Reverie In Heritage Education, Tokie Laotan-Brown

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

This paper investigates the critical role of women in African cultures as guardians of cultural heritage. It explores their central function in transmitting traditional ecological knowledge and practices across generations through established pedagogical methods, toponymic knowledge systems (place-names within cultural landscapes), and the cultivation of tacit knowledge. The paper emphasizes the significance of women's contributions to environmental education, often overlooked or undervalued within Western scientific paradigms. This marginalization restricts access to resources and participation in decision-making processes. It argues for the integration of traditional knowledge systems, informed by women's expertise, into formal education and pedagogy. This inclusion serves to validate …

Editorial: Defying Heteropatriarchal Currents, Bekeh Utietiang Ukelina

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

The strong cultural and political systems that constrain women's autonomy and progress, often rooted in colonial and imperial histories, have shown troubling resilience despite over a century of diverse women's global activism to dismantle them. In the face of these multifaceted attacks on the rights and self-determination of women and LGBTQIA individuals, particularly in the Global South and within marginalized communities globally, it is not the time to retreat into familiar frameworks. Instead, we must resist by taking strong intellectual positions that center postcolonial feminist frameworks, recognizing the diverse and often interconnected forms of oppression women face.

Imagine Lagos : Mapping History, Place, And Politics In A Nineteenth-Century African City, Ademide Adelusi-Adeluyi

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Written from a digital humanities perspective, this book combines historical sources, maps, and a walking cartography to create new perspectives on the nineteenth-century history of Lagos, West Africa’s most populous city.

What traces do people leave in the places where they live, and even where they die? This book addresses the spatial history of nineteenth-century Lagos, rebuilding its past as a series of encounters: between men and women, between past and present, between enslaved and free, between living and dead, and finally between land and lagoon. In Imagine Lagos, Ademide Adelusi-Adeluyi argues that the invention, destruction, and reinvention of spatial …

Casar Student Discussion Series #6: 'The 2024 Us Election Results Are Out!The 2024 Us Elections Results Will Affect The Middle East Region Positively', The Prince Alwaleed Center For American Studies And Research Casar

Performances, Events, and Presentations

Every semester, CASAR AUC holds miscellaneous student debates discussing the hot controversial topics in the US, Egypt and from around the world in hopes of raising awareness about these topics & broadening the perspectives of our students as they learn to engage in fruitful discussions as they share different opinion on the topic being deliberated. At this CASAR Student Discussion event #6 in light of the current 2024 US Elections, we debated this statement: 'The 2024 US Elections results will affect the Middle East Region positively' A brief into was given followed by short videos to watch before opening the …

Casar Panel Discussion: The 2024 Us Elections: Expectations And Implications Around The World, The Prince Alwaleed Center For American Studies And Research Casar, Mark W. Deets

Performances, Events, and Presentations

This panel discussion talked about the possible scenarios of the 2024 US election round from several perspectives, analyzing the impact on the region & the world. The speakers were AUC Faculty: Dr.Alaa El-Hadidi (CASAR) - Dr. Sean Lee (Political Science)- Dr. Mouness Hojairi (History) and the event was moderated by CASAR Director Dr.Mark Deets. Sun. Nov. 3rd, 2024 - AUC New Cairo Campus

Patriarchy, Divided Societies, And Female Proponents Of Peace: A Comparative Case Study Of The Federation Of South African Women And The Northern Ireland Women’S Coalition, Briana Ibrahim

Global Studies Senior Capstone

FEDSAW and NIWC, two multi-community women's organizations promoting peace within conflict stricken societies, will be compared. An analysis of each organizations work, the commonalities they shared, and their core differences, will offer implications for the broader conversation on women's involvement in peace building.

The Historian And The Past In The Present Age: Omolewa And Adesina’S Inaugural Lectures In Perspective, Ikeoluwapo B. Baruwa

Journal of Research Initiatives

In their inaugural lectures, Omolewa and Adesina emphasized the importance of history in studying the changes that have occurred over the years across all aspects of humanity, particularly in education. This paper aims to examine the contributions of Omolewa and Adesina, delving into their arguments and insights. While this paper may adopt a critical approach, it also acknowledges the value of their work. It presents a dissenting view from Omolewa's perspective on historical education, particularly regarding his analogy of history as a rearview mirror and the objectivity of historians. The paper contends that historians must be aware of historical texts' …

Waterhouses : Landscapes, Housing, And The Making Of Modern Lagos, Mark Duerksen

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Waterhouses is about the places the people of Lagos have inhabited, imagined, and made home for the past two centuries. It asks what a house in Lagos is and explores how the answer to that question has been historically constructed and reconstructed in turn with the city’s changing landscapes. Written for historians of African and Atlantic history, scholars and practitioners of urbanism, and anyone looking to make sense of Africa’s most populous metropolis today, the book is an approachable history of how houses and water have formed modern Lagos.

The book argues that in the coastlands from which Lagos rose, …

The Use Of Space And Place In The Civil Rights Discourse Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Pamelia Adams

Communication Theses

This thesis, The Use of Space and Place in the Civil Rights Discourse of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., analyzes the academic literature on the social change agent. The study provides a deeper understanding of the relevance of place/location, where Dr. King delivered his civil rights message nationally and internationally. Three historically significant sites and the events impacting the civil rights movement, in the cities of Washington, D.C. and Birmingham, Alabama, are examined. The three sites included in Chapter 2: The Jail Site, Chapter 3: The Bombing Site, and Chapter 4: The March Sites as examples. The main findings of …

A Reexamination Of The Colonization And Emigration Efforts Of Early Black Bostonians, Karen My Hien Luu

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The topic of colonization and emigration is complex, nuanced, and debated by historians. Colonization and emigration were options considered by Africans and African Americans since the pre-Revolutionary period, and that legacy has been shaped to fit the historical narrative. It is important to examine early support for this movement by African Americans as well as how the opposition to this polarizing topic developed. This can be done by understanding the environment of these individuals at the time to understand that it was perhaps not as polarizing as it may seem on the surface.

This thesis attempts to help fill the …