Peasant Intellectuals: Anthropology and History in Tanzania

354 Pages·1990·25.98 MB·English

by  Steven Feierman

Peasant Intellectuals

Steven Feierman
PEASANT
INTELLECTUALS
Anthropology and History
in Tanzania
The University of Wisconsin Press
The University of Wisconsin Press
114 North Murray Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53715
3 Henrietta Street
London WC2E BLU, England
Copyright © 1990
The Board of Regents of the
University of Wisconsin System
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2
Printed in the United States of America
Maps by The University of Wisconsin-Madison
Cartographic Laboratory
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Feierman, Steven, 1940-
Peasant intellectuals: anthropology and history in Tanzania/
Steven Feierman.
352 pp. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Lushoto District (Tanzania) - Politics and government.
2. Peasantry -Tanzania - Lushoto District - Politics and government.
3. Shambala (African people) - Politics and government.
4. Shambala (African people) - Kings and rulers - Folklore.
5. Shambala (African people) - Rites and ceremonies. 6. Rain
making rites -Tanzania - Lushoto District. 7. Shambala language
Political aspects -Tanzania - Lushoto District. I. Title.
DT450.49.LB7FB5 1990
967.B '22 - dc20
ISBN 0-299-12520-3 90-500B6
ISBN 0-299-12524-6 (pbk) CIP
For Joshua and Jessica

Contents
Maps ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 Introduction 3
2 Tribute and Dependency in
Late Nineteenth-Century Shambaai 46
3 Healing the Land and Harming the Land 69
4 Alternative Paths to Social Health
in the Precolonial Kingdom 94
5 Colonial Rule and the Fate of the Intellectuals 120
6 Royal Domination and
Peasant Resistance, 1947-1957 154
7 The Struggle over Erosion Control:
Women's Farming and the Politics of
Subsistence 181
8 Gender, Slavery, and Chiefship:
Peasant Attempts to Create an Alternative
Discourse 204
9 Chiefs and Bureaucrats:
Independence and the Fate of the
Intellectuals 223
10 Rain in Independent Tanzania:
A Drama Remembered but Not Performed 245
Notes 267
List of Interviews 301
Bibliography 311
Index 331
vii

Maps
1 Shambaai and Neighboring Areas 47
2 Tanzania, December 1960 121
3 Lushoto District, Alienated Land and Forest
Reserve, 1961 197
ix