Research Catalog

The collapse of a pastoral economy : the Datoga of central and northern Tanzania from the 1830s to the 2000s /

Title: The collapse of a pastoral economy : the Datoga of central and northern Tanzania from the 1830s to the 2000s / Samwel Shanga Mhajida.
Author: Mhajida, Samwel Shanga,
Publication: Göttingen : Göttingen University Press, 2019.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Use in library	SF140.P38 M435 2019	Off-site

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Description

262 pages : color illustrations, color map; 24 cm

Summary

This research unravels the economic collapse of the Datoga pastoralists of central and northern Tanzania from the 1830s to the beginning of the 21st century. The research builds from the broader literature on continental African pastoralism during the past two centuries. Overall, the literature suggests that African pastoralism is collapsing due to changing political and environmental factors. My dissertation aims to provide a case study adding to the general trends of African pastoralism, while emphasizing the topic of competition as not only physical, but as something that is ethnically negotiated through historical and collective memories. There are two main questions that have guided this project: 1) How is ethnic space defined by the Datoga and their neighbours across different historical times? And 2) what are the origins of the conflicts and violence and how have they been narrated by the state throughout history? Examining archival sources and oral interviews it is clear that the Datoga have struggled through a competitive history of claims on territory against other neighbouring communities. The competitive encounters began with the Maasai entering the Serengeti in the 19th century, and intensified with the introduction of colonialism in Mbulu and Singida in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The fight for control of land and resources resulted in violent clashes with other groups. Often the Datoga were painted as murderers and impediments to development. Policies like the amalgamation measures of the British colonial administration in Mbulu or Ujamaa in post-colonial Tanzania aimed at confronting the "Datoga problem," but were inadequate in neither addressing the Datoga issues of identity, nor providing a solution to their quest for land ownership and control.

Series Statement

Göttingen series in social and cultural anthropology, 2199-5346 ; volume 15

Uniform Title

Göttingen series in social and cultural anthropology ; volume 15.

Subject

Genre/Form

History.

Note

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Göttingen.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-258).

ISBN

9783863954017
3863954017

LCCN

2019391768
9783863954017

OCLC

1091899325
on1091899325

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library