(Inter)Disciplinary Perspectives
This project was conducted as part of the CIS 668 (Social Justice and Inclusion Advocacy) class during fall 2023 that involved collaborating with Bwagamoyo Africulture on establishing a community library and archive. On this page, I describe the environment and setting of Bagamoyo, Tanzania.
(Inter)Disciplinary lens:
My work is positioned at the intersection of Feminist Performance Politics, Black Studies, Archival Science, Memory work and Social Justice. I combine theories and methods from each of these disciplines to arrive at creative ways to give voice, make space, and give form to under-represented perspective in and outside of historical narratives. My social justice project aims to provide access to resources and document people and perspectives. The library and archive will work in tandem to provide the local community with historical material, scholarship, cultural heritage, and embodied knowledge available to artists, students, and researchers within and outside of the community.
Theoretical/conceptual lens:
For this project, I am studying Tanzania's social, political, economic, and historical context. I've become enthralled with the work of the first President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere and his ideas on education and cooperative living. I use the concepts of Ujamaa and Shamba work to organize my project, formulate a strategic plan, and implement the library and archive.
Ujamaa is the concept of self-reliance. Tanzania's colonial past created practices of dependency on foreign aid which resulted in the degradation of local communities and cultures for the benefit of foreigners. Therefore in 1966, President Nyerere published the Arusha Declaration in response to the issues of post-coloniality. Nyerere declared that the villages should be revitalized and become recentered as economic resources.
It is difficult to apply this concept due to my position as a foreigner to Tanzania. However, I think it is important to define foreign and local through concepts of belonging. I have been acquainted with this village since 2011, when I first began volunteering with non-profit organizations and artists communities. Since then, I have returned about 6 times over the past few years. I have made friends and established intimate relationships there. I am invested in the community and the people. Another way I am thinking about practicing Ujamaa is through partnerships with other local organizations, like Vitabooks.
In 2020, a local musician and educator, Vitali Maembe established Vitabooks to provide access to books and resources to the local community. Maembe had amassed a collection of materials over the course of his travels and was often given books by friends and guests along their travels. Vitabooks collection is full of books on various topics including: health, politics, motivation, and religion. This library is free and open to the public and advocates reading and literacy as fundamental to social and professional development.
In African American communities during Kwanzaa, Ujamaa is recognized as the principle of cooperative economics, while Kujichagalia is recognized as the principle of self-determination. In 1966, around the same time President Nyerere was drafting the Arusha Declaration, Scholar Maulena Karenga borrowed from the Kiswahili language to conceptual Kwanzaa, an African American holiday that does not replace Christmas, but supplements it to include traditions reflective of African American experience.
Figure 1. Symbol and definition of Kwanzaa principle "Ujamaa" provided by Unitarian Universalist Church of Jackson.
References
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Kwanzaa". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Oct. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kwanzaa. Accessed 4 November 2023.
Nyerere, Julius. Arusha Declaration. Arusha, Tanzania. 1967
Maembe, Vitali. Personal Interview. 3 November 2023.
Unitarian Universalist Church of Jackson. (uujackson.org)