Compiled by Hugh Wenban-Smith
That Tanzania might provide a rich field for development research will come as no surprise to readers of Tanzanian Affairs. However, the fruits of this research do not often make the headlines; rather, they tend to appear in academic journals not readily accessible outside university libraries.
This article is the first in what will hopefully become a regular report on development research in Tanzania, culled from journals in the library of the London School of Economics. Reflecting this (and the author’s own interests), the journals covered are mainly economic ones, such as World Development, Journal of Development Studies, Urban Studies, etc but I have included some more general ones, such as African Studies Review and Journal of Modern African Studies (both incidentally prolific reviewers of books about Africa).
In this report, articles published in 2010 are listed. The format is: Journal title; Volume and issue number; Author(s); Article title; Short abstract.
African Studies Review,Vol. 52(2) – Dill, B “Community-based organisations and norms of participation in Tanzania”. [Discusses the contradictions involved with inducing popular participation in the development process.]
African Studies Review,Vol. 52(3) – Sanga, I “Post-colonial cosmopolitan music in Dar es Salaam”. [This article concerns the late Dr Remmy Ongala, a Tanzanian-Congolese musician.]
Development and Change, Vol 46(6) – Beckmann, N & Bujra, J “The politics of the queue”. [This article analyses the political significance of HIV-positive people’s collective action in Tanzania.]
Journal of Development Economics, Vol 92(1) – Bengtsson, N “How responsive is body weight to transitory income changes?”. [We use time-series of rainfall to estimate the response of body weight to transitory changes in household income in rural Tanzania.]
Journal of Development Studies, Vol 46(1) – De Weerdt, J “Moving out of poverty in Tanzania”. [This paper uses qualitative and quantitative data to explore the growth trajectories of matched households in the Kagera region of Tanzania, finding that agriculture and trade provide the main routes out of poverty.]
Journal of International Development, Vol 22(5) – Dill, B “Public-public partnerships in urban water provision: The case of Dar es Salaam”. [This paper draws on original research and secondary data to analyse the strengths and limitations of public-public partnerships (i.e. government-community organisations) with respect to water provision in contemporary Dar es Salaam.]
Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol 48(3) – Bryceson, DF, Jonsson, JB & Sherrington, R “Miners’ magic: Artisanal mining, the albino fetish and murder in Tanzania”. [The murders are connected to gold and diamond miners’ efforts to secure lucky charms for finding minerals and protection against danger while mining.]
Urban Studies, Vol 47(5) – Lyons, M & Msoka, CT “The World Bank and the street”. [The well-documented weaknesses of structural adjustment policies have led to a reconceptualisation of the World Bank’s approach to neo-liberal reforms … It is argued (based on research in Dar es Salaam) that the exclusion of micro-traders from the reforms contributes to their marginalisation in political and policy arenas, increasing their vulnerability.]
World Development, Vol 38(3) – Bryceson, DF & Jonsson, JB “Gold digging careers in rural East Africa”. [Based on a recent survey of small scale mining in Tanzania, this article documents the higher risks, greater potential earnings, more elaborate division of labour and career trajectories of miners.]
Dr Hugh Wenban-Smith was born in Chunya and went to Mbeya School. His career
was as a government economist (mainly in Britain, but with periods in Zambia and
India). He is now an independent researcher, with particular interests in infrastructure,
urbanisation and transport.