by Hugh Wenban-Smith
These articles on development research in Tanzania, from journals in the LSE library, cover July to December 2013. The abstract is an abridged version of that published by the author(s).
Heroes of the road: Race, gender and the politics of mobility in twentieth century Tanzania, Grace, J. Africa Vol. 83(3).
Abstract: This article follows the careers of two African drivers in social environments that circumscribed their movement and access to technology. It begins with Vincent Njovu, whose memoir ‘The First Driver of Tanganyika’ describes the driver’s ability to navigate racial hierarchies of movement and technology, including the unlikely circumstances in which he fell in love with an ideal colonial machine. It then explores post-colonial cultures of gender and modernization by using the unpublished memoirs of Hawa Ramadhani, a woman who used automotive skills learned among nuns in the 1940s to become Tanzania’s most respected driver. Paired together, the life histories of these drivers challenge historical narratives in which movement and technology (roads and motor vehicles, in particular) are used to discuss Africa’s marginalization and decline. Instead they show how transgressive practices of mobility can be used to challenge social and political orders, and inspire new ways to think and act at uncertain historical junctures.
Wildlife management in Tanzania: State control, rent seeking and community resistance, Benjamin TA, Goldman MJ, Minwary MY & Maganga FP, Development and Change Vol. 44(5).
Abstract: Despite a decade of rhetoric on community conservation, current trends in Tanzania reflect a disturbing process of re-consolidation of state control over wildlife resources and increased rent-seeking behaviour, combined with dispossession of communities. Whereas the 1998 Wildlife Policy promoted community participation and local benefits, the subsequent policy of 2007 and the Wildlife Conservation Act of 2009 returned control over wildlife and income from sport hunting and safari tourism to central government. These trends, which sometimes include the use of state violence and often take place in the name of ‘community-based’ conservation, are not, however, occurring without resistance from communities. This article draws on in-depth studies of wildlife management practices at three locations in northern Tanzania to illustrate these trends. The authors argue that this outcome is more than just the result of the neo-liberalisation of conservation. It reflects old patterns of state patrimony and rent-seeking, combined with colonial narratives of conservation, all enhanced through neoliberal reforms of the past two decades. At the same time, much of the rhetoric of neo-liberal reforms is being pushed back by the state in order to capture rent and interact with villagers in new and oppressive ways.
Being ‘Chagga’: Natural resources, political activism and identity on Kilimanjaro: Bender, MV Journal of African History Vol. 54(2). Abstract: This article argues that the emergence of Chagga political identity on Mount Kilimanjaro in the 1940s and 1950s can best be understood as a product of intensive debates over the control of natural resources and the nature of chiefly authority. As a result of perceived threats to the land and water resources of the mountain, and resentment of the role of chiefs in these issues, grassroots activists adopted a language of unity using the term ‘Chagga’ – a moniker long used by the colonial state but eschewed by the general population. With the rise of a paramount chieftaincy in 1951, the term shifted from being a symbol of colonial rule to one of common identity and resistance against the encroachment of the colonial state in local affairs.
The constraints on climate change adaptation in a city with a large development deficit: The case of Dar es Salaam: Kinusi, R. Environment and Urbanization Vol. 25(2).
Abstract: Dar es Salaam, with a population of more than four million, has no climate change adaptation plan. It also has a very large development deficit and lacks adequate provision for infrastructure and services, such as piped water, sewers, drains and solid waste collection. Addressing this deficit (and building the institutional and financial capacity to do so) is also important for building resilience to climate change impacts. Eighty per cent of the city’s population lives in informal settlements, but there is little effective land use management and a number of these settlements are on sites that flood regularly. Climate change impacts include sea level rise, rising temperatures and increased occurrence of extreme weather, including rainstorms and droughts, all of which present challenges to city and municipal governments that are struggling to reduce the development deficit. This paper discusses the measures being taken to address this deficit and where and how these measures can be accompanied by improved disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
Planning the unplanned: Incorporating agriculture as an urban land use into the Dar es Salaam master plan and beyond: Hallovan A. & Magid J. Environment and Urbanization Vol. 25(2).
Abstract: Despite significant contributions to human health, livelihoods and food security, urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam has received relatively little political support from central and local government due to its informal state. As a result, many urban farmers experience insecurity of land access and ownership, and are unable to invest in the improvement of their land, inputs and infrastructure. Although there have been several attempts by various international and foreign organizations to legitimize and institutionalize urban agriculture in Dar es Salaam, very little has changed politically over the last 30 years. This study focuses on the current incorporation of urban agriculture into the Dar es Salaam 2012-2032 Master Plan (still unapproved as of June 2013), and examines how local and central governments legitimize the practice of urban agriculture.
Enrolment and grade attainment following the introduction of free primary education in Tanzania: Hoogeveen J & Rossi M. Journal of African Economies Vol. 22(3).
Abstract: The elimination of all primary school fees in January 2002 in Tanzania marked the start of the ambitious Primary Education Development Plan (PEDP). This programme aimed to enhance not only access to primary education but also the quality of teaching. The paper examines the effects of the introduction of free primary education on school enrolment and grade achievement. Data from the 2001 Household Budget Survey (HBS), collected just before the reform, and the 2007 HBS, collected 5 years into the programme, are employed to examine these effects. This is done by running a difference-in-difference comparison, using a before-and-after comparison for age cohorts that did and did not benefit from the reform. School fee elimination is found to have enhanced enrolment rates significantly, with girls and children from poorer families benefiting most. The impact of the reform on grade achievement however is found to have been negative, particularly for those living in rural areas and children from poor households. PEPD, thus, created a dilemma as increased opportunities for one set of deserving children went at the expense of opportunities for other, equally deserving children.
Medical auxiliaries and the negotiation of public health in colonial
north-western Tanzania: Webel, M Journal of African History Vol. 54(3). Abstract: This article investigates the development and employment of African medical auxiliaries during the German campaign against sleeping sickness in colonial north- west Tanzania. A case study from the kingdom of Kibiza demonstrates how widespread illness and colonial public health interventions intersect with broader political and social change in the early 20th century. Ziba auxiliaries known as gland feelers operated within overlapping social and occupational contexts as colonial intermediaries, royal emissaries and familiar local men. The changing fortunes of the campaign and its auxiliaries illustrate how new public health interventions became a means for the kingdom’s population to engage with, or avoid, both royal and colonial power.
From donorship to ownership? Budget support and donor influence in Rwanda and Tanzania: Swedlund, HJ Public Administration and Development Vol. 33(5).
Abstract: This article analyses the relationship between budget support and ownership, or recipient country control over policy outcomes, by exploring how budget support donors in Rwanda and Tanzania attempt to exert influence over domestic policy processes. In contrast to the conventional rhetoric about budget support, empirical analysis finds little evidence that budget support decreases the influence the donors try to exert over recipient country governments. Instead, semi-structured interviews with donor and government representatives in each country suggest that the aid modality is often used as a tool by which donors attempt to increase their leverage over domestic decision-making. In particular three mechanisms are frequently used by budget support donors to influence domestic policy processes – voice amplification, a seat at the table and a licence to ask questions.