06.21.22 - 07.15.22 Field research in the United Republic of Tanzania

From 06/21/22 to 07/15/22 the faculty of the Center for History and Cultural Anthropology Anastasia Banshchikova and Valentina Bryndina conducted a field study in the United Republic of Tanzania. This trip was a continuation of a study dedicated to the historical memory of the Tanzanians about the Arab-Swahili slave trade of the 19th century. As part of the season, the western regions of the country were geographically covered. The following locations were visited: Kigoma, Ujiji, Kasulu and Zanzibar. As a result, 24 formal interviews were collected, including 17 in Swahili. Particlularly, among the Zanzibar interviews are those taken from the descendants of freed slaves, especially the interview with John Ramadani, from 1980 to 2001, head of the Anglican Diocese of Zanzibar and Tanga. In addition to the interview, a number of historical monuments related to both Arab rule and European colonization were examined. It is also worth noting a visit to the Livingston Museum in Ujiji and getting acquainted with the view of the region's slave trading history presented in the museum's exposition. The obtained material, when compared with material from museums visited earlier, allows us to highlight the general and particular in the coverage of the history of the slave trade in the museum expositions of the country.

The study was supported by RFBR grant No. 20-09-00361 "Cultural memory of the Arab slave trade of the 19th century and its impact on interethnic relations in modern Tanzania."