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| Title: | Indigenous Communication Systems: Lessons and Experience from among the Sukuma and Nyamwezi of West-Central Africa |
| Author: | Bukurura, Sufian Hemed |
| Year: | 1995 |
| Periodical: | Nordic Journal of African Studies |
| Volume: | 4 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Pages: | 1-16 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Tanzania |
| Subjects: | Nyamwezi Sukuma organized crime indigenous communication systems Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
| External link: | https://njas.fi/njas/article/view/671/494 |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the indigenous communication systems of the Sungusungu vigilante groups of the Sukuma and Nyamwezi of west central Tanzania. The Sukuma and Nyamwezi are semi-sedentary agropastoralists. 'Sungusungu' groups began to be formed in the 1980s and spread rapidly in response to the abolition of chiefdoms and the reorganization of the administrative system and the impact this had on local communities, especially evident in the weakening of the State machinery, the increase of criminality and the growing lack of security. Achieving consensus and establishing effective communication between government officials and grassroots organizations at the village level was a widespread problem for nation-States engaged in the process of integration. The use of indigenous communication methods, such as dancing and singing, as channels of information exchange, enabled the Sukuma and Nyamwezi to communicate and pass on information regarding rural complaints to government officials. Attention is also paid to communication systems which were used before the rise of 'Sungusungu' in the case, for instance, of stolen cattle, namely 'mwano' (the raising of a hue and cry), 'ndulilu' (gourd-stem whistles), and the village bell. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |
