| Abstract: | This chapter analyses the weaving of various strands to fashion an identity by the Bagamoyo in Tanzania. The author distinguishes between two types of and roles for ethnicity, which she terms objective and subjective. In precolonial Tanzania, ethnicity was an objective phenomenon denoting cultural differentiation, but not necessarily social integration, or ethnic consciousness. Ethnicity was a cultural attribute, not a social identity. By contrast, in the colonial context and afterwards, ethnicity becomes a subjective phenomenon, in the sense that it is based on consciousness. This is due to the colonial administrative practice of segregating people into ethnic units. During the independence struggle, tribalism was counteracted through the activities of the African Association and TANU. After independence, Tanzanian nationalism extolled traditional values while, at the same time, seeking to submerge ethnic identities in an all-embracing Tanzanian national identity. The author carried out field research in Western Bagamoyo District in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Bibliogr., notes. |
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