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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'A Solitary Tree Builds Not': Heshima, Community, and Shifting Identity in Post-Emancipation Pemba Island
Author:McMahon, ElisabethISNI
Year:2006
Periodical:International Journal of African Historical Studies
Volume:39
Issue:2
Pages:197-219
Language:English
Geographic term:Zanzibar
Subjects:social status
honour
group identity
History and Exploration
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/40033858
Abstract:The central theme of this article is the concept of 'heshima', a Swahili concept which has the basic meaning of honour but which actually embodied much more and was accorded a highly important role in the changing society of Pemba, an agricultural island off the coast of Zanzibar, when the slaves there were emancipated in 1909. Among the less affluent people on Pemba - former slaves, migrant workers, peasants, and women - it began to evolve a newer significance, allowing them status in the community and opening up the way for them to own land. They could obtain credit and also have recourse to law courts. Above all it was the badge of community acceptance. It could regularly be negotiated. It was not the equivalent of freedom as even in the pre-emancipation era slaves could have possessed it. In time it absorbed much the same meaning as the Arab virtue 'ustaarabu'. In the postemancipation period, 'heshima' provided the former slaves entrée into the free community and it helped women negotiate the social vulnerability of a society in transition. The local community was built on the foundations of religion, familial relationships, 'heshima', and ethnicity, but it was very clear that it was believed no one could survive on Pemba unless they were a member of a community and participated fully in the groups. The author's findings lead her to believe that ethnicity has been overemphasized in community building on Pemba. Many people were very mixed ethnically, it was 'heshima' which was critical to maintaining social cohesion in Pemba society in transition. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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