British Institute in Eastern Africa

Harvard University. Center for International Affairs

University of Nairobi

It is now apparent that East Africa cannot be viewed in isolation if its early history is to be adequately understood. Arabic, Indian, and Chinese influences have been discovered in the East African cultures, and evidence has shown that from about 100 B.C. the coastal fringe of eastern Africa was economically and culturally an integral part of the Indian Ocean basin. The available evidence relating to these early con-tacts is so scattered, however, that historians and archaeologists must rely on the findings of numerous related disciplines. The contributors to this volume make ingenious use of anthropological, geographical, ethnographical, zoological, linguistic, numismatic, and musicol-ogical evidence as they develop new historio-graphical techniques to open this challenging area of inquiry. Among them are the leading specialists in their respective fields: H Neville Chittick, Vinigi Grottanelli, Paul Wheatley, J S Trimingbam, Gervase Mathew, Pierre Wrin, Aldan Southall, Merrick Posnansky, James Kirkman, and Michael Gwynne. The topics in-vestigated include: the peopling of the East African coast, Chinese knowledge of East Africa, the Arab geographers, the problem of Malagasy origins, connections between the lacustrine peoples and the coast, and the origin and spread of various domestic food plants. Although there remain as many questions as answers, this volume serves as a vital summa-tion of our current knowledge and points the way toward further fruitful research in African history.

Cultural Syntheses in Pre-colonial Times

East Africa and the Orient

James Brennan

James R. Brennan

Andrew Burton

Andrew Ross Burton

Yusufu Qwaray Lawi

From its modest beginnings in the mid-19th century, Dar es Salaam has grown to become one of sub-Saharan Africa's most important urban centres. A major political, economic and cultural hub, the city stood at the cutting edge of trends that transformed twentieth-century East Africa. Dar es Salaam has recently attracted the attention of a diverse, multi-disciplinary, range of scholars, making it currently one of the continent's most studied urban centres. This collection from eleven scholars from Africa, Europe, North America and Japan, draws on some of the best of this scholarship and offers a comprehensive, and accessible, survey of the city's development. The perspectives include history, musicology, ethnomusicology, culture including popular culture, land and urban economics. The opening chapter offers a comprehensive overview of the history of the city. Subsequent chapters examine Dar es Salaam's twentieth century experience through the prism of social change and the administrative repercussions of rapid urbanization; and through popular culture and shifting social relations. The book will be of interest not only to the specialist in urban studies but also to the general reader with an interest in Dar es Salaam's environmental, social and cultural history. James Brennan is a Lecturer in History at the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), University of London. His research interests include nationalism and urbanization in Tanzania, and he is currently researching the historical role of radio and other mass media in East Africa's political culture. Andrew Burton is an Honorary Research Fellow of the British Institute in Eastern Africa, based in Addis Ababa. He has published widely on East African urban culture; and his current interests are the history of youth, urbanization and delinquency in Eastern Africa. Yusuf Lawi is the former Head of the Department of History at the University of Dar es Salaam; and is currently Senior Lecturer in History and Deputy Director of the University's Centre for Continuing Education. He specializes in environmental and social history.

Histories from an Emerging African Metropolis

Dar es Salaam. Histories from an Emerging African Metropolis

British Institute in Eastern Africa

About

Books

Join the club