College of Social Sciences

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Browsing College of Social Sciences by Subject "1800-"

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    Ethnic Consciousness and political change in Rorya District, Tanzania, 1800 To the Present
    (University of Dar es salaam, 2019) Onyiego, Albetus
    This thesis examines ethnic formation and ethnic relations among the Suba- and Luo-speaking peoples found in Rorya District, Mara Region, in northern Tanzania. It is a follow-up study in response to the scholarly debate which started in the early 1980s concerning the nature of African ethnicity. The overall objective of the thesis is to enable the reader to understand the historical developments that have taken place among the Suba and Luo from the late pre-colonial period (c. 1800) to the present, and to appreciate the role of those dynamics in the making of ethnic relations that we witness in Rorya District today. Without prejudice to the rich and diverse archival documents used in this thesis, it is worth noting that the larger part of this research has relied on oral information, including oral traditions and oral testimonies. The reliance on oral methodology was prompted by the nature of the topic itself and the need to promote the skills of oral interpretation in historical scholarship. The main finding in this thesis is that ethnicity has been at work for a long time among the Suba and Luo of Rorya District and it has influenced major historical developments in the area, including migrations, settlement patterns, social relations, ritual performance and competition for political office. The findings indicate that both colonial and postcolonial states tried to re-define and/or manipulate ethnicity to suit their own political agendas but heritage from the past has endured. The moral here is that ethnicity-related problems are best handled through efforts at containment, negotiation and accommodation rather than eradication. This study proves that ethnicity is a phenomenon under perpetual formation, constantly shaped by the prevailing social and political conditions of a given moment. In this case, ethnic formation in Africa cannot be adequately understood by looking at the forces that operated during the pre-colonial or colonial periods alone. Instead, a comprehensive understanding of African ethnicity should take into account all major transformations that have taken place from the pre-colonial, through the colonial to the post-colonial epoch. This view is in keeping with the constructivist model recently proposed by Bruce Berman which posits that ethnic identities in Africa are continuously in a process of construction and reconstruction.