Practicing History in Central Tanzania

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Practicing History in Central Tanzania Writing, Memory, and Performance

Gregory H. Maddox, Ernest M. Kongola

Book Code: E07057

ISBN: 0-325-07057-1

ISBN-13: 978-0-325-07057-5

DOI:

200 pages, 3 photos; 3 maps

Heinemann

Publication: 12/30/2005

List Price: $99.95

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Also Available: Paperback

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Series Title: Social History of Africa

Endorsement From Kerry Ward
Associate Professor of History
Rice University: [S]ocial history is at its most profound--a fascinating and moving dialogue between academic historian Gregory Maddox and Gogo historian Ernest Kongola. It chronicles an ongoing collaboration between these historians in the production and meaning of history in post-colonial Africa; successfully displacing the academic speaking "for" or "to" and replacing it with a multi-layered narrative "with" and "between" the authors and their audiences.

Description: History is preserved by individuals. Ernest M. Kongola, a retired educator in living in Dodoma, Tanzania, has devoted much of the last twenty years to preserving the history of his people, the Gogo. He has produced seven volumes of clan histories, biographies, accounts of important events, and descriptions of customs and traditions. Maddox demonstrates how the past is constructed by critical actors like Ernest Kongola as part of an ongoing process of constructing the present. Kongola participates in the construction and maintenance of a truly post-colonial social order. His work as a public historian, as much as his written narratives, shapes the role of history in the region. In his projects, he seeks to harmonize three different visions of the past. One defines community created by ties of blood and located in a specific place. A second characterizes history as the development of the modern nation. The third sees history as the struggle to attain a "state of grace" with the divine. Kongola seeks to place his community, which he defines as family and "tribe," within the context of the Tanzanian nation, within the moral and spiritual order of Christianity, and within a global society. By "performing" history as a public figure, he defines more than just himself and his place in the social order of modern Tanzania; he defines his class. He consciously seeks to redefine social norms and cultural practices and to regularize them with Christianity and secular nationalism. In doing so he participates in the creation of both a national, Tanzanian modernity and a particular, Gogo one.

Table of Contents:

Table Of Contents
Introduction
Ernest Musa Kongola's Project
Ernest Musa Kongola's Autobiography
Life Maps
Life, Gender and Subjectivity
"If only they knew the grace of God, they would make bold Christians"
Narrating Power in Ugogo
Wagogo Leo!
Bibliography
Illustrations
Ernest M. Kongola
Ernest Kongola and Benjamin Mkapa, President of Tanzania
Map of Mnyangwila's Grave
Kongola's Research Journey
Life Maps
Margareth Kongola
For Memory


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