Review
'The multiplicity of contributions collected in this volume, which address a wide variety of themes situated in an equally wide variety of times and locations, are linked by a unique concern in the understanding of political authority and dissidence in Tanzania.'...If the title of the book, In Sear of a Nation, is ambiguous in that it seems to focus only on the question of post-independence nation-building, the book provides the reader with an in-depth analysis of long-term dynamics of political activities. It shows that in Tanzania, the narrative of the nation produced by the nationalist movement and perpetuated throughout the socialist era has shaped Tanzanian political discourse for decades, but has not obliterated multiple political discourses and identities which exist in the country. All essays leave us with a stimulating way of thinking about nationalism that avoids polarizing representations and binary conceptions of social reality, but highlights on the contrary complex procedures of negotiations of identity and political authority.' - Marie-Aude FOUERE in 'Analyses et comptes rendus'----------'...A celebration of nationalism and the nation state is not to be found here, as one might have expected a generation ago. Rather, there is a sense of discomfort that Tanzanian nationalism failed to create the unity and freedom promised at independence. The title of the book might be paraphrased as a search for a usable past...'... in the ongoing search for a usable past, the contributions here reveal the limitations of state hegemony and the richness of local bases of knowledge in giving meaning to the past.' - Thaddeus Sunseri in 'African History'----------
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
The double-sided nature of African nationalism - its capacity to inspire expressions of unity, and its tendency to narrow political debate - are explored by sixteen historians, focusing on the experience of Tanzania. The narrative of the nation of Tanzania, which was created by the anti-colonial nationalist movement, expanded by the Union after the Zanzibar Revolution, and fused by the ideology of Ujamaa by Julius Nyerere, has shaped Tanzanian political discourse for decades, but has not obliterated the great wealth of political discourses and identities which exist within the nation.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
