From Dar es Salaam to Bongoland

Description

The name Dar es Salaam comes from the Arabic phrase meaning house of peace. A popular but erroneous translation is �haven of peace� resulting from a mix-up of the Arabic words "dar" (house) and "bandar" (harbour). Named in 1867 by the Sultan of Zanzibar, the town has for a long time benefitted from a reputation of being a place of tranquility. The tropical drowsiness is a comfort to the socialist poverty and under-equipment that causes an unending anxiety to reign over the town. Today, for the Tanzanian, the town has become Bongoland, that is, a place where survival is a matter of cunning and intelligence (bongo means �brain� in Kiswahili). Far from being an anecdote, this slide into toponomy records the mutations that affect the links that Tanzanians maintain with their principal city and the manner in which it represents them. This book takes into account the changes by departing from the hypothesis that they reveal a process of territorialisation. What are the processes�envisaged as spatial investments�which, by producing exclusivity, demarcations and exclusions, fragment the urban space and its social fabric? Do the practices and discussions of the urban dwellers construct limited spaces, appropriated, identified and managed by communities (in other words, territories)? Dar es Salaam is often described as a diversified, relatively homogenous and integrating place. However, is it not more appropriate to describe it as fragmented? As territorialisation can only occur through frequenting, management and localised investment, it is therefore through certain places�first shelter and residential area, then the school, daladala station, the fire hydrant and the quays�that the town is observed. This led to broach the question in the geographical sense of urban policy carried out since German colonisation to date. At the same time, the analysis of these developments allows for an evaluation of the role of the urban crisis and the responses it brings. In sum, the aim of this approach is to measure the impact of the uniqueness of the place on the current changes. On one hand, this is linked to its long-term insertion in the Swahili civilisation, and on the other, to its colonisation by Germany and later Britain and finally, to the singularity of the post-colonial path. This latter is marked by an alternation of Ujamaa with Structural Adjustment Plans applied since 1987. How does this remarkable political culture take part in the emerging city today? This book is a translation of De Dar es Salaam � Bongoland: Mutations urbaines en Tanzanie, published by Karthala, Paris in 2006.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Anthropology

Informations

• Publié par: Mkuki na Nyota Publishers
• Date de parution: 01 novembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9789987081288
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 43 Mo

Extrait

FROM DAR ES SALAAM TO BONGOLAND
The name Dar es Salaam comes from the Arabic phrase meaning house of peace. A
popular but erroneous translation is ‘haven of peace’ resulting from a mix-up of the
Arabic words "dar" (house) and "bandar" (harbour). Named in 1867 by the Sultan
of Zanzibar, the town has for a long time beneftted from a reputation of being a
place of tranquility. The tropical drowsiness is a comfort to the socialist poverty and
under-equipment that causes an unending anxiety to reign over the town. Today,
for the Tanzanian, the town has become Bongoland, that is, a place where survival
is a matter of cunning and intelligence (bongo means ‘brain’ in Kiswahili). Far from
being an anecdote, this slide into toponomy records the mutations that afect the
links that Tanzanians maintain with their principal city and the manner in which it
represents them.
This book takes into account the changes by departing from the hypothesis that
they reveal a process of territorialisation. What are the processes—envisaged as
spatial investments—which, by producing exclusivity, demarcations and exclusions,
fragment the urban space and its social fabric? Do the practices and discussions of
the urban dwellers construct limited spaces, appropriated, identifed and managed
by communities (in other words, territories)? Dar es Salaam is often described as
a diversifed, relatively homogenous and integrating place. However, is it not more FROM DAR ES SALAAM TO
appropriate to describe it as fragmented?
As territorialisation can only occur through frequenting, management and localised
investment, it is therefore through certain places—frst shelter and residential area,
then the school, daladala station, the fre hydrant and the quays—that the town is BONGOLANDobserved. This led to broach the question in the geographical sense of urban policy
carried out since German colonisation to date. At the same time, the analysis of
these developments allows for an evaluation of the role of the urban crisis and the URBAN MUTATIONS IN TANZANIA
responses it brings.
In sum, the aim of this approach is to measure the impact of the uniqueness of the
place on the current changes. On one hand, this is linked to its long-term insertion
in the Swahili civilisation, and on the other, to its colonisation by Germany and later
Britain and fnally, to the singularity of the post-colonial path. This latter is marked
by an alternation of Ujamaa with Structural Adjustment Plans applied since 1987.
How does this remarkable political culture take part in the emerging city today?
This book is a translation of De Dar es Salaam à Bongoland: Mutations urbaines en
Tanzanie, published by Karthala, Paris in 2006.
COLLECTION DIRECTED BY JEAN COPANS
IFRA-NAIROBI COORDINATED BY BERNARD CALAS
MKUKI NA NYOTAFROM DAR ES SALAAM TO BONGOLANDFROM DAR ES SALAAM TO BONGOLAND
URAFIKI COLLECTION
Coordinated by Bernard Calas
Karthala
Mkuki na Nyota Publishers
French Institute for Research in AfricaThis English translation is published by
Mkuki na Nyota Publishers Ltd.
P. O. Box 4246
Dar es Salam, Tanzania
www.mkukinanyota.com
In association with
French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA)
P.O.Box 58480 - 00200,
Nairobi, Kenya.
www.ifra-nairobi.net
Originally published by:
Karthala
22-24, Blrd Arago75013 Paris
De Dar es Salaam à Bongoland : Mutations urbaine en Tanzanie
Translation by
Naomi Morgan
Cover Photo
Cécile Roy
ISBN 978-9987-08-094-6
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, stored in any retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means - mechanical, via photocopying,
recording, or otherwise - without the prior permission of French Institute for Research
in Africa (IFRA) and the publisher. Statements and views expressed herein are those of
the authors and not necessarily those of French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA).Contents
List of Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Dedications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction
Form as a pretext for investigating urban mutations
Bernard Calas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
section one - land history
The Domestication of the Agglomeration
The Evolution of Dar es Salaam’s Peri-Urban Space during
the period of German Colonisation (1890-1914)
Franck Raimbault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Public Housing Policies: Decentralization, government policies
and the people’s solutions
Marie Ange Goux 99
Mixity and Territoriality in a Rapidly Expanding City:
How Dar es Salaam was shaped by its Suburbs
Adrienne Polomack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125section two - managing space
Between Places and Links
Schools: facilities and places structuring urbanity in Dar es Salaam
Cécile Roy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Urban Transport: following the course of free enterprise
Pascal Pochet and Lourdes Diaz Olveira . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Towards a two-tiered city?
Lourdes Diaz Olveira And Pascal Pochet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Water Management: Institutional weaknesses and urban answers:
towards a new urbanity?
Valérie Messer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
section three - horizons and exchaged glances
Harbour Landscapes
Bernard Calas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Cultural Landscapes: Sedimentation, fusion or mutations?
Bernard Calas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Dar es Salaam – Zanzibar: exchanging glances
Jérémie Robert 355
Zanzibari Investments in Kariakoo
Mohamed Ahmed Saleh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Confusing views: from a wealth of representations to
a “polyphonic city”
Bernard Calas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395Contributors
Bernard Calas, Geographer, Professor at Université Michel de Montaigne –
Bordeaux 3, UMR ADES-DyMSET.
Odile Chapuis, Geographer, Ingénieur d’étude CNRS, UMR
ADESDyMSET.
Lourdes Diaz-Oliveira, Economist, Director of research at Laboratoire
d’Économie des Transports de l’École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l’État,
Lyon.
Marie-Ange Goux, Political Scientist, Doctoral Fellow at Centre d’Études
d’Afrique Noire, IEP - Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV.
Valérie Messer, Geographer, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg.
Marie-Louise Penin, Cartographer, technician, CNRS, UMR
ADESDyMSET.
Pascal Pochet, Economist, Research Director, at research at Laboratoire
d’Économie des Transports de l’École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l’État,
Lyon.
Adrienne Polomack, Geographer, Protection Officer for the French Office of
Refugees and Displaced Persons, Course Director at Géotropiques, Nanterre.
Guilène Réaud-Thomas, Cartographic geographer, research engineer,
CNRS, UMR ADES-DyMSET.
Frank Raimbault, Historian, PhD candidate at MALD, Professor of
Historygeography.
Jérémie Robert, Political scientist, PhD candidate at Centre d’Études
d’Afrique Noire, IEP - Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV.
Cécile Roy, Geographer , T eaching Fellow , PhD candidate at Université Michel de
Montaigne – Bordeaux 3.
Mohammed A. Saleh, Sociologist.
Arelette Turlet, CNRS, UMR ADES-DyMSET. The French Institute for Research in Africa (Institut français de recherche
en Afrique - IFRA), established in 1980 in Nairobi (Kenya), is an organ of
research and cooperation in human and social sciences, supported by the
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