Chief village in a nation of villages

History, race and authority in Tanzania's Dodoma plan

Bibliographic Data

ID5824430
AuthorsEmily Callaci (University of Wisconsin–Madison, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume43
Issue1
Pages96-116
Publication date2015-01-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0963-9268 • E-ISSN: 1469-8706
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0963926814000753
OpenAlexW2156976254
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited36

This article explores how notions of African authenticity informed urban planning in post-colonial Africa. It examines an attempt by Tanzania's ruling party to build a new national capital in the sparsely populated region of Dodoma. Paradoxically, Dodoma's planners sought to build a modern African city based on the social principles of the traditional African village. This vision of African village authenticity legitimized Tanzania's ruling party by linking its authority to a purely African, rather than colonial, past. At the same time, it allowed politicians to criminalize urban poverty by attributing it to racial betrayal rather than broader structural failures

Archaeology · Betrayal · Capital (architecture · Colonialism · Economic growth · Economics · Ethnology · Geography · Plan (archaeology · Political science · Poverty · Race (biology · Sociology · Tanzania · Traditional authority · Urban poverty · African history and culture studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Gender Studies · Law · Public Administration · Urban and Rural Development Challenges

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