Participation of Tanzanian tribes and tribal chiefs in the 19th century slave trade

This article summarizes the results of three field studies conducted in Tanzania in 2018–2020 by A.A. Banshchikova, O.V. Ivanchenko and V.N. Bryndina. The research focused on Tanzanians’ memories about the 19th century Arab-Swahili slave trade and its possible impact on the contemporary interethnic relations in the country. More than 160 formal and informal interviews in English and Swahili were taken in Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo, Kaole, Tanga, Pangani, Zanzibar and several other locations. The choice of informants was carried out maintaining representativeness of the sample by the education level, gender, age, confession, ethnicity. This article highlights the participation of Tanzanian chiefs in the slave trade. Respondents were asked whether tribal chiefs and tribes took part in this business; which tribes and chiefs were involved; what was their motivation; do these memories affect nowadays interethnic relations in Tanzania. It turned out that Tanzanians do not express negative attitude towards local tribes and chiefs involved in the slave trade; moreover, their involvement is often presented as enforced (due to the fear of Arabs, who possessed more modern weapons, or as a result of their dishonesty). Meanwhile, the engagement of Arabs in the slave trade is well known; there are some tensions in the relations between Afro- and Arab-Tanzanians, including those related to history. Talking about renowned persons involved in the slave trade, respondents often named chiefs famous for resisting German colonization. For them the story of resistance to colonial rule and gaining independence remains much more important than the memory of the slave trade

Colonialism · Ethnic group · Ethnology · Political science · Representativeness heuristic · Sociology · Swahili · Tanzania · African history and culture studies · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Gender Studies · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology