I wrote on Facebook: I called it an ‘evangelistic conversation’ but I really don’t like the term. ‘Evangelism’ can have negative connotations of conquest and for 200 years Africa has been the plaything of European imperial ambition (let alone the colonisation that came before that). This conversation highlighted that poignantly. […]
I’ve finally finished Olufemi Taiwo’s How colonialism preempted modernity in Africa, having sporadically slogged my way through it over the last few months. Taiwo’s intellect is massive, and I felt like you practically had to have a Masters degree just to understand the English, let alone the fact that he […]
The most encouraging thing for me about doing the seminar on church history was the response from the group to a number of the issues I raised. I made a few attempts at applying the lessons of the past to Tanzania, but the group seized them and took them further […]
Mnyampala notes that life for the Wagogo changed significantly with the coming of colonialism. Even naming is significant. Prior to colonialism, the inhabitants of Ugogo still primarily identified by clan; to speak of the Wagogo as a tribe was an artefact of colonial organisation and labelling. Aside from being drawn into European conflict […]
I mentioned in my brief timeline of the Ugogo region, that Mnyampala’s The Gogo: History, Customs and Traditions was commissioned by the colonial authorities. The introductory essay explains that the colonists were worried about the rise of nationalism, which could potentially throw them out, and so they commissioned studies like […]
I’ve only read the introduction to Olufemi Taiwo‘s How colonialism preempted modernity in Africa but just the outline of his argument is intriguing. He thinks that the ‘standard story of colonialism [as] the spoilsport who destroyed, distorted or altered African forms of social living’ neither accounts for the agency of African […]
Meet Jesus at uni 