Neoliberal Migrants and ‘Bongoland’ in Elieshi Lema’s In the Belly of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
This article examines how neo-liberal economy in Tanzania can be understood through the framework of neo-liberal migration from rural to urban centres. The article draws its context from the post-liberal policy adoption era in Tanzania and Africa generally in the 1980s that brought about irreversible changes in socioeconomic and political policies. This shift in policies culminated in massive flock of neo-liberal migrants into the city to market their labour power. Thus, this article uses Elieshi Lema’s In the Belly of Dar es Salaam as a lens through which to understand how literature offers an opportunity to explore various ways in which the city of Dar es salaam is configured and re-configured to respond to the needs of neoliberal migrants. Using Achille Mbembe’s idea of crisis in the postcolony, tagged along with close-reading and contextual reading methods, the article argues that In the Belly of Dar es Salaam (2011) represents the city of Dar es Salaam as a complex landmark that replete with images of disparity between rural and urban post-1990s Tanzania.
Keywords:
Neoliberal migrants, Bongoland, Rural-urban migration, Globalization
References
References
Bondareko, D., 2013. Foreign Aid and Self Reliance in Tanzania (The Case of the Distribution of Mosquito Bed Nets). Modern Africa: Politics, History and Society, 1(1), pp. 67-103.
Calas, B., 2010. From Dar es Salaam to Bongoland: Urban Mutations in Tanzania. Paris: Karthala.
Callaci, E., 2017. Street Archives and City Life: Popular Intellectuals in Postcolonial Tanzania. Durham and London : Duke University Press.
Castle, S., 2000. International migration at the beginning of twenty-first century: global trends and issues. International Social Sciences Journal, Volume 52, pp. 269-281.
Cornelli, E. M., 2012. A Critical analysis of Nyerere's ujamaa: an investigation of its foundations and values ,: University of Birmingham.
Demissie, F., 2007. Imperial legacies and postcolonial predicaments: an introduction. African Identities, 5(2), pp. 155-165.
Diof, M., 2014. Engaging Postcolonial Cultures: African Youth and Public Space. African Studies Review, 46(2), pp. 1-12.
Isinika, A. C., Mibavu, G. M. & VanSickle, J. J., 2016. Agriculture Policy Analysis Studies in Tanzania: A Historical and Thematic Perspective with Implications on Future Policy Research for Crop Production and Marketing. Tanzania Journal of Agriculture Sciences, 15(1), pp. 51-68.
Kaiser, P. J., 2008. Structural Adjustment and the Fragile Nation: The Demise of Social Unity in Tanzania. The Journal of African Studies, 34(2), pp. 227-237.
Lema, E., 2011. In the Belly of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam: E & D Vision Publishers.
Mbembe, Achille; Janet Roitman, 1995. Figures of the Subject in Times of the Crisis. Public Culture, Volume 7, pp. 323-352.
Mbembe, A., 1992. Provisional Notes on the Postcolony. African Journal of the International African Institute, 62(1), pp. 3-37.
Mbembe, A., 2001. On the Postcolony. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of Colifornia Press.
Myers, G. A., 2010. Seven Themes in African Urban Dynamics. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.
Myers, G. A., 2011. African Cities; alternative Visions of Urban Theory and Practice. London, New York: Zed Books.
Ng'umbi, Y. C., 2015. Politics of the Family in Contemporary East and West African Women's Writing, PhD Thesis: Stellenbosch University.
Ng'umbi, Y. C., 2017. Writing the city Space: Migration, Precariousness and Affilial Relationships. Journal of Education, Humanities and Sciences, 6(1), pp. 32-46.
Nyasulu, G., 2022. Home and Belonging in Chibundu Onuzo's Welcome to Lagos. International Journal of English and Social Sciences, 7(4), pp. 344-354.
Pieterse, E., 2011. Grasping the Unknowable: coming to grip with African urbanism. Social Dynamics, 37(1), pp. 5-23.
Sanga, I., 2013. Musical Figuring of postcolonial urban segmentarity and marginality in Selected "Bongo Fleva" Songs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 44(2), pp. 385-405.
Simone, A., 2004. People as Infrastructure: Intersecting Fragments in Johannesburg. Public Culture, 16(3), pp. 407-429.
Wagao, J. H., 1990. Adjustment Policies in Tanzania, 1981-1989: The Impact on Growth, Structure and Human Welfare. Florence, Italy: Innocenti Ocassional Papers.
Wakota, J., 2014. The Making and Remaking of gender Relations in Tanzanian Fiction, PhD Thesis: Stellenbosch University.
Wineman, A., Jayne, T. S., Modamba, E. I. & Kray, H., 2020. The changing face of agriculture in Tanzania: indicators of transformation. Development Policy Review, Volume 38, pp. 685-709.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 CC BY-ND 4.0- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
