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Access status: Open Access ,
The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health among Individuals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
(Tanzania Journal of Sociology, 2022-06-30) Shagembe, Magolanga; Kinanda, Jonas; Senga, Mathew; Ndaluka, Thomas
This study aimed at examining the impact of COVID-19 on mental health in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Specifically, this study was guided by the assumption that the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted on individuals’ mental health in Tanzania in various ways. The study used a Social Cognitive Theory to illuminate insights generated from the empirical findings from the field. Using a survey questionnaire, the study collected data from a sample of 258 respondents. The findings have shown that COVID-19 affected individuals differently, with fewer symptoms of substance use disorders, depression, and schizophrenia experienced by the respondents interviewed. Overall, there were high symptoms of obsession and bipolar disorder. In conclusion, people’s cognitive perception influenced their view of severity of COVID-19 and consequently predisposed their behaviour. Given the changing nature of the virus globally, this study recommends for a country wide survey to determine the trend and magnitude of mental disorders in the country.
Access status: Open Access ,
. Faith in the Times of Covid-19: Integrating Religion in the Fight against Covid-19 in Tanzania.
(Folklore, 2021-01) Ndaluka, Thomas; Shagembe, Magolanga; Kinanda, Jonas; Tarmo, Vendeline
When and where a crisis such as a pandemic arises, people turn to religion in pursuit/search of comfort, justifications, and explanations. This article describes the role of religion in Tanzania in the times of COVID-19. The data collected through a questionnaire from 258 participants asserts that COVID-19 increased the intensity level of religiosity in Tanzania. This was seen in peoples’ participation in religious activities, i.e., religious gatherings, frequent prayers, and other religious practices. This article has established that the process of de-secularization was strong, and religion became a provider of hope, unity, sol ace, and socialization. Moreover, COVID-19 has also facilitated the convergence of different religions and thus ecumenism and pluralism of faiths have been strengthened in the country.
Access status: Open Access ,
Is Mimetic Desire a root cause of religious violence in Tanzania? An analysis of Girardian – Mimetic Desire Theory
(Tanzanian Journal of Sociology, 2020-06-30) Ndaluka, Thomas
Mimetic desire theory is widely available in the Western debates and has informed thinking and arguments in the disciplines of literature, sociology, anthropology, religion, theology, and political science in the Western Universities. Unfortunately, there are rare or limited debates on the application of the mimetic desire theory in Africa in general and Tanzania in particular. This article, therefore, attempts to [re]introduce the theory founded by René Girard – the Mimetic desire theory focusing on the causes of religious violence in Tanzania. The article uses information gathered from two case studies i.e. from Dar es Salaam and Geita Regions to argue that indeed religious violence in the country is the result of mimesis. The article argues that, Christians have imitated the act of slaughtering animals by Muslims, the resultant of which was violence between Muslims and Christians in the country. The article also adds that religion, however, was not the sole cause of violence in the country. Other factors such as economic marginalisation and power relations were at the core. Moreover, the masses actively and consciously chose the victims (scapegoats) for sacrificial purposes. The paper concludes that society must empower all citizens, regardless of their beliefs, to access the desired objects (scarce resources) in order to maintain peaceful coexistence. The article recommends more debate and studies on the analysis of the Girardian mimetic desire theory.
Access status: Open Access ,
Swahili Muslim Publics and Postcolonial Experience. By Kai Kresse. African Expressive Culture Series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 2018, pp. xii+237 ISBN: 978-0-253-03753-4
(UTAFITI, 2019-06-30) Ndaluka, Thomas
Access status: Open Access ,
The adaptive systemic approach: equitable co-design and partnerships for sustainable multi-use rangelands in Tanzania, Ethiopia, and South Africa
(Publisher XII International Rangeland Congress, 2025) Palmer, CG; Senga, MA; Woldu, Z; Bantider, A; Gusha, B; Norbert, J; Tanner, JL
Building effective equitable partnerships and implementing co-designed projects and/or interventions to sustain multi-use rangelands, takes time, sustained commitment, and resources. There are pitfalls. Teams in three African countries used the collaboratively developed Adaptive Systemic Approach (ASA) to navigate these processes. We present a summary of the ASA and findings from its application. Key ASA strengths included: partnership building; enabling co-design; and capacity building through transformative social learning (explicitly respecting and integrating different knowledge forms: academic, practice-based, indigenous). We identify pitfalls: inadequate capacity building across academic disciplines, patchy facilitation skills, process discontinuities (e.g. changing representative participants), inattention to language and translation, power imbalances, and experiences of disrespect. We present adaptations to mitigate pitfalls. In all three contexts we aimed to move towards increased capacity for participatory governance, and an increased likelihood of improved rangeland condition and sustainable livelihoods. 1) The Great Ruaha River catchment (Tanzania), exemplifies challenges related to unequal water resources sharing, and ongoing contestation among competing water users, including communal livestock farmers, crop farmers and other community members. ASA engagements included these marginalised groups, addressed longstanding power imbalances, and set the groundwork for future collaborations. 2) Current vegetation cover in the Upper Blue Nile River basin (Ethiopia) reflects a complex interplay of human activities including grazing, cultivation, and selective fodder cutting; interwoven with the influences of climate, soil, and geology. A long-term restoration initiative in the Aba Gerima and Debre Yaqob catchments focusses on managing vegetation cover and the balance of woody plants and grasses. Using the ASA, communities in the two catchments co- developed strategies for rangeland and livelihood sustainability. 3) In the Tsitsa River catchment (South Africa) the appointment of eco-rangers, and early steps towards agreements for rotational grazing of multi-owned herds, in the degraded free-range communal rangeland, emerged from participatory ASA processes.