Browsing by Author "Biginagwa, Thomas"

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    Archaeological Perspective on the Impacts of Caravan Trade Expansion in East Africa: Emerging Alternative Histories
    (UDSM, 2020) Biginagwa, Thomas; Katto, Philbert
    The last two decades have witnessed an increase of archaeological research interest in the East African caravan trade, a topic that was traditionally exclusive to historians. Long-term empirical evidence currently generated by archaeologists continues to consolidate our understanding of the caravan trade, and helps to question some inferences previously drawn from colonial libraries. This paper presents archaeological evidence unearthed from the Northern and Southern caravan routes located in the corresponding areas in the contemporary northern and southern Tanzania. The paper engages material evidence to re-examine some of the consequences of the caravan trade commonly reported in historical writings. Doing so, the paper demonstrates the utility of considering material culture records in studying and re-writing Africa’s recent past.
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    Development of Cultural Heritage Registration in Post-Colonial Tanzania
    (2020) Biginagwa, Thomas
    Although Tanzania is endowed with a significant amount of nationally and internationally renowned cultural heritage resources that span about 3.6 million years to the present, very few of them feature in the national heritage register. The government has only proclaimed and registered fifty-five heritage assets deemed to be of national significance since independence, almost six decades ago. Most of the registered heritage resources are built heritage with colonial ties, at the expense of traditional African ones. Spatially, heritage properties in regions along the Indian Ocean coast dominate the proclaimed heritage properties. This paper investigates the reasons for these trends, by tracing the roots of the heritage registration system in the country to the colonial period and by uncovering the shortcomings in the creation and maintenance of the heritage register, and proposes solutions and strategies for addressing the challenges. The paper cites examples from African countries and beyond to illustrate how comprehensive heritage registers are created and maintained