Department of Creative Arts

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African Perspectives on Programs for North American Students in Africa: The Experience of the University of Dar es Salaam
(2000) Mlama, Penina O.
The University of Dar es Salaam' has a long history of links with universities in different parts of the world. Cur- rently it has formal link agreements with 61 universities in Africa, Asia, and Europe, including 12 in North America (11 in the United States and 1 in Canada). Seven out of the 12 include student exchange at undergraduate or graduate levels. These universities include Carleton, Brown, Connecticut, Hampton, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina (Chapel Hill), uni- versities in the consortium of American Lutheran colleges, and a number of others organized under the International Stu- dent Exchange Program (ISEP) and the International Recip- rocal Student Exchange Program (IRSEP).
Arts in Education. What Do Tanzanians Need to Know? In Pinto, T. and Hanneken, B. (Eds.). Mambo Moto Moto. Music in Tanzania Today
(Würzburg, Germany: Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung,, 2016) Mapana, Kedmon
On April 7th 2011, two visitors from St. Johns University of Tanzania, Rick Eigenbrood (the Dean of the School of Education, Seattle Pacific University), Arthur Ellis (Director of the Centre for Global Education, Seattle Pacific University), and I visited King’s School located at 19303 Fremont Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98133. Eric Rasmussen, the Superintendent gave us a wonderful and useful tour. I was very impressed when he took us to the music room where there was a choir singing. The choir caught my attention and inspired me to ask Ras- mussen whether the arts are integrated into the course of study. He said yes, and explained further how deeply the King’s school values the arts and is committed to arts experiences as an integral part of its educational program. This conversation reminded me of my experience working on a program evaluation for Elk Plain School of Choice. It is one of seventeen public elementary schools in the Bethel School District, located in Spanaway, WA. Elk Plain School of Choice gives the arts—dance, music, theatre, and visual arts—a prominent role in the curriculum. Although the high quality of academic achievement cannot be credited to the arts program alone, Elk Plain School of Choice has had consistently higher scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learn- ing (WASL) test(s) and Mastery of Student Progress (MSP) test(s) than other schools in the Bethel School District. Many teachers, parents and students of Elk Plain School are con- vinced that the arts are a major factor contributing to the students’ academic achievement. This is typically the case. One cannot attribute cause and effect, but certainly the correlation is there. Personally, I do think the arts contribute to achievement, but one must also take into account the fact that students engaged in the arts are themselves a unique subset of the gen- eral population with regard to socio-economic circumstance, etc. The arts programs in these two schools are not just something teachers and students do outside of school or after class. They are part of school’s course of study. This is different from Tanzania. The arts are not given priority as subjects by themselves. They are considered to be extra-curricular activities. As an example, in the 1990s, the arts (music, drama, and visual arts) and athletics were eliminated from Tanzanian schools. The Minister of Education, Joseph Mungai at that time, was concerned that arts and athletics were a waste of time. He demanded that science subjects and mathematics should be given priority. Unbelievably, in 2005, the Tanzanian government announced the idea to bring back the arts and athletics into schools. For me, this was a good idea but the people had suffered for many years without the arts in their education, and arts’ subjects have continued to be per- ceived as being of no value. As a Tanzanian, I argue that the arts have value in schools, and students who participate in music, drama, visual arts, and athletics, appear to me to do better in school. That has been my observation. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to (1) trace some elements of the continuing debate about the relative importance of science versus arts and humanities in education and the effects of the ascent of science on education that Mungai’s position reveals; (2) document perspectives related to the value of the arts in education; (3) review empirical evidence of the value of arts in education, including research involv- ing theatre, dance and other performing arts; (4) identify the ways arts in education appear in educational settings in the USA; (5) survey policy issues connecting funding with arts in education in the US; (6) describe how arts partnerships function in arts education in the USA; Arts in Education: What Do Tanzanians Need to Know? • 171 (7) discover what makes the arts to be perceived as marginal to the primary purposes of schooling in the USA; and (8) examine the situation involving arts in education in Tanzania. The paper has been undertaken to serve both as a reminder to supporters of arts in educa- tion, and to create awareness among a wider group of Tanzanians.
Binti Leo: Women in the Arts in Tanzania
(James Currey, 2015) Shule, Vicensia
Binti Leo (literally Today’s Young Lady) is an association of women in the arts in Tanzania established in 2005. Binti Leo’s main objectives were to identify women in the arts, improve their lives, and advocate for their rights. From its establishment, the association has executed its activities independently or in association with the other like minded organizations. Members have performed in various places in Tanzania, across the continent and abroad. Regardless of a decade of existence, the association, it has not been able to fulfill its goals and objectives. This paper draws on personal experiences and shared views by some members of Binti Leo and interrogates the successes, failures and challenges that the organization faces for its survival in the neoliberal market. The analysis shows that participation in the arts is something which women like and enjoy. Poverty at family level and lack of funds to implement some of the Binti Leo’s projects have been identified as the major challenges to further progress.
The Challenges of Affirmative Action in Tanzanian Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study of the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
(Elsevier, 2006) Lihamba, Amandina; Mwaipopo, Rosemarie; Shule, Lucy
This article discusses affirmative action programmes introduced and designed to increase female students' enrolment at the University of Dar es Salaam. The assessment of the interventions is made within the context and perceptions of their implementation. A key finding of this study is that affirmative action programmes have succeeded in increasing female enrolment generally and in traditionally male-dominated specializations such as Engineering, Medicine, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics specifically. For example, as a result of affirmative action female enrolment in the Faculty of Science rose from 16% in 1996 to 27% in 2003/2004 and from 7% in 1996 to 13% in 2003/04 in the Engineering Faculty. However, as this article shows, there is much more to gender equity than just numbers. Qualitative factors such as participation in academic life as students or staff within and outside the classroom, the living environment, pedagogy and institutional micro-politics continue to pose challenges for gender equity and equality. Limitations in programme scale, infrastructure and resources also raise important questions regarding the sustainability of these affirmative action programmes. Therefore, while affirmative action can be seen as positive efforts to offset a historical imbalance, it still is confronted with and opens up new debates on privilege and discrimination amidst concerns with sustainability in a third world context.
Changes in performance styles: a case study of Muheme, a musical tradition of the Wagogo of Dodoma, Tanzania
(Taylor & Francis, 2007-08-09) Mapana, Kedmon Elisha
On 13 February 2005, I attended a concert of Wagogo music performed in the Anglican Church in Chamwino village in the Dodoma region of central Tanzania. Twenty music groups participated in this concert with six of these groups performing the popular Wagogo muheme. It was clearly observed that the way this muheme music tradition was performed in the church, was quite different from the muheme performances during Wagogo girls' initiation rituals, which I have had the opportunity to witness at various times in the past. This realization prompted interest in the transition, and the resultant change of muheme performance styles as a Wagogo tradition, interest that led to the present paper. The basic argument of this paper is that music tradition of muheme is a ‘living tradition’, one that changes due to different influences, some from within the culture, some foreign to the culture, and some brought about by historical events such as the decline of female circumcision practices. This paper investigates the transition of a ritual music tradition, muheme, through a secular form of the same tradition that has ultimately led to a church-employed usage of the tradition. It will note, specifically, changes in performance styles and the factors that led to the change of the muheme tradition.
Composition Processes in Popular Church Music in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
(Taylor & Francis Group, 2006-11-24) Sanga, Imani
Popular church music is one of the newer musical genres in Tanzania. It is characterized by incorporating improvisation, by the use of electric guitars, keyboards and drum machines, and by the body movements which accompany its performance. This paper shows that composition processes in this style are collaborative and take place in multiple stages.
Digubi: A Tanzanian Indigenous Theatre Form
(1981) Mlama, Penina O.
Effective Poster Design for Information Dissemination: the Ethics Promotion Project
(University of Dar es Salaam Library Journal, 2007) Mwenesi, Leonard Charles
This article is written with an understanding that information communication posters are very frequently prepared and used in all types of educational campaigns, but their planning, design and production rarely takes into consideration their effectiveness for the purpose they are prepared. The paper is thus aimed at discussing the essential and crucial design elements that when adhered to, can help in the production and dissemination of posters that are audience or target group centered. Incidentally, appropriate, well discussed and analyzed information on the key elements of design – and for this matter poster design is not readily available as complete whole. The need for such information is even more marked in developing countries, where there are innumerable upcoming governmental, non-governmental and civil society organizations that are involved in educating people using printed visual materials. This treatise contributes towards bridging this gap. In support of the rationale of this theoretical contention the paper presents and briefly discusses how ethics promotion information dissemination posters for Tanzania’s civil service were planned designed and disseminated. This poster production was organized and implemented through a collaborative design project between Tanzania’s President’s Office and the University of Dar es Salaam. The project’s time spine was from January 2004 to February 2005. The theoretical analysis presented in the paper was of great help in guiding the whole process of planning, designing, production, proper distribution and placement of the posters. This analysis on poster design factors and procedures helped in facilitating very profitable, well informed dialogue with stakeholders that included secondary school students - who did the designs. The discussions centered on analyzing what it takes to produce and disseminate appropriate audience centered posters for effective education. The project involved previously untrained (in design) school going, mostly teenage, children. Subsequent to the well organized preliminary discussions and execution of the project, high quality posters were designed, produced and rightly distributed to their intended sites. Monitoring and evaluation of the impact of the project is however yet to be undertaken. In this regard the paper concludes by recommending that a deliberate and thorough monitoring and evaluation of the impact of the project be done. The paper does as well suggest that a traveling exhibition of all the produced posters be shown all over Tanzania to emphasize and broaden the project’s impact.
Effective Poster Design for Information Dissemination: University of Dar es Salaam Library Journal, Vol. 9 (2). 2007.
(University of Dar es Salaam Library Journal, 2007) Mwenesi, Leonard Charles
This article is written with an understanding that information communication posters are frequently prepared and used in all types of educational campaigns, but their planning, design and production rarely takes into consideration their effectiveness for the purpose they are prepared. The paper is thus aimed at discussing the essential and crucial design elements that when adhered to, can help in the production of posters that are audience or target group centered. The need for such information is even more critical in developing countries, where there are innumerable upcoming governmental, non-governmental and civil society organizations that are involved in educating people using printed visual materials. The paper presents and briefly discusses how ethics promotion information dissemination posters for Tanzania's civil service were planned designed and disseminated. This poster production project was organized and implemented through a collaborative initiative between the President's Office and the University of Dar es Salaam. The project's time span was from January 2004 to February 2005. The project involved untrained (in poster design) school going children, who were mostly teenagers. Subsequent to the well organized preliminary discussions and execution of the project, high quality posters were designed, produced and distributed to their intended sites. The paper makes some conclusions and recommendations.
Enculturational Discontinuities in the Musical Experience of the Wagogo Children of Central Tanzania
(Oxford University Press, 2012-11) Mapana, Kedmon Elisha
This article examines the musical enculturation process among the Wagogo people in Tanzania in order to understand their informal learning of culture (and musical culture). A framework is then proposed for the development of a music curriculum that removes enculturational discontinuities and helps sustain cultural identity. It is argued that enculturation is a natural process that need not be dismissed and discontinued as mandatory schooling moves children from their homes and families and into a formal learning environment. The songs, rhythms, and movements that children learn at home constitute are part of their deepest cultural roots. This music must be nurtured through a school curriculum that continues to build upon the local experiences of children’s early years.
Equity and Equality in Access to Higher Education: The Experiences of Students with Disabilities in Tanzania
(2011) Mwaipopo, Rosemarie; Lihamba, Amandina; Njewele, Delphine C.
Social development policies in Tanzania are exemplary in terms of their recognition of the rights of access to higher education institutions by specific demographic groups. Policy documents such as the 2005 National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (known as the MKUKUTA) and the 2004 National Policy on Disability emphasise this necessity and outline the government’s commitment to ensure that people who are socially disadvantaged, including those with disabilities, can equally access higher education. The process through which this is achieved is, however, less explicit and is therefore difficult to measure in relation to what students with disabilities actually experience as they not only pursue, but also experience higher education. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, this article analyses the process of access into higher education institutions and outcomes in terms of representation in higher education institutions by students with disabilities. In doing so, it seeks to explore the meaning and outcomes of policies related to higher education institutions in Tanzania in terms of their stated equality ideals and achievements in practice.
The Figuring Of Music Cultures In Literary And Visual Arts Of Tanzania: Preliminaries And Methodological Issues1
(2012) Sanga, Imani
Usually when we read poems or novels and when we look at paintings or sculptures we find ourselves transported away from our ―ordinary world‖ into ―imaginary worlds‖ that these works of art create. The movement into these imaginary worlds becomes possible when we immerse ourselves into the works of art in question. In some of these imaginary worlds, we encounter people sing, play music instruments and dance to music. Some other times we also encounter people talk about music and their musical experiences. On my part, every time I encounter such musical moments, as it is the case when I am in my ordinary world, I pay attention and enjoy the musical experience. Most often these musical experiences call for subsequent reflections. As a student of the music cultures of Tanzania, I have witnessed in recent years the increasingly growing number of scholarly works concerning music cultures of Tanzania. However, none of the studies I know focus on the imaginary music cultures which I often encounter in the works of art. Since imaginary musical cultures are part of everyday human experiences, these imaginary music cultures need our scholarly attention for a more comprehensive understanding of music cultures in Tanzania, an attention that the present study pays. The aim of this study, therefore, is to explore the imaginary music cultures created in and through literary and visual works of art by Tanzanian artists, and to examine how music or some of its elements such as music styles, music instruments or voice are used in the context of the imaginary music cultures within selected works of art as figures of social identities and/or relations.
The Figuring of Postcolonial Urban Segmentarity and Marginality in Bongo Fleva Music in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
(2013) Sanga, Imani
Filamu za Kiswahili nchini Tanzania: Athari za ‘Kauli’ za Wasambazaji-Wauzaji kwa Wasanii na Jamii
(Taasisi ya Taaluma za Kiswahili, 2014) Shule, Vicensia
Baadhi ya tafiti zilizofanyika katika tasnia ya filamu za video (filamu) za Kiswahili nchini Tanzania zimeonesha kuwa kuna uhusiano wa moja kwa moja kati ya utayarishaji filamu na uuzaji wake. Uhusiano huo ni ule unaoonesha jinsi mchakato wa utayarishaji filamu unavyoweza kuathiri ubora wa filamu, hususan ukosefu wa elimu na taaluma ya filamu kwa wasanii. Pamoja na hayo, tafiti hizo hazikuweza kuweka bayana namna usambazaji unavyoweza kuathiri ubora wa filamu. Makala haya yanalenga kujenga hoja kuwa ubora wa filamu Tanzania ni suala linalochangamana zaidi na mfumo wa usambazaji na uuzaji wa filamu kuliko utayarishaji. Lengo hasa ni kuonesha jinsi ambavyo ubora wa filamu za Tanzania unavyopangwa na wasambazaji-wauzaji na siyo warudufishaji-wasambazaji au wasanii-watayarishaji kama inavyoonekana katika tafiti zilizotangulia. Kauli mbalimbali za wadau hao ndizo ambazo tunazichanganua katika makala haya.
Foreign Aid: 1900 to Present: Africa
(SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012) Shule, Vicensia
Gender Equity in Commonwealth Higher Education: Emerging Themes in Nigeria, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Uganda
(2004) Gunawardena, Chandra; Kwesiga, Joy; Lihamba, Amandina; Morley, Louise; Odejide, Abiola; Shackleton, Lesley
This paper is based on interim findings from a research project on gender equity in higher education in Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Nigeria. The project, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and co-ordinated by the Centre for Higher Education Studies at the University of London Institute of Education, is investigating interventions for change in relation to access, curriculum transformation and staff development. It is also searching and analysing published and unpublished literature from low-income Commonwealth countries on gender equity. Themes are emerging in the research. These include the international policy drivers for gender equity, representation of women in senior academic and management posts; access as a redistributive measure, gender violence, organisational culture, micropolitics and the gendered division of labour in academia. There are concerns about the current distribution patterns of women in universities as students, academics and managers and the qualitative experiences of women in Commonwealth universities. The research project offers the opportunity to gain comparative insights across the Commonwealth. It aims to contribute to multilateral dissemination and scholarship in an area that has not been traditionally researched.
Gender in Church Music: Dynamics of Gendered Space in Muziki wa Injili in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
(Wiley, 2007-07-04) Sanga, Imani
This article deals with the dynamics of gendered space in Muziki wa Injili (lit. Gospel Music) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Muziki wa Injili is characterized by employing body movements, by incorporating improvisation, and by featuring the use of electric guitars and keyboards all of which are uncommon in the mainstream church music traditions, particularly in the art church choir music and church hymns. In addition, unlike art choir music, Muziki wa Injili borrows musical elements from other popular music genres such as rumba, soukous, zouk, reggae, rap, taarab, and salsa (charanga), to be brief. The elements borrowed include dancing styles, rhythmic, and/or melodic configurations, playing techniques, ornamentation, and singing styles, among others. Sometimes it is performed by church choirs. At other times it is performed by individual musicians who record and sell their cassettes privately. Thus the use of the concept Muziki wa Injili is broader than that of Muziki wa Kwaya (lit. Choir Music) in that it includes not only the music performed by church choirs, as is the case with Muziki wa Kwaya, but also church music performed by individual musicians. Apart from being performed in churches during services, Muziki wa Injili is also performed during concerts of Muziki wa Injili (which take place almost every weekend in different concert halls in Dar es Salaam) and during indoor and outdoor evangelical meetings (Barz 1997, 2003). Because of the recent developments in recording, the advent of cheap cassette reproduction technology, and the growing broadcasting opportunities in television and radio stations, some of which are owned by church organizations, Muziki wa Injili has grown rapidly in popularity and use in the last two decades (Barz 1997, 2003; Sanga 2001, 2006). As I illustrate in an ethnographic account below, the prominence of women in this music has also increased significantly during this time.
Gender Perspectives in Arts and Cultural Education
(2007) Lihamba, Amandina
Health and The African Theatre
(1986) Lihamba, Amandina
This article explores the representation in performance and theatre of three contrasting approaches to our understanding of disease causality -- explanations that invoke material and non-material forces in a traditional cosmology where all phenomena are interrelated, contemporary biomedical explanations that situate causation in material forces alone and that isolate individual responsibility, and socialist explanations that seek underlying economic and political causes of community ill health. Written by an active performer, the article is based on her observation of workshops and performances, on interviews, published and unpublished reports, and an analysis of contemporary plays by Soyinka, Hussein and Muhando. Different approaches to health, disease and cure are reflected in different infrastructures created to deal with them, which are informed by political, economic and social structures and attitudes. These attitudes and structures find expression within general culture and within specific cultural expressions such as theatre. This paper looks at attitudes towards health, disease and cure manifested in traditional and contemporary African performances. It is argued that traditional performances reveal attitudes that arise from an understanding of interrelationships among universal phenomena, whereas most contemporary theatre carries attitudes that have a limited socio-political framework or that remain symbolic representations of interrelationships.
How is art and art education relevant for the construction of a Tanzanian national cultural identity within the context of a hegemonic globalism?
(University of Alberta, 1998) Mwenesi, Leonard Charles
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq29084.pdf

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