Department of Creative Arts
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Item 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 Charleshttp://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq29084.pdfItem Road User Education and Road Safety in Tanzania(Utafiti Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UDSM, 2005-12) Mwenesi, Leonard CharlesPeople have to work so as to get the means to enable them to live a meaningful life. Central to this human action for survival there is movement from place to place and most frequently than not such movement uses the road. Motorized and non-motorized vehicles use the road to transport people and their goods. However, this so dependable road is increasingly becoming unsafe to use. The vehicles that ply along roads are more and more involved in accidents that cost many innocent lives. In Tanzania, traffic accidents are on the increase and the lives of road users are endangered. To project some sense of the impact of such accidents in Tanzania, the paper looks into some available key statistics that help to portray a meaningful picture concerning the growing impact of road traffic accidents in the country. Towards the end, the paper attempts to relate the frequent occurrence of fatal road traffic accidents with peoples’ sufferings and the possible perpetuation of poor health, unfavorable living conditions and poverty among the victims, their relatives and the nation at large. In this way the growth of the national economy is also retarded. The paper ends by emphasizing the need for concerted and in-depth research into the possible causes of road traffic accidents in the country Hence, among other things, the paper’s special contribution is on emphasizing the need for proper knowledge on the place, essence and meaningful use of road traffic signs. This knowledge is not comprehensive within the Tanzanian community. Proper road sign interpretation and correct instantaneous response to road sign communication is essential for serving lives and property. Due emphasis is thus directed towards proper design and installation of relevant and meaningful traffic signs that is to be followed by scientific and comprehensive public education. Public education needs to be centered on the meaningful understanding of road traffic signs and proper use of the roads and the vehicles that ply along them.Item Rock Art and The National Curriculum in Tanzania(Utafiti Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UDSM, 2006) Mwenesi, Leonard CharlesTanzania is among those countries in the world, which are so blessed by having very rich rock art sites with extraordinary prehistoric rock art creations. Dodoma, Singida and Bukoba are presently the best-known places with the highest concentrations of these precious creative works of Tanzania’s long gone ancestors. Tanzania’s rock art sites were first seen and reported by foreign travelers more than a century ago. In 1891, Karl Peters reported about Tanzania’s precious rock art sites, though Sonia Cole (1963) relates that Tanzania prehistoric art treasures were known to the outside world long before Karl Peters’ recount. Research on the history and cultural relevance of Tanzania’s rock art has to some extent been going on since the 1920s. Despite such research undertakings and frequent visits to the sites by foreign tourists, it is surprising to note that very few Tanzanians even know of the existence of such rock art sites. Rock art doesn’t have a place in the curricular of Tanzania’s institutions of learning and hence its history and its present cultural relevance are not taught in schools and colleges. The paper questions as to why this is so and hence forth goes on to suggest possible ways of making this art heritage from our time immemorial ancestors become known and valued by Tanzanians and the world at large. The writer suggests the introduction of comprehensive rock art curricular in Tanzania’s institutions of learning. That curricular will enable meaningful teaching and learning of the various disciplines that are related to rock art. The discussion concludes by recommending ways through which the general Tanzanian public can be well introduced and informed of the presence and social economic and cultural importance of their country’s vast rock art sites and the incredible art treasures so found in them. The human being is created to be creative. And through such endless creative involvement this being struggles to term the environment for a safe and meaningful leaving. In the process of this relentless struggle for a meaningful living the human being finds the aspirations, inspirations and reasons for meaningful artistic rendering The people of East Africa, and Tanzania in particular, who lived from about 40,000 years ago (Anati 1986, Masao 1982) very well evidence this inherent artistic creativity. These pre historic inhabitants of Tanzania developed complex means, manner, and style to paint and in rare cases engrave pictures on rather very hostile surfaces of rocks. These rock art works which age several millennia, still survive to the present date, proving the intelligence and artistic mighty of their creators. In Tanzania, rock art was apparently first seen and reported by Europeans about 110 years ago. Anati (1986) reports “The earliest Europeans to have reported Tanzanian rock art appears to have been Karl Peters about one century ago (1891).” However, Sonia Cole (1963) relates that Europeans first saw Tanzanian rock paintings at an earlier date. Cole states “One of the first discoveries of rock paintings in Tanganyika was made by missionaries in 1908 near Bukoba.” Of these earliest documentations, the most significant was that made by F.B. Bagshawe in 1923 when he first reported of the Kolo rock paintings near Kondoa and “those of Kangeju Bushment, west of lake Eyasi.” Cole adds that other earliest documentations of rock art sites in Tanzania were those near Dodoma by Culwick in 1931. From the time of these early studies, Tanzanian rock art has attracted many researchers who have come out with significant information. To date, around 370 rock art sites have been identified (Anati 1986). Some of the notable researchers who haveItem Effective Poster Design for Information Dissemination: the Ethics Promotion Project(University of Dar es Salaam Library Journal, 2007) Mwenesi, Leonard CharlesThis 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.Item User Based Assessment of the Appropriateness and Effectiveness of Printed Visual Media materials Currently in Use for HIV/AIDS Information Dissemination in Dodoma Region, Tanzania(International Journal of Sciences: Basic and Applied Research (IJSBAR).- Under Global Society of Scientific Research and Researchers, 2016) Mwenesi, Leonard CharlesDespite the notable and commendable efforts directed towards the relentless national wide struggle to combat and contain the notorious HIV/AIDS this struggle is still to make full use of the printed visual media. The printed visual media such as posters, bill boards, wall charts, flipcharts, fliers, stickers, leaflets as well as books and booklets can only contribute tremendously in education when they are researched on, designed and used meaningfully. These visual media are apparently not fully given their respectable role and place in the current HIV/AIDS campaigns in Tanzania. In urban Tanzania (let alone the rural side) public places such as pubs, restaurants, liquor stores and supermarkets are filled with fiercely contesting market promotion printed visual media and very few, if any, are for the HIV/AIDS campaigns. Why? It is true that many efforts have and are being made through various governmental and non-governmental initiatives to use the printed visual media in HIV/AIDS campaigns. But the application of these materials is not widely visible. Coca cola and Pepsi, alongside many brewery companies, together with numerous producers of other consumer products make excellent use of the printed visual media to win their customers. The HIV/AIDS campaign could effectively do the same to help influence and trigger change in peoples’ minds towards positive attitudes in fighting and containing HIV/AIDS!! The printed visual media, when effectively used alongside other means of information dissemination such as the radio, television, drama video and the social media can very successfully reinforce educational campaigns. But as for the Tanzanian situation such printed visual media are hardly seen in many of the places where they could be expected to be actively used. This study was aimed at assessing the printed visual media materials as applied in HIV/AIDS educational campaigns in Dodoma region, Tanzania. The study used an open ended questionnaire, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews to collect data. The assessment was essentially user based. The assessment was done in the viewer/user’s point of view and not the researcher. The user freely assessed the materials with the help of designed instruments. The study reveals that printed visual media materials are playing an important role in educating people concerning HIV and AIDS. Respondents’ views and other data analyses indicate that despite the fact that the materials are positively helping in information dissemination for HIV/AIDS, they are faced with numerous technical and cultural drawbacks that limit their meaningful role. The study is set to inform various stakeholders and National Policies on the state of current utilization of printed materials in enhancing educational campaigns in Tanzania and elsewhere.Item Learner Based Assessment of HIV and AIDS Printed Information Materials Their Effectiveness and Appropriateness as Used in Dodoma Region, Tanzania, from 2013 to 2015(Scholar's Press, OmniScriptum GmbH & Co. KG, Germany, 2016-12-20) Mwenesi, Leonard CharlesAbstract: Despite the notable and commendable efforts such as those in condom use campaigns, the relentless national wide struggle to combat and contain the deadly and notorious HIV and AIDS pandemic is still to make full use of the printed visual media. The printed visual media such as posters, bill boards, wall charts, flipcharts, fliers, stickers, leaflets as well as books and booklets can only contribute tremendously in education when they are researched, designed and used meaningfully. These visual media are apparently not fully given their respectable role and place in the current HIV and AIDS campaigns in Tanzania. In urban Tanzania (let alone the rural side) public places such as pubs, restaurants, liquor stores and supermarkets are filled with fiercely contesting market promotion printed visual media and very few, if any, are for the HIV and AIDS campaigns. Why? It is true that many efforts have and are being made through various governmental and non-governmental initiatives to use the printed visual media in HIV and AIDS campaigns. But the application of these materials is not widely visible. Coca cola and Pepsi, alongside many brewery companies, together with numerous producers of other consumer products make excellent use of the printed visual media to win their customers. The HIV and AIDS campaign could effectively do the same to help influence and trigger change in peoples’ minds towards positive attitudes in fighting and containing HIV and AIDS!! The printed visual media, when effectively used alongside other means of information dissemination such as the radio, television, drama, video and the social media can very successfully reinforce educational campaigns. But as for the Tanzanian situation such printed visual media are hardly seen in many of the places where they could be expected to be actively used. The study, which was essentially conducted through qualitative approach, helps to unveil the current state of printed visual media materials as applied in HIV and AIDS educational campaigns in Dodoma region, Tanzania. The study made use of an open ended questionnaire, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews to collect data. The assessment was essentially learner/user based. The assessment was done in the learner/user’s point of view and not the researcher’s. The learner/user freely assessed the materials with the help of designed instruments. Visual media materials and literature found in the field were informally but keenly considered to support/verify the learner/user based data. The study reveals that printed visual media materials are playing an important role in educating people concerning HIV and AIDS. Respondents’ views and other data analyses indicate that despite the fact that the materials are positively helping in information dissemination for HIV and AIDS, they are faced with numerous technical and cultural drawbacks that limit their meaningful role. The study is set to inform various stakeholders and national Policies on the state of current utilization of printed visual media materials in enhancing educational campaigns in Tanzania and elsewhere.Item 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, KedmonOn 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.Item When will Violence against Women End? Cases from Tanzania's Corporate Companies' TV Advertisements(Department of Political Science and Public Admninistration, 2015) Shule, VicensiaItem Theatre in Tanzania(International Theatre Institute (ITI), 2011) Shule, VicensiaItem Theatre in/for Development in Tanzania: A Neoliberal Nightmare(Rodopi, 2011) Shule, VicensiaItem Theater and Dance: 1900 to Present: Africa(SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012) Shule, VicensiaItem Tanzanian Films Between innovation & incompetence(2011) Shule, VicensiaItem Sex, Witchcraft and Politics in Tanzanian Kiswahili Video-Films(Creative Artist: A Journal of Theatre and Media Studies, 2015) Shule, VicensiaItem 'Sanaa kwa Maendeleo' ya Jamii au Uliberali?(Mkuki na Nyota for Mwalimu Nyerere Chair, 2009) Shule, VicensiaItem Sanaa kwa Maendeleo Tanzania: Kati ya Kujiweza na Kuwezwa(Swahili Forum, 2014) Shule, VicensiaTheatre for Development (TfD) is a process whereby the community uses theatre, especially African traditional theatre forms, to address their development issues. In Tanzania, TfD came as a result of many factors; poor communication approaches used by the state in addressing development in the late 1970s, the economic crisis of the 1970s, the implementation of IMF and World Bank pressure to adopt Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) among others. Liberal policies imposed mostly from Euro-America proposed non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to replace the state in addressing development, as they were perceived to be more democratic and less authoritative. Most of the supported activities of NGOs became those linked to development or that are in the position to bring about development in the fields of health, sanitation, education, gender, and democracy. Therefore, even theatre that was supported by donors was linked to or addressed ‘development’. In most cases, funding institutions have their own objectives, missions, and goals to fulfil. This paper tries to question the role of TfD in present Tanzania. It argues that, since most of the TfD projects have been funded by foreign donors and communities have no economic control of their own development concerns, it is clear that TfD is playing a double deal, community empowerment on the one hand and disempowerment on the other.Item Mwalimu Nyerere: the artist(Pambazuka Press, 2010) Shule, VicensiaItem Staging Harakati za Ukombozi in a 'Capitalist' Tanzania(Mkuki na Nyota for Mwalimu Nyerere Chair, 2010) Shule, VicensiaItem Foreign Aid: 1900 to Present: Africa(SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012) Shule, VicensiaItem Struggle for Space: Youth Participation In 'Ngoma' groups in Globalizing Tanzania(Bayreuth University, 2015-05-27) Sanga, Daines NicodemThe main argument of this study is that Tanzanian youth do not have access to socioeconomic, political and cultural space. As a result of this, they use ‘ngoma’ to combat this lack of space. The study employs globalization and gender concepts to explore how youth use ngoma as a substitute for denied space. Apart from gender and globalization, the study employs concepts of ‘hybridity’, ‘authenticity’ ‘space’ and ‘participation.’ The concepts are used as a window through which to explore how youth use global culture to seek space. The same concepts are also employed to gain an understanding of the extent to which Tanzanian ngoma performances have been influenced by global cultures and how youth make use of ngoma to search for alternative space. As regards methods, the study used focus group discussion, participant performer researcher and questionnaires to collect primary data. Documents were reviewed to back up the information provided by informants. This study discloses that young people take advantage of ngoma to establish a strong network of friends and individuals from different social classes with whom they share happiness, grievances and what they consider triumphs. Ngoma as an alternative to political space is used by youth to voice their political concerns and to suggest the way forward towards change. This is often done by reconstructing movements and songs whose purpose is to send messages to the audience in a diplomatic way without causing harm. As regards economic space, the study reveals that youth perform ngoma at different events to gain economic power since they are paid for that. Besides performing at social and political events, youth assist each other financially through the scheme known as ‘vikoba.’Ngoma as cultural space is used by the youth to exercise their agency as cultural actors. They often fuse and juxtapose cultures from diverse sources in a manner that suits their changing circumstances. Despite youth’s endeavour to use ngoma to resolve their problem of space, they encounter challenges on the way. The study underscores that gender, the status of a dancer, theatrical infrastructure, donors, the lack of proficiency in English and inadequate skills in ngoma are stumbling blocks undermining youth’s struggle for space through ngoma.Item Traditional Dances and Bongo Fleva: A Study of Youth Participation in Ngoma Groups in Tanzania(Swahili Forum, 2013) Sanga, Daines NicodemKasi ya vijana katika kukuza muziki wa kizazi kipya katika kipindi cha utandawazi haiendani na kasi ya ukuzaji wa ngoma za asili. Mpaka sasa haujafanyika utafiti wa kina kuhusu kuzuka kwa tabia hii. Makala haya yanatumia mahojiano na vikundi vya ngoma vitatu halikadhalika wanamuziki wa kizazi kipya kuweka bayana chanzo cha tatizo. Aidha, makala haya yanatumia nadharia ya utendaji kama darubini kuchunguza matatizo ya kijamii, kisiasa, kiuchumi na kiutamaduni yanayowakumba vijana na namna yanavyochochea mfumuko wa tabia hii mpya. Utafiti huu umegundua kwamba uhaba wa mianya ya kiuchumi na kisiasa kwa vijana, nafasi ya ngoma za asili katika jamii ya sasa, mahusiano hasi kati ya vijana na wazee katika kuuendeleza utamaduni pamoja na vijana kutaka maendeleo ya haraka kuwa ndio chimbuko la tatizo.