CINEMA AND NATION FORMATION IN TANZANIA

Mona N. Mwakalinga

Abstract



Through a national cinema theoretical framework, this article interrogates
how cinema aided the Tanzanian government in the invention of a national
culture identity during the country’s nation-building phase of the 1960s
and 1970s. It is argued that in its initial stage of nation formation after
Independence, the government used cinema as an apparatus to construct a
national identity that confirmed and adhered to the ruling class’s interests
and idea of a nation. Thus by controlling how cinema was produced,
distributed, and exhibited to the masses through the 1960s and 1970s, the
government did not bring about unification of the people; rather it helped
in solidifying the primacy of the government. The cinema produced by the
government was a cheer leading cinema which provided no space for
analysis of issues; further, it was a cinema that denied freedom of
expression to its filmmakers and to its audiences.
Key words: National Building Project, national cinema, national identity,
social engineering, Tanganyika African Nationalist Union
(TANU), Ujamaa

Full Text:

PDF

References


Ackah, W. 1999. Pan-Africanism: Exploring the Contradictions. Sydney:

Ashgate.

Akomfrah, J. 2006. On the National in African Cinema/s: A Conversation.

In V. Vitali and P Willemen (eds). Theorising National Cinema.

London: British Film Industry, pp. 274-292.

Anderson, B. 1983. Imagined Communities. New York: Verso.

Armes, R. 1987. Third World Film Making and the West. Berkeley:

University of California Press.

Barlet, O. 2000. African Cinema: Decolonizing the Gaze. London: Zed

Books.

Chachage, C.S.L. 1997. Democracy and the Fourth Estate in Tanzania. In

Research and Education for Democracy in Tanzania Project (eds.)

Political Culture and Popular Participation in Tanzania.

Dar es Salaam: REDET, pp. 73-85.

Cinema and Nation Formation in Tanzania

Chambulikazi, E. 1995. The Politics and Aesthetics of Film Production in

Tanzania. Unpublished Ph.D. Proposal, University of

Dar es Salaam.

Crofts, S. 2002. Reconceptualizing National Cinema/s. In A. Williams

(ed.) Film and Nationalism. New Brunswick: Rutgers University

Press, pp. 25-51.

Diawara, M. 1992. African Cinema: politics and culture. Bloomington:

Indiana University Press.

Fanon, F. 1963. Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press.

Gellner, E. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca: Cornell University

Press.

Higson, A. 2002. The Concept of National Cinema. In A. Williams (ed.)

Film and Nationalism. London: Routledge, pp. 52-67.

Hobsbawn, E. 1990. Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme,

Myth, Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hobsbawn, E. and Ranger, T. 1983. The Invention of Tradition.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hort, M and Mackenzie, S. (eds.) 2000. Cinema and Nation. London:

Routledge.

Jarvie, I. 2002. National Cinema: a theoretical assessment. In M. Hjort and

S. Mackenzie (eds.) Cinema & Nation. London: Routledge, pp. 57-

Lazarus, N. (ed.) 2004. Postcolonial Literary Studies. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Maalista, M. 2007. African Cinema: Transnational Cinema as an arena for

Cultural Contradiction. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University

of Tampere, Finland.

Mona N. Mwakalinga

McCall, J. 2007. The Pan-Africanism we have: Nollywood's Invention of

Africa. Film International 5(28.4): 92-96.

Meena, R. 1997. The State and the Civil Society in Tanzania: The State of

Art. In Research and Education for Democracy in Tanzania Project

(eds.) Political Culture and Popular Participation in Tanzania. Dar

Es Salaam: REDET, pp. 51-57.

Miller, T. 2002. Cultural Policy. London: Sage.

Mlama, P. 1985. Tanzania's Cultural Policy and Its Implication for the

Contribution of the Arts to Socialist Development. Utafiti 7 (1): 9-

Mponguliana, J. 1982. The Development of Film in Tanzania.

Unpublished MA Thesis, University of Dar es Salaam.

Norbu, D. 1992. Culture and Politics of Third World Nationalism. London:

Routledge.

Opondo, S.O. 2014. ‘Cinema is Our Night School’: Appropriation,

Falsification and Dissensus in the Art of Ousmane Sembène.

African Identities 13(1): 34-38.

Plastow, J. 1996. African Theatre and Politics: The Evolution of Theatre in

Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Ranger. T. 1983. The Invention Tradition in Colonial Africa. In T. Ranger

and E. Hobsbawn (eds.) The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, pp. 211-262.

Rosenbaum, J. 2002. Multinational Pest Control: Does American cinema

still Exist? In A. Williams (ed.) Film and Nationalism, pp. 217-

Rushdie, S. 1982. The Empire Writes Back with a Vengeance. The Times

(UK) 3 July, pp. 8-11.

Said, E. 1993.Culture and Imperialism. New York: Vintage Books.

Cinema and Nation Formation in Tanzania

Sivanandan, A. 2006. Race, Terror and Civil Society. Race and Class

(3) January: 1-8

Smith, A.D. 1991. National Identity, London: Penguin.

Temu, A. 1969. The Rise and Triumph of Nationalism: A History of

Tanzania. Nairobi: East African Publishing House.

United Nations. 2017. Department of Economic and Social

Affairs/Population Division World Population Prospects: The 2017

Revision, Key Findings and Advance Tables. Urban population

index of 1975, United Republic of Tanzania.

Vatili, V. and Willemen, P. (eds). 2006. Theorizing National Cinema.

London: Macmillan British Film Institute.

Williams, A. (ed). 2002. Film and Nationalism. New Brunswick: Rutgers

University Press.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.