Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T23:58:16.405Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Displaying the Nation: Museums and Nation-Building in Tanzania and Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2020

M. Victoria Gorham Open the ORCID record for M. Victoria Gorham [Opens in a new window]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Taking as a starting point the observation that Tanzania has historically been a more effective nation-builder than Kenya, Gorham asks why that is the case, focusing on the construction of national narratives in state-run museum spaces to gain a better understanding of official nationalist pedagogy. State-run museums are spaces where states can articulate their vision of the nation, and by cataloging and analyzing the content of exhibits, one can better understand the different types of narratives constructed by states with diverging nation-building strategies. The narratives produced in museum sites in Tanzania and Kenya differ in terms of their consistency, clarity, and inclusivity.

Résumé:

Résumé:

Prenant comme point de départ l'observation selon laquelle la Tanzanie a historiquement été un bâtisseur de nation plus efficace que le Kenya, Gorham interroge le pourquoi, en se concentrant sur la construction de récits nationaux dans les musées gérés par l'État pour mieux comprendre la pédagogie nationaliste officielle. Les musées administrés par l'État sont des espaces où les gouvernements peuvent articuler leur vision de la nation. Ainsi en cataloguant et en analysant le contenu des expositions, il est possible de mieux comprendre les différents types de récits créés par des États aux stratégies de construction nationale divergentes. Les récits produits dans les musées de Tanzanie et du Kenya diffèrent en termes de cohérence, de clarté et d'inclusion.

Resumo:

Resumo:

Tomando como ponto de partida a constatação de que, historicamente, a Tanzânia tem sido mais eficaz a construir a sua nacionalidade do que o Quénia, Gorham questiona as razões por detrás desse fenómeno. Para isso, centra a sua análise na construção das narrativas nacionais em museus de gestão pública, procurando compreender em profundidade a pedagogia nacionalista oficial. Os museus de gestão pública são espaços onde os Estados podem sistematizar a sua visão da nação, pelo que, ao catalogar e analisar os conteúdos das exposições, é possível compreender melhor os diferentes tipos de narrativa construídos por Estados com estratégias de construção nacional divergentes. Nas narrativas produzidas nos espaços museológicos da Tanzânia e do Quénia há diferenças de consistência, clareza e inclusividade.

Keywords

nationalismstate-run museumsidentity politicsnational narrativesmuseum pedagogyKenyaTanzania
Type
Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 63 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 487 - 517
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Afrobarometer Data. Tanzania and Kenya. Rounds 6 and 7. 2014–2015, 2017–2018, available at www.afrobarometer.org.Google Scholar
Aminzade, Ronald. 2013. Race, Nation, and Citizenship in Post-Colonial Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781107360259CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Benedict. 1983. Imagined Communities. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Brennan, James R. 2006. “Blood Enemies: Exploitation and Urban Citizenship in the Nationalist Political Thought of Tanzania, 1958–75.” The Journal of African History 47 (3): 389-413.10.1017/S0021853706001794CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennan, James R. 2012. Taifa: Making Nation and Race in Urban Tanzania. Athens: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Coombes, Annie. 1988. “Museums and the Formation of National and Cultural Identities.” Oxford Art Journal 11 (2): 57–68.10.1093/oxartj/11.2.57CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elischer, Sebastian. 2013. Political Parties in Africa: Ethnicity and Party Formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Englebert, Pierre. 2009. Africa: Unity, Sovereignty, and Sorrow. London: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Fuller, Harcourt. 2010. Building a Nation: Symbolic Nationalism during the Kwame Nkrumah Era in the Gold Coast/Ghana. PhD Dissertation, London School of Economics and Political Science.Google Scholar
Gorham, M. Victoria. 2019. Recounting the Nation: State, Society, and Nation-Building in Tanzania, Kenya, Singapore, and Malaysia. PhD Dissertation, University of Florida.Google Scholar
Government of Kenya. 1965. Sessional Paper No. 10 on African Socialism and Its Application to Planning in Kenya. Nairobi.Google Scholar
Herbst, Jeffrey. 2000. States and Power in Africa. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, Eric. 1983. “Mass Producing Traditions: Europe, 1870–1914.” In The Invention of Tradition, ed. by Hobsbawm, Eric and Ranger, Terence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Flora Edouwaye S. 2006. “Making and Remaking National Identities.” In A Companion to Museum Studies, ed. by Macdonald, Sharon. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
Karp, Ivan, and Lavine, Steven D.. 1991. The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Kaufman, Stuart. 2001. Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.10.7591/9781501702006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macdonald, Sharon. 1996. “Introduction.” In Theorizing Museums: Representing Identity and Diversity in a Changing World, ed. by Macdonald, Sharon and Fyfe, Gordon. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Macdonald, Sharon. 2003. “Museums, national, and postnational and transcultural identities.” Museum and Society 1 (1): 1–16.Google Scholar
Miguel, Edward. 2005. “Tribe of Nation? Nation Building and Public Goods in Kenya versus Tanzania.” World Politics 56 (3): 327–62.Google Scholar
Munene, Karega. 2011. “Museums in Kenya: Spaces for Selecting, Ordering, and Erasing Memories of Identity and Nationhood.” African Studies 70 (2): 224–45.Google Scholar
Nairobi National Museum. 2018. Wall text for “Kenyan Identity.” History of Kenya Permanent Exhibit. Nairobi.Google Scholar
Prosler, Martin. 1996. “Museums and Globalization.” In Theorizing Museums: RepresentingIdentity and Diversity in a Changing World, ed. by Macdonald, Sharon and Fyfe, Gordon, 35. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Rounds, Jay. 2006. “Doing Identity Work in Museums.” Curator 49 (2): 133–50.10.1111/j.2151-6952.2006.tb00208.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, Peter, and McIntosh, Roderick. 1996. “The African Past Endangered.” In Plundering Africa’s Past, edited by Schmidt, Peter and McIntosh, Roderick. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Schneider, Leander. 2004. “Freedom and Unfreedom in Rural Development: Julius Nyerere, Ujamaa Vijijini, and Villagization.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 38 (2): 344–92Google Scholar
Simpson, Moira. 2001. Making Representations: Museums in the Post-Colonial Era. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Trouillot, Michel-Rolf. 1995. Silencing the Past. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Weber, Eugen. 1976. Peasants into Frenchmen. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar