ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the history of the “Manyema”, a Muslim population in colonial Dar es Salaam, and traces their continuous struggle against marginalisation. “Manyema” were among the earliest inhabitants of Dar es Salaam: people affiliated to ethnic groups in eastern Congo, more than 2,000 kilometres away, who migrated towards the Indian Ocean coast for varying reasons, including slavery, from the early 19th century onwards. Up to today, this mainly urban-based group is strongly identified, and identifying itself, with the rather vague umbrella term Manyema in Tanzania, denoting the idea of a “foreign” origin from eastern Congo. Dar es Salaam, with its growing economy and working opportunities, attracted many Manyema and became one of the major urban nodes of the Manyema network in German East Africa and Tanganyika Territory in the course of the 20th century. It was a site where translocal Manyema connections were implemented through institutions like mosques or ethnic organisations, but it was also an arena in which Manyema as individuals and as a group continuously struggled to cope with the implications of being regarded as “strangers” or “slaves”. Interestingly, many Manyema managed to get their voices heard, were prominently involved in religious, cultural and political organisations, and contributed to their diffusion to other towns. Based on narrative interviews with Manyema and other inhabitants of Dar es Salaam, and on a variety of written and archival sources, this chapter argues that besides their status as early inhabitants, their strong identification with the Muslim community and their ongoing mobility and regional connectivity were important means to partially overcome social marginality in Dar es Salaam.
