ABSTRACT
In one of those moments of sheer joy, my daughter and I stand on the edge of Olduvai Gorge in the Rift Valley, stunned by the immensity and beauty of the place. I keep a photograph of that moment in my office: mesas of every imaginable shade of red, brown, and orange fading into the distance, a thorn tree in the foreground, three impossibly vibrant yellow and red birds and, if your mind’s eye is especially sharp, you might imagine the footsteps of our early ancestors trailing across a then-verdant landscape. Just after I snapped the photograph, the archaeologist working in the small museum at the Gorge joined us. In the course of our conversation he mentioned that the name Olduvai was actually a German corruption of the local name Oldupai. He talked about the importance of former president Julius Nyrere’s emphasis on developing national and pan-African histories and how important it was for Tanzanians to locate themselves in both contexts, as well as in world history. From his perspective, history and archaeology could structure the post-colonial world for good or ill. In consequence, he argued, educators bore considerable responsibility for the breadth and accuracy of the historical perspectives they introduced to students—including in the names they gave to historic places.
