ABSTRACT
The academic dismissal of the categories of tradition and modernity parallel anthropologists' rejection of the concept of race as a valid category. This chapter shows how the ideas entangled in maendeleo affect the lives of Iraqw people living in rural north-central Tanzania, thereby illustrating the ideological weight of these categories. There is considerable debate within Tanzania and among the Iraqw about the negative aspects of Euro-American culture and the quest for modernity. Peoples within Tanzania who may actively try to preserve cultural practices that they or others label "traditional" are often viewed as standing in opposition to progress and clinging to the past. The story of development in rural Tanzania and elsewhere entails the chronicle of change and specifically how once "local" cultural forms and practices have been transformed or sustained by the ever-changing global political economy. The chapter looks at the cultural politics of maendeleo on the ground in rural communities. It presents an overview of this book.
