Susan Geiger

This is a really fascinating look at the lives of some of the key women involved in the nationalist movement in Tanganyika in the years immediately prior to independence. Geiger provides a powerful counterargument to the prevailing historiography, which constructs black African nationalism as an inherently élite male entity—she demonstrates just how key women, often uneducated women, were to the construction of a Tanganyikan, and later a Tanzanian, national identity and to the actual show more mechanics of gaining independence.

It's telling that while I had heard much of Julius Nyerere, before reading this book I'd never heard mention of Bibi Titi Mohammed—though at the time of independence, she was just as important a figure in the country's politics as was Nyerere. She comes across as a very interesting figure here, and I hope at some point a full biography of her is produced.

Geiger is very upfront about the limitation of her sources, the methodology she uses, and her rationale for doing so. She also admits the short-sightedness of some of her previous research, and attempts to redress it within the confines of this book. A really interesting read. show less