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Tanzanian Theatre, Neoliberalism and Foreign Aid Complexity

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Tanzanian Theatre, Neoliberalism and Foreign Aid Complexity Beyond Socialism: Tanzanian Theatre, Neoliberalism and Foreign Aid Complexity Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Dr. Phil. vorgelegt dem Fachbereich 05 – Philosophie und Philologie der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz von Vicensia Shule aus Tansania Mainz, 2010 Table of Contents Summary .......................................................................................................................... iii Zusammenfassung ............................................................................................................ iv Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... v Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1. Re-Conceptualization ..................................................................................................... 9 1.1Theatre ................................................................................................................................. 9 1.2 Culture ................................................................................................................................ 13 1.3Theatricality ......................................................................................................................... 17 1.4Development ....................................................................................................................... 18 1.5Imperialism .......................................................................................................................... 21 1.6Neoliberalism ....................................................................................................................... 22 1.7Between Theatre, Politics and Economy ............................................................................... 25 2. From the Centre to the Periphery ................................................................................ 29 2.1 Pre-Colonial African Theatre ............................................................................................... 30 2.2 Slavery and Colonial Rule .................................................................................................... 37 2.3 Colonial Theatre .................................................................................................................. 46 2.4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 59 3. ‘Singing’ for Nationalism while ‘Clapping’ for Neoliberalism ........................................ 62 3.1 Uhuru Trial .......................................................................................................................... 63 3.2 Uhuru-Dream Defeated ....................................................................................................... 71 3.3 Ujamaa and the Rise of Political Propaganda ...................................................................... 75 3.4 Ujamaa Disputed ................................................................................................................ 90 3.5 Donors’ Avenue .................................................................................................................. 95 3. 6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 98 4. Staging Socialist Creativity on the Capitalist Stage ..................................................... 102 4.1 Theatre Liberalism ............................................................................................................ 102 4.2 The Death of National Art Groups ..................................................................................... 115 4.3 The Birth of Muungano, Mandela and Tanzania One Theatre ............................................ 118 4.4 Servicing Neoliberal Propaganda ....................................................................................... 122 4.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 125 5. Theatre for Development in Tanzania ........................................................................ 127 5.1 Culture and Development ................................................................................................. 127 5.2 Elite/Intellectual Theatre Movement ................................................................................ 131 5.3 TfD Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................... 140 5.4 The TfD Process ................................................................................................................. 144 5.5 TfD: A Critical Analysis ....................................................................................................... 157 5.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 170 6. Zinduka: Using NGOs to Address the CCM State ......................................................... 172 6.1 Zinduka Performance ........................................................................................................ 172 6.2 Theatre and NGOs ............................................................................................................. 186 6.3 Zinduka Analysis ............................................................................................................... 188 6.4 State’s Political Propaganda versus Donors’ Social Propaganda ......................................... 206 6.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 208 i 7. Theatre for [Donor’s] Development ........................................................................... 209 7.1 Rukia’s Story ..................................................................................................................... 210 7.2 Varangati: A Social Propaganda ........................................................................................ 212 7.3 The Content of Varangati .................................................................................................. 226 7.4 Varangati: Strengths and Weaknesses .............................................................................. 232 7.5 Varangati: Whose ‘tune’ is this anyway? ........................................................................... 236 7.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 243 Conclusion: Towards Post-Neoliberal Theatre ................................................................ 244 Works Cited ................................................................................................................... 252 Erklärung ....................................................................................................................... 261 ii Summary Theatricality has been one of the major concepts to define theatre in Africa. Using theatricality as a point of departure seems to reduce the historical discrepancies of theatre as a concept. On that basis, it is important to link theatre and the culture in which theatre is being produced. By linking the two it gives grounds to analyse the national and international superstructures, which determine the socio-political and economic atmospheres. Since the ‘global’ trend leans on neoliberal policies, it is obvious that one cannot discuss theatre in the absence of neoliberalism, imperialism, capitalism, foreign aid and donor policies. Currently most theatre projects are supported by foreign aid or foreign donors. These donors provide funding in order to facilitate theatre productions at various levels. This practice of pouring foreign aid and donor participation in theatre and development projects has developed a misconception of theatre being theatre only when funded by foreign donors. It is evident that the support provided plays a major role in power politics. This study therefore explores the influence of neoliberal policies, especially through foreign aid, on theatre in Tanzania. The study establishes the link between the produced theatre and the various dominant policies from nationalism to neoliberalism. Such link shows how difficult is for theatre to avoid the superstructure that produces it. This means that since neoliberal policies have shown symptoms of oppression, suppression and exploitation, it definitely reproduces oppressive, suppressive and exploitative theatre. In this study such theatre is defined as theatre (neo)liberalism, a kind of theatre that appears to be apolitical but in fact struggles to survive under neoliberal policies of free market and subsidy removal. In understanding such link between theatre, aid and donors, the study concludes that regardless of the amount that donors contribute, they do not have the right to interfere in the sovereignty of any state or to try and impose new systems. Delinking from foreign and donors should be taken as a priority to allow theatre to develop fully and survive independently. There is a need to redefine the concept of people’s theatre to mean theatre that has to do with people’s initiatives and address their own issues at a particular
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