Gender, reason and agriculture: A hundred years of negotiated development in the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Gemignani, Regina Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 10/10/2021 21:06:56 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/279936 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Gender, Reason and Agriculture: A Hundred Years of Negotiated Development in the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania by Regina Nouve Gemignani A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2002 UMI Number 3050290 —— (S) UMI UMI Microfomi 3050290 Copyright 2002 by ProQuest information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Infonnation and Leaming Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ® GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify chat ve have read the dissertation prepared by Regina Getnignani entitled Gender, Reason and Agriculture; A Hundred Years of Negotiated Development in the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania and recommend chat ic be accepted as fulfilling Che dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy c'l 2^ Date / o f_W£2^£f5- Date I Date Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. Dissertation Director Date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgement of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: 4 ACKNOWLEGEMENTS This study was made possible by the generous help of numerous people throughout my journey as a doctoral student. First I would like to thank my teachers and mentors at the University of Arizona. Tad Park, my major advisor, has been especially important in the completion of this project, sharing much knowledge, advice and professional insight since my first days at the Department of Anthropology. Many others, including Ana Maria Alonso, Helen and Richard Henderson, the late Robert McC. Netting, Michael Schiffer and Jennifer Croissant, and Thomas Weaver have also provided a diverse and extensive scholarship in which to explore and to leam. I have benefited greatly from the exceptional input and guidance of these scholars and others, for which I am very grateful. My thanks also go to the past and present Department Heads, William Longacre and John Olsen and to the Directors of Graduate Studies, Jane Hill and Barbara Mills, for all of their advice and support. The staff at Anthropology has always been a great help to me, and I am especially indebted to Dirk Harris, Colleen Miles, Barbara Fregoso and Mary Stephenson for their helpfulness and encouragement. I am very appreciative for the assistance received from the US AID funded Bean/Cowpea Collaborative Research Support Program (Washington State University, Sokoine University of Agriculture) and the Wenner Gren Foundation, the two institutions that provided funding for this research. Loma Butler, a former project leader of the CRSP, pointed me toward Mgeta as a field site, and made many useful suggestions regarding fieldwork methodology. I thank the researchers and staff of the CRSP for their support during fieldwork, including the late Grace Msimbe, Robert Mabagala, Susan Nchimbi Msolla, Flavianus Magayane and Kibiby Mtenga. A number of fellow students at Sokoine University and the University of Arizona have provided collegial interaction and friendship and I would especially like to thank Jacqueline Miller, Kristin Loftsdottir, Hsain Ilahiane and Kathy McCaston. I also am very grateful to many friends who have never tired in their support for my project and graciously shared their much-needed energy at those inevitable low mo.nients, especially Michelle Huber, Alex Georgakopoulos, Eric Ellman, Ross Smart, Diana Wilson, and Ami Vikingur Sveinsson. Deo Ngonyani, professor of Linguistics at Michigan State University, was very kind in assisting with some translations from his native tongue, Kiswahili. This work would not be possible without the engagement, understanding and hospitality of the Waluguru farmers of Mgeta, who encouraged and inspired my work in countless direct and indirect ways. I would particularly like to acknowledge the assistance and friendship of marehemu Teresia MIele, Simporian Mahenge, Jovita Joseph, Bibiana Joseph, Mzee and Mama Mkwidu, Mzee Mkali, Yolanda, Grace, Teresia, Lucy and Charlie Mkwidu, Mzee Mahenge and Binti Bigo, Mzee Kusenge and Antonia Peter, Mzee Ngoroma, Mzee Alex Bigo, Binti Likova and Mzee Kidava. Finally, the deepest gratitude goes to my parents, Olga Gemignani and the late Ermo Gemignani for their constant support, love and guidance throughout my extended years of education. I also thank my siblings and their families and my husband Kofi Nouve, whose endless patience, cheer and kindness have allowed me to keep all things in perspective, navigate the obstacles, and to ultimately realize this goal. 5 To my father, Ermo Bernard Gemignani 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES 9 ABSTRACT 10 1. INTRODUCTION 12 Purpose of the Study. 14 Gender, Reason and Agriculture in Mgeta - Theoretical Overview 18 2. FIELDWORK AND ITS SETTING 29 Methodological Overview 31 Interviews 31 Key Informants 32 Historical Research 40 Thieves, Vampires and Anthropologists: Representation and Research in the Context of Power and Privilege 41 The Research Setting: A Summary of Social Organization in Mgeta 48 3. REINVENTING REASON: GENDER AND THE STATE IN POST- INDEPENDENCE TANZANIA 61 Introduction 61 Gender, Nature and the Organization of Power 65 Freedom and Development 69 Temporalization: Imagining Tanzania's Socialist Past 78 Substantialization: Nyerere as Father and Teacher of the Nation 83 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS {continued) Development Practices and the Mapping of Reason 93 Conclusion 104 4. THE EROSION OF POWER: BENCH TERRACES, RACE AND GENDER IN LATE COLONIALISM 108 Introduction 108 The Contradictions of Colonial Development 111 The Uluguru Land Usage Scheme 121 The Social Memory of Violence in Mgeta 138 Conclusion 143 5. GLOBAL AND LOCAL DISCOURSES OF CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT.... 145 Introduction 145 Divided Realities 149 Participation in Development Hierarchies 156 Searching for Development: Class and Gender Divisions at the Grassroots 174 Rational Masculinity Revisited 181 Freedom (from the clan) and Development 189 Conclusion 202 6. THE LOVE OF MONEY OR THE MONEY OF LOVE: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND DEVELOPMENT Introduction 207 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS {continued) Selling Religion 210 Competition and Reciprocity in the First Holy Communion Ceremony 217 Conclusion 245 7. HUSBANDS, WIVES AND HEALERS: MARRIAGE, RECIPROCITY AND COMMUNITY IN MGETA 246 Introduction 246 Rainmaking, Gender and Taboo 250 Rainmaking in Mgeta 260 Performing Power: Sexuality, Work and the Healing Household 272 Inside Exchange: Challenges to Public versus