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In the Streets of Zanzibar

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In the Streets of Zanzibar Royal Institute of Technology ISSN 1651-0194 Division of Urban Studies ISRN KTH/INFRA/EX--04/033--SE Department of Infrastructure Master’s Thesis IN THE STREETS OF ZANZIBAR – CONSTRUCTIONS OF GENDER AND PLACE A Minor Field Study by Ulrika Gunnarsson and Emma Johansson Stockholm 2004 I II This study has been carried out within the framework of the Minor Field Studies Scholarship Programme, MFS, which is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. The MFS Scholarship Programme offers Swedish university students an opportunity to carry out two months of field work in a Third World country. The results of the work are presented in a report at the Master’s degree level, usually the student’s final degree project. Minor Field Studies are primarily conducted within subject areas that are important from a development perspective and in countries supported by Swedish international development assistance. The main purpose of the MFS Programme is to enhance Swedish university students’ knowledge and understanding of these countries and their problems and opportunities. An MFS should provide the student with initial experience of conditions in such a country. A further purpose is to widen the Swedish human resources cadre for engagement in international cooperation. The International Office at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, Stockholm, administers the MFS Programme for the faculties of engineering and natural sciences in Sweden. Sigrun Santesson Programme Officer MFS Programmen Address: KTH, MFS, SE-100 44 Stockholm Visiting address: KTH, International Office, Lindstedtsvägen 5, Stockholm, Sweden Telephone: +46 (0)8 790 60 66 Fax: +46 (0)8 790 81 92 Internet: http://www.kth.se/student/utlandsstudier/examensarbete/mfs.html E-mail: [email protected] III I V ABSTRACT This thesis studies the access and use of public spaces from a gender perspective, with Zanzibar Stone Town as a case study. The thesis brings together and discusses several theories that might explain the access and use of public spaces from a gender perspective; planning theory, theories about public space, theories about how places are gendered and Islam since the case study is carried out in a Muslim area. Moreover, the thesis takes a starting point in a feminist scholarship. The discussion shows that places and gender are constructed over and over again. Today, women are sub- ordinated men and have less access to public space, but this is a constructed fact. Since culture is not static, subordination of women can be changed into equality between women and men. However, the task is not simple and one might wonder whether spatial planners can do anything at all. This thesis argues that planners can put their piece to the jigsaw. They can facilitate a planning process that takes power relations into consideration and they can question the social and cultural con- structions of gender and place. V VI THANKS TO… Lars Orrskog for support and advice. Francos Halla for opening up doors. Makame Muahjir for always being there, answering our questions with a smile. Zainab and Abbas for helping us with interpreting. All the people that without regret were interviewed by us. All men at Jaws Corner that welcomed us and invited us for coffee. Our tea drinking friends in Forodhani Gardens. All children at Hurumzi Maskan that gladly posed for pictures. Fina for being a good friend and letting us stay in her house. VII VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...........................................................1 Aim.......................................................................................................1 Limitations and Advantages....................................................................1 Outline..................................................................................................3 PERSPECTIVE AND METHOD..........................................4 Feminist Scholarship ..............................................................................4 Collection of Data ..................................................................................6 Interviews ..................................................................................................6 Observations ..............................................................................................9 Literature studies ......................................................................................11 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ...................................... 12 Planning Theory...................................................................................12 Public Space ........................................................................................17 Gendering of Space..............................................................................18 Tacit Spatial Rules.....................................................................................19 Islam ..................................................................................................21 Practices of Islam......................................................................................22 Islam and the Law ....................................................................................23 Women and Islam.....................................................................................24 Protest against West .................................................................................27 Islamic Tacit Spatial Rules .........................................................................29 ZANZIBAR .................................................................. 32 Background .........................................................................................32 Early Days................................................................................................32 The Revolution .........................................................................................33 Democracy?..............................................................................................34 IX Stone Town Today...............................................................................35 Sex Segregation........................................................................................37 Breaking Tacit Spatial Rules .......................................................................43 Planning...................................................................................................43 Access to Public Places in Stone Town...................................................47 Forodhani Gardens...............................................................................51 A Typical Day in Forodhani Gardens............................................................53 Daily Use..................................................................................................56 Styles of Movement...................................................................................57 Summing up.............................................................................................57 Jaws Corner ........................................................................................60 A Typical Day at Jaws Corner .....................................................................61 Daily Use..................................................................................................63 Summing up.............................................................................................63 Hurumzi Maskan ..................................................................................65 A Typical Day at Hurumzi Maskan...............................................................65 Daily Use..................................................................................................68 Summing up.............................................................................................71 ANALYSIS................................................................... 73 DISCUSSION WITH SUGGESTIONS .............................. 78 Planning Institutions ............................................................................79 Oppression as a Cultural Phenomenon ........................................................79 Public Participation....................................................................................80 Public Places as Important Social and Political Arenas...................................80 Practice and Work in STCDA ......................................................................81 Sport Ground for Women...........................................................................81 Donors................................................................................................81 Foreign Aid Programmes in Cooperation with STCDA....................................82 Foreign Aid to NGOs..................................................................................82 Gender Awareness ....................................................................................82 NGOs ..................................................................................................82 Take the Lead – Public Discussion about Gendered Public Places...................83 Forums for Interaction...............................................................................83 X FINAL WORDS ............................................................ 84 When we come back to Zanzibar ..........................................................84 GLOSSARY ................................................................
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