https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6659-7725
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ABSTRACT
The House of Wonders (or Beit al-Ajaib), one of the iconic buildings of Zanzibar’s waterfront, partially collapsed on 25th December 2020. This catastrophic incident, which included the famous clocktower, killed two people who had been inside the building and injured several others. The House of Wonders has prompted fascination and admiration since its construction as part of a redevelopment of Zanzibar’s waterfront by Sultan Barghash in 1883. Its collapse attracted worldwide media attention. This article explores the dynamics of history and heritage in Zanzibar, using the collapse of the House of Wonders as the catalyst for analysing the ways that Zanzibaris feel about the presentation of the past. The research involved a series of interviews with residents of Stone Town in which participants discussed the collapse of the House of Wonders and themes of history, identity and tourism. Our project reveals the layered associations with the House of Wonders, one which acknowledges the building’s Omani origins and colonial use but simultaneously its centrality as an icon of Zanzibar. The article also discusses what these findings about the House of Wonders reveal about the complex relationship between perceptions of Zanzibari cultural heritage and the role of tourism.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for technical support from Hassan Mrisho and advice from Fatma Ali Juma, both of the State University of Zanzibar.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Global Voices, “Iconic House of Wonders.”
2 UNESCO, UNESCO and Zanzibar Cooperate.
3 The National, “Oman to Investigate Collapse.”
4 Sheriff, Architectural History, 78.
5 Battle, “Old Dispensary,” 94.
6 https://www.archnet.org/sites/3787 (access 10/7/2023).
7 Rhodes Breen, and Forsythe, “Zanzibar.”
8 Sheriff, Zanzibar Stone Town, 78.
9 Meier, Swahili Port Cities, 19.
10 Sheriff, Zanzibar Stone Town, 78.
11 Bissell, “Casting a Long Shadow.”
12 Burgess, “The Zanzibar Revolution.”
13 Bissell and Fouéré, “Memory, Media, and Mapinduzi,” 13; Sheriff, Voogt, and Luhila, Zanzibar House of Wonders, 25.
14 Sheriff, Slaves, Spices and Ivory; Sheriff, Cosmopolitanism, Commerce and Islam; Croucher, Capitalism and Cloves.
15 Boswell, Re-Presenting Heritage; Kasfir, “Tourist Aesthetics in the Global Flow.”
16 Wahab, “Emancipation and Post-Emancipation,” 48.
17 Keshodkar, Tourism and Social Change; Simpson and Kresse, Struggling with History.
18 See for example, Tolia-Kelly et al. Heritage, Affect and Emotion.
19 Lowenthal, The Heritage Crusade.
20 Kwoba, Chantiluke, and Nkopo, Rhodes Must Fall; Knudsen and Andersen, “Affective Politics and Colonial Heritage.”
21 Borck, “Constructing the Future History”.
22 Zhu and Salazar, “Heritage and Tourism.”
23 Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, “World Heritage and Cultural Economics,” 168.
24 Meskell, “World Heritage Convention at 40”; Holtorf, “Heritage Futures, Prefiguration and World Heritage”; Meskell and Brumann, “UNESCO and New World Orders”; Holtorf, “Heritage Futures, Prefiguration and World Heritage.”
25 UNESCO, Stone Town of Zanzibar.
26 Boswell, “Re-Imagining Identity,” 123, see also Bissell, “Engaging Colonial Nostalgia.”
27 Bissell, “Engaging Colonial Nostalgia”; Kasfir, “Tourist Aesthetics in the Global Flow.”
28 Boswell, Re-Presenting Heritage.
29 Rhodes, “History, Materialization, and Presentation,” 185–6.
30 Recent examples include numerous articles in the International Journal of Heritage Studies related to destruction by IS in the 2010s, and Newson and Young, Post-Conflict Archaeology and Cultural Heritage.
31 Gössling and Schulz, “Tourism-Related Migration”; Lange, “Tourism in Zanzibar.”
32 Veal, Research Methods.
33 Jones, “Wrestling with Social Value.”
34 Minde, Roop, and Tronyoll, “Turbulent Political History.”
35 Rhodes, “History, Materialization, and Presentation.”
36 Respondent 25: 31-year-old male. For consistency, the age and gender of the participants will be given and their profession will be indicated where relevant in interpreting their comment.
37 Respondent 20.
38 Respondent 26.
39 Respondent 16: 55-year-old female.
40 Respondent 24: 22-year-old female.
41 Respondent 8.
42 Sheriff, Voogt, and Luhila, Zanzibar House of Wonders.
43 Respondent 2.
44 Respondent 10: 45-year-old male.
45 Respondent 19.
46 Respondent 36.
47 Respondent 11.
48 Respondent 25: 31-year-old male.
49 Respondent 14: 24-year-old female.
50 Killian, “The State and Identity Politics,” 99; Brown, “Political Tensions in Zanzibar.”
51 Respondent 22.
52 Lange, “Tourism in Zanzibar.”
53 Chami and Kaminyoge, “Closed House of Wonders.”
54 Lange, “Tourism in Zanzibar.”
55 Respondent 39: 51-year-old male.
56 Rhodes, “History, Materialization, and Presentation.”
57 Respondent 1: 25-year-old male.
58 Respondent 2: 42-year-old female.
59 Respondent 4: 50-year-old male.
60 Respondents 7, 10, 14, 15, 18, 20, 22, 23.
61 Díaz-Andreu, “Heritage Values and the Public.”
62 Longair, Cracks in the Dome.
63 Glassman, War of Words, 5.
64 Questions in kiSwahili: “Unafikiri Beit al-Ajaab ni la Zanzibar zaidi au la Oman?” and “Unafikiri ni jengo la kikoloni?.”
65 Respondent 1: 25-year-old male.
66 Respondent 40: 72-year-old male.
67 Respondent 23: 23-year-old female.
68 Bissell and Fouéré, “Memory, Media, and Mapinduzi,” 15–16.
69 Respondent 22: 38-year-old male.
70 Sheriff, Zanzibar Stone Town, 78–80.
71 Respondent 10.
72 Respondent 16.
73 Respondent 6: 23-year-old male.
74 Rhodes, “History, Materialization, and Presentation.”
75 Respondent 28: 25-year-old female.
76 Meier, Swahili Port Cities, 24. For examples of ‘bricolage’ in Swahili buildings, see Rhodes, “Building Colonialism.”
77 UNESCO, Stone Town of Zanzibar, Boswell, “Re-Imagining Identity,” 123.
78 Respondent 13: 32-year-old male.
79 Jasiński, “Colors of Stone Town.”
80 Aga Khan Trust, “Old Dispensary Restoration.”
81 Bissell, “Casting a Long Shadow,” 184; 191.
82 World Monuments Fund, “Zanzibar.”
83 Meier, Swahili Port Cities.
84 Prestholdt, Domesticating the World, 91.
85 Awadh, “Tourism and Heritage Conservation.”
86 Sheriff, “Contradictions in Heritagization of Zanzibar Stone Town.”
87 UNESCO, Zanzibar Stone Town Report.
88 Sheriff, History and Conservation.
89 Sheriff, “Contradiction in the Heritagization.”
90 Respondent 2: 42-year-old female.
91 Respondents 4, 5, 33 and 39.
92 Respondent1: 25-year-old male.
93 Respondent 40: 72-year-old male.
94 See Rhodes, “Slavery, Materialization and Presentation,” 81, on the involvement of outside agencies in the memorialization of slavery.
95 Sheriff, “Contradictions in the Heritagization.”
96 Battle and Steel, Conservation and Design Guidelines.
97 Hemer, “A Future for the Past.”
98 Respondent 5: 58-year-old male.
99 STCDA survey report.
100 Bissell, “Casting a Long Shadow,” 182.
101 Ibid., 182.
102 Lwoga and Mwitondi, “Challenges.”
103 Meier, Swahili Port Cities, 105.
104 Bissell and Fouéré, “Memory, Media, and Mapinduzi,” 15–16.