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Abstract
This article takes as its starting point readership poetry published in newspapers following the death of Julius Nyerere in October 1999, taking these as an incidence in which popular literature can help us to explore political phenomena. Through analysis of these poems it explores the ‘Father of the Nation’, as Nyerere was often known, as both narrative and discoursive. Using this particular manifestation of mourning for his death as a starting point, it explores some of the ways in which the powerful discourse about Nyerere functioned both during his life and immediately after his death. In doing so, it illuminates both the power and salience of the familiar discourse which surrounded him and the extent to which at the same time readers, and the public at large, might chose their own interpretations despite the powerful narrative surrounding him.
Acknowledgements
The translations of the poems are my own and reflect my own comprehension. I am grateful to Farouk Topan and Erik Bakilana for their patient help with words or expressions I was not familiar with when I originally translated them, as an undergraduate at the School of Oriental and African Studies in 2000. The poetry used in this article has been sourced from the Uhuru newspaper, Tanzania.
Notes
1. CitationStürmer, The Media History, 191.
2. CitationAskew, “Sung and Unsung.”
3. CitationCaton, Peaks of Yemen, 20.
4. CitationSteiner, After Babel, 47.
5. CitationAnderson, Imagined Communities.
6. CitationStürmer, The Media History, 103.
7. CitationMzee, “Uhuru na Mzalendo,” 79.
8. CitationNg'wanakilala, Mass Communication, 15.
9. CitationStürmer, The Media History, 265.
10. CitationGrosswiler, “Changing Perceptions,” 109.
11. CitationStürmer, The Media History, 140, 178.
12. CitationGrosswiler, “Changing Perceptions.”
13. CitationAbedi, Sheria za Kutunga Mashairi.
14. CitationKnappert, Four Centuries; CitationBiersteker, Kujibizana, 1996.
15. Called kituo bahari which means the sea coming back again; it returns again and again.
16. CitationBiersteker, Kujibizana, 13.
17. CitationChalamanda, “Pressing Literary Expressions.”
18. CitationStürmer, The Media History.
19. Likongine, “Baba Tutamlilia.”
20. In many speeches and articles, CitationNyerere espoused the idea of a return to ‘traditional African’ ways of life as a means for Africa, and particularly Tanzania, to recover from the damage inflicted by colonialism (CitationNyerere, Uhuru na Umoja; Ujamaa).
21. CitationNyerere said that he preferred the title Mwalimu to anything more ostentatious since he had himself briefly been a teacher.
22. Nyoka, “Buriani Mwalimu.”
23. Chekanae, Uhuru.
24. Chekanae, Uhuru.
25. Kianda, “Ametutoka.”
26. Kianda, “Ametutoka.”
27. Kianda, “Ametutoka.”
28. CitationKamenju and Topan, Mashairi ya Azimio la Arusha.
29. CitationAnderson, Imagined Communities.
30. CitationFinnegan, Oral Literature, 119.
31. I refer to the proverb ‘Yaliyopita si ndwele, tugange yaijayo’. In the poem, only the first half (‘Yaliopita si ndwele’) is used.
32. The poem does not appear to refer to a specific group of people who might be a threat to political stability.
33. CitationNdalu and King'ei, Kamusi ya Methali, 153.
34. The Guardian, October 23, 1999; The Daily Nation, October 16, 1999.
35. CitationFinnegan, Oral Literature, 90.
36. CitationFinnegan, Oral Literature, 116.
37. CitationFinnegan, Oral Literature, 120.
38. Nyoka, “Buriani Mwalimu.”
39. Nyoka, “Buriani Mwalimu.”, 129.
40. CitationPhillips, “Pater Rules Best.”
41. Nyoka, “Mwana wa Simba ni Simba.”
42. Nyoka, “Mwana wa Simba ni Simba.”, 117.
43. CitationBarthes, “The Death of the Author.”
44. The Daily News , October 14, 1999. The Daily news is Uhuru's English language sister-publication.
45. The African, October 15, 1999.
46. The Guardian, October 23, 1999.
47. The African, October 15, 1999.
48. CitationBiersteker, Kujibizana, 12.
49. CitationBiersteker, Kujibizana, 113.
50. CitationKamenju and Topan, Mashairi ya Azimio la Arusha, ix.
51. Nyoka, “Washauri wa Taifa.”
52. The Daily Nation, October 14, 1999.
53. CitationHunter, “Revisiting Ujamaa,” 479.
54. CitationSaadani Kandoro was, at one time a member of the governing council of CCM; he was “a leading activist in the nationalist movement and a very prolific poet” (CitationBiersteker, Kujibizana, 98). His government positions since independence have included being TANU secretary and Area Commissioner of Mafia and then Bagamoyo (Ibid., 30).
55. CitationBiersteker, Kujibizana, 134.
56. CitationBiersteker, Kujibizana, 137.
57. CitationBloch, Political Language, 15.
58. CitationWeden, Ambiguities of Domination, 2.
59. CitationStürmer, The Media History, 109.
60. CitationScott, Weapons of the Weak and Seeing Like a State; CitationWeden, Ambiguities of Domination.
61. CitationCannadine, “Introduction,” 2.
62. CitationWeden, Ambiguities of Domination, 30.
63. CitationChalamanda, “Interpretations in Transition,” 120.
64. CitationChalamanda, “Interpretations in Transition,” 160.
65. CitationGeiger, TANU Women.
66. CitationSaid, The Life and Times, 330.
67. CitationAnthias and Yuval-Davies, 29.
68. CitationPratt, “Julius Nyerere.”