00:00Hello everyone and welcome to 77% Special Debate.
00:10And today we are here in Tanzania Dar es Salaam at the school campus together with student
00:14and historical experts.
00:16We want to explore how much the history, particularly colonial history, still matters today.
00:22To kick off this discussion, I'm posing this question to the students.
00:25When did you first time learn about that?
00:27I learned the history of colonialism from my grandparents, my grandfather, my grandmother.
00:31I was excited to learn more about how did my grandfather actually acted being a chief
00:36in Mahangali and Kidugela region in Jombe.
00:39So I was actually more interested in learning more of the tactics and leadership skills
00:43he used.
00:44In class, we touched on it, but it's very basic knowledge that we learn about it.
00:49When we do learn it, it's not very representative of the whole globe and it doesn't really talk
00:55about how other countries, especially countries in Africa, have undergone it or how experiences
01:01were altered for everyone.
01:02We actually discussed this same topic with the students in the school in German and they
01:07recorded some questions for all of you guys.
01:10So come closer to me so that you can see the questions.
01:16My question for you guys is whether you guys learn about colonialism in class or how much
01:21more you're informed than us or maybe just my class?
01:26My question to you guys would be how you feel about Germany, since I know Germany did not
01:31do nice things in the colonization.
01:33So the first question was how much do you learn about history in your classes?
01:39Our previous history teacher went out of his way to actually teach us about colonialism,
01:44about the German colonialism, and that was actually the only way that I learned about
01:49it.
01:50The two most significant things that we learned was in year 6 when we went to the Bagamoyo
01:57slave trade place and in year 8 when we went to Kilwaki Siwani, where it was mostly the
02:04Arabic slave trading.
02:06What was your feeling after hearing that?
02:08I was actually quite shocked because I had no clue about that before.
02:13I thought Tanzania was just completely independent or I thought before that it was just like
02:17a whole African tribe united.
02:21We learned on the textbook, like was the syllabus talking about colonialism, but we also went
02:26out of the textbook, like what are the students' opinions, how do you see the matter of colonialism,
02:31how do you take it as personal, like do you see there is any current relationship between
02:37those years of colonialism and this is our current life without colonialism?
02:41So the second question was about how do you guys feel about Germany, because the student
02:47feel like Germans didn't do anything good.
02:51They were harsh, so they killed a lot of people and like they fought in like rebellions, like
02:59Madi Madi rebellion, like Abushiri, so like people shed blood, so it was very harsh.
03:06They were harsh.
03:07Okay, I see the hand here.
03:10Although Germany did a lot of bad stuff, I quite enjoy the country, I think they're very
03:14interesting country and I think they still have a big impact on Tanzania right now.
03:18For me it was a bit challenging learning about colonialism because I'm from both backgrounds,
03:23German and African, and it's hard to believe that your own people could do that to your
03:30other culture in a way, and so it was kind of difficult growing up.
03:35Thank you so much.
03:36Remy, you are the cultural curator, yeah, and you work around black and African history
03:42and you were born in Tanzania, but later on grew up in Germany.
03:46How do you feel like to have like the rich knowledge around this history of two countries?
03:53I'm a bit with Iris with the confused, but we're working on healing and growing and just
03:58educating more people about colonialism.
04:01A lot of our history was erased, so a lot of us, it feels very difficult to step into,
04:08I want to say the proud Africans we are, and step into the story and we resist it.
04:13And at the same time, with an extreme gap of knowledge, there's a knowledge gap, things
04:18we just don't know because they weren't written or they were taken to Germany, like skulls
04:24and other information, diaries, we don't have so much of that in Tanzania.
04:28I think there's still a discrepancy and a gap of who benefits from different things,
04:34which we call post-colonial effects, like after colonialism, what happens, but then
04:39there's also the emotional effect of like, what happened to my ancestry, where are the
04:44remains of our grandparents and how can I step into myself?
04:49We know there was Mkwawa, he did ABCD, but do we know his emotions, his day-to-day activities,
04:57what he felt, what he went through, maybe personal relationship with his wife, with
05:01his kids?
05:02We don't know that because we learn them like fictional characters.
05:05So it was the two.
05:07I wanted to bring forth stories of women, which are very much untold, basically, but
05:13I also wanted to bring out the stories that people can relate, they can see the mental
05:19processing of these people, and what brought them, what elements brought them to become
05:25who they were, because most of that has men, we see men as saviors most of the time, and
05:31there is none, especially here in Tanzania, we have none of that.
05:34Thank you so much.
05:35Here in Tanzania, we have Liti Kidanga, who also, at least her history has been heard
05:41and told to different generations, and we have the video about her.
05:45So let's watch it.
05:48Liti Kidanga was a spiritual leader from the Nyaturu people in Singida, north-central Tanzania.
05:54She was born in the 1860s to a family of traditional healers.
05:58It is said that she could predict the future.
06:01German forces came into her region in 1901 as they tried to expand authority over their
06:06colonial claims.
06:08Liti called on her people to resist German colonial rule.
06:12When the Germans got wind of the resistance, they hunted her down.
06:16Liti Kidanga is said to have used bees to protect her people and counter the Germans'
06:21advanced weapons, hence her name, Queen of the Bees.
06:24According to oral tradition, Liti Kidanga could summon bees to distract German forces,
06:29after which local fighters would attack.
06:32In local folklore and songs, Liti Kidanga's power over the bees was ruined by an informant,
06:38her best friend.
06:39In an act of betrayal, Liti Kidanga was captured by German authorities with help from rival
06:44collaborators.
06:46She was beheaded and her skull allegedly taken to Germany.
06:51Today she is still remembered in Tanzanian folklore as a courageous fighter and a fearless
06:56woman.
07:21Colonialism didn't just affect men, it affected women
07:49and several children as well and these stories are not being shared out.
07:53No one is taking into consideration the vulnerability and oppressions they have faced in their life
07:58and I think a lot more light needs to be shined onto that.
08:02What do you think should be done to make sure that the young generation are equipped with
08:08much knowledge?
08:09Currently, not only in Tanzania but also in Germany, colonialism is not a main factor.
08:16So in Tanzania, whether it's private schools or government schools, we often learn from
08:21the British era and then even our curriculum after independence is mostly British focused.
08:29So there's a lot of need to involve historians and other pedagogical forms to co-write pedagogical
08:37books.
08:38Remy, do you think this history shapes today's world or future in any way?
08:45Yes, of course it shapes.
08:46We were talking about racism, the fact how we think about ourselves and how others think
08:51of us, which also means there's a big chance to keep shaping, to empower young humans to
08:58learn more.
08:59I believe that having different stories that are not just focused from the West and also
09:05are told from an African viewpoint is very important, which we can see throughout colonization
09:11is lacking, whereby most of the evidence is recorded by the Western world and isn't
09:18very accurate.
09:20A lot of us, generally young people, I don't know myself, a lot of my culture wasn't explained
09:26to me or told to me because I needed to learn languages like English so I can be able to
09:31survive in society today.
09:33But generally, Swahili is an important language for us and it's what builds and preserves
09:37our culture and a lot of it's being taken away and we keep forgetting about it.
09:42So we need to go back to once we were, but keep changing.
09:45Thank you so much for watching and I am Iman Henrik from Dar es Salaam.
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