1 The historical dimension of the modern forms of peasant labour organizations Mshambaa…what does it mean then? It means good worker. (Interview with Shekulavu) Abstract The main objective of this paper is to explain how the actual forms of labour organization among the tea-peasants in the Usambara […] "Pin It")
The production of tea in the Usambara Mountains (Tanzania)1 The historical dimension of the modern forms of peasant labour organizations
Mshambaa…what does it mean then?
It means good worker.
(Interview with Shekulavu)
Abstract
The main objective of this paper is to explain how the actual forms of labour organization among the tea-peasants in the Usambara Mountains have their roots in the colonial past and post-independence Tanzania. Currently, the tea cultivation is conducted through the formula of ‘smallholders’. In summary, the land is divided into small plots of tea plants held by individual families who sell the leaves to a main central factory belonging to a private entrepreneur. Many influences and political devices affected today’s labour force organization throughout the history: In summary the present system has its distant roots in the (I) pre-colonial period, passes through the (II) establishment of plantations under German rule, evolves into the (III) system of ‘smallholders’ under the British mandate, reflecting also the (IV) post independent Nyerere’s socialist policies and the influences of the (V) market economy promoted by the World Bank during the nineteen eighties and nineties.
I outline the major turning points of this history shifting from the national and international perspectives to the local point of view, following the historical changes which have happened in Mazumbai, a hamlet belonging to a small village named Sagara, located in the Usambara Mountains, a range set in northeastern Tanzania (Tanga region).
L’autrice: Elisabetta Campagnola
Elisabetta Campagnola si è laureata in Storia (laurea magistrale) e Antropologia culturale ed Etnologia (laurea specialistica) presso l’università degli studi di Bologna. La sua tesi in antropologia politica, dal titolo Studio preliminare delle relazioni di potere tra comunità di villaggio, fabbrica e Stato nel nord-est della Tanzania, in un contesto di produzione del tè, è frutto di un viaggio di sei mesi in Tanzania effettuato nel 2008 e di una ricerca etnografica presso i contadini che coltivano tè sulle montagne dell’Usambara. I risultati sono stati presentati alla conferenza annuale degli africanisti canadesi nel 2011. Ritornata in East Africa per diversi mesi nel 2010, si è occupata di documentare, attraverso alcuni articoli divulgativi, le elezioni politiche generali in Tanzania (in particolare: Tanzania: Kikwete bis, ma… Nigrizia, dicembre 2010). Attualmente partecipa ad un corso di perfezionamento sulle migrazioni presso l’università degli studi di Milano-Bicocca e sta impostando alcune ricerche sul lavoro dei giovani minatori in East Africa.
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