Encountering Archaeology in Tanzania: Education ...

Encountering Archaeology in Tanzania: Education, Development, and Dialogue at the University of Dar es Salaam Author(s): Adria LaViolette Reviewed work(s): Source: Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 75, No. 2 (Spring, 2002), pp. 355-374 Published by: The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3318266 . Accessed: 30/03/2012 16:57 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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DEVELOPMENTIN THEORY

Encountering Archaeology in

Tanzania: Education,

Development, and Dialogue at the University of Dar es Salaam Adria LaViolette Universityof Virginia

1987 to 1989 I

in the

Unitof the

HistoryDepartment taught Archaeology From at the University of Dares Salaam, and have returnedto the Unitfor

Tanzania,1 extended periodson an averageof nearlyeveryyear since, in the contextof ongoing archaeologicalresearchin Tanzaniaand in collaborationwith archaeology The followingare observationsand reflecfacultyand studentsat the University. tions basedon my initialtwo yearsof teachingthere,and on the changesand continuities encountered subsequently.These may resonate with the increasing numberof western-basedanthropologistswho have spent time engaged in educationaldevelopmentat the universitylevel in Africa,and those otherswith longterm commitmentsto foreigneducation,conservation,and researchin different capacitiesin non-westernsettings.Iseekto portraycertainaspectsof lifein the universityas well as in the ArchaeologyUnitfor both studentsand faculty,notingespeciallythe challengesfaced and overcomeon a dailybasisand in the courseof academiccareers.Ithen discussthe ArchaeologyUnitin termsof its effectson the personaland professionallivesof Tanzanians,and on the practiceof archaeology. These observationshave additional meaning within an anthropologythat, howeverself-awareand self-critical,continuesto be dependent upon the hospitalityof peoplesand nationsonly severaldecades beyondtheircolonialhistory,a 355

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history in which anthropologywas intimately involved (see Brokensha1966; Hoben1982; Escobar1991,1995).Thedescriptionsthat followareones that could well apply in general outline to many universitycampuses in the developing world.I includethem as background,butspecificallyto underscorethe stressedatmospherethat prevailedin Tanzaniaduringa period of great momentum for the ArchaeologyUnitand forthe practiceof archaeologythere,and againstwhich to chartmore recentchanges,manyforthe better,and their own repercussions.

The University Setting The Universityof Dares Salaam(UDSM) ArchaeologyUnitwas formed in 1985, and is the only venue for trainingin archaeologyin the country.Initiallythe curriculumwas designedand taughtbya Tanzanianarchaeologisttrainedto the M.A. level at the Universityof California,Berkeley,and a seniorAmericanarchaeologist who raisedthe generous privatecorporateand FordFoundationfunding that went into the establishmentof the Unit.These funds providedteaching salaries,vehicles,field equipment,computers,a library,and operatingfunds to initiatethe program.The Unit'sfounderswereassistedby part-timeinstructorsrecruitedfromtwo other institutionsin Dares Salaam:the NationalMuseum,and MuhimbiliUniversityCollegeand HealthSciences,then the Facultyof Medicine. Thesefacultyhad earnedforeigngraduatedegrees-M.A.s, Ph.D.s,and an M.D.and juggledteachingat the ArchaeologyUnitwith theirfull-timejobs elsewhere. Iwas partof a team in the second phaseof development(1987-1989),two recent Ph.D.sfromthe U.S.,engaged as full-timelecturersto continueteachingand researchduties begun duringthe Unit'sstart-upphase, assistedby some part-time instructorsas before.Eachyear betweenthreeand sixstudentsbegantheirthreeyear programin archaeology,makingthe classes small and the resourcesadequate to support them. The archaeologystudents also took classes in history and geology to supplementtheir training.Followingour departurein 1989, instructorsfromthe U.K.and Norwaytook overthe full-timeteachingload, usually two at a time. Foreignlecturerswere essentialto the teachingforce until 1993, when they were replacedwith an entirelyTanzanianacademicand supportstaff, a situation that remains today. The currentfull-time Tanzanianfaculty have earned M.A.s,M.Phil.s,and Ph.D.sin the U.S.,Sweden,Britain,and Canada,and they continue to be assisted by part-timeteachers with relevantadvanced degrees, whose primaryworkis elsewhere in Dares Salaam. Tanganyikabecame independentin 1961 and formeda union with Zanzibar in 1964, creatingthe nation of Tanzania.The Universityof Dares Salaamwas 356

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founded in 1970, replacingthe colonial institutionof UniversityCollege,Dares Salaam, part of a largerEastAfricanuniversitysystem. The new universityattracted internationalattention, particularlyfrom social democraticnations for whom Tanzaniarepresentedone of the best possibilitiesfor a self-determined socialiststate in Africa.Fundingpoured into the countryfor the constructionof a modern university.Tanzania'sillustriousand reveredfirst president,the late or Teacher.He passionately JuliusNyerere,was knownin Swahilias "Mwalimu," stressededucationas a nationalpriority,makingthe Universityof Dares Salaam an appropriatecenterpiece of the educational hopes in newly independent Africa.Not two decades later in 1987, although aspects of its initial promise were still evident-numerous internationally known faculty, and resources such as the EastAfricanacollection of rarebooks and documents-the university had fallen on more difficulttimes. The grantsthat initiallyhelped found it had not been matched by endowments sufficientto maintain it. In addition, Tanzania'slonger-termeconomic problemswere evidenced in the strikingdisrepairof UDSM'sgraciouscampus. The carryingcapacity of the original water system, for example, had not kept up with successive dormitory,faculty housing, and departmental construction,and had badlybrokendown with numerousrepercussionsfor the several thousand people who spent their lives on campus. Duringmuch of the 1980s, there was almost no waterflowingon the campus, locatedon one of the highest points in Dares Salaam.The vast majorityof laboratories,dormitories, kitchensand bathroomswere withoutrunningwater.Eachday,tankersbrought water to crowdsof students, who carriedbuckets back to dormitoryfacilities, up as many as eight stories. Hundredsof faculty families housed on the universitycampus carriedwater into their kitchens,bathsand gardens,and housekeepers carried buckets into departments and public bathrooms. Managing water became a significant part of each day-not unlike work schedules in many ruralsettings, but troublesome in an urbansetting where runningwater was integralto high-densityliving,properlyfunctioningtechnology,and the daily agendas of a university.Underthese conditions,it was impossibleto keep facilities clean, and difficultto run the campus dining areas, or to accomplish laboratorywork requiringwater. This contributed to a deep loss of morale around the university,among a population not given to particularlyeasy living conditions or to complainingabout them. The water situation was eventually improvedby a multi-yearSwiss-sponsoredprojectwhich providedfunds, technical assistance and trainingto expand and maintain UDSM'splumbing infrastructurein the late 1980s and earlynineties,althougha complete recoveryhas 357


yet to happen. The universityis nonethelessthe best-servedsectorof the entire city in terms of its water resources;currently,if there is no waterflowingthere, there is no water flowing in Dares Salaam. Problemsof infrastructure could be cripplingat the departmentallevelas well. Inthe HistoryDepartment,facultyspent most of a departmentalmeetingin 1988 debatinghow to go about obtaininga singlefluorescentbulbfor a facultymember who workedin his office at night.Entiredepartmentsand buildingsof classrooms were without workinglightsor ceilingfans, the fixturessittingfor years withoutattention, if presentat all. Everyclassroomcontainedbrokenfurniture, missingwindow louvers,and in some cases, drippingstalactitesformed by roof leaksthroughthe concrete.In1989-90,a studentstrike-in protestof, amongothsecond er things,worseningphysicalconditionson campus-motivated Tanzania's Ali is Chancellor Hassan nation's also president nominally president, Mwinyi(the to closethe university forseveralmonths.Somefundssavedfrom of the university), that closingwere applied to repairingthe buildings:faultywiringand windows were replaced,lightsand deskswere repaired.Butthe universitygarageremained crowdedwith broken-downvehicles,and the workshopoverflowedwithofficemachines, appliances,and special departmentalprojectsthat would never be repairedor finishedfor lackof partsand capital.Thepost-strikerenovationimproved the atmosphereof the campus, but the problemof maintainingfacilitiessuggested that unless budgets allowed for more substantiveroutine maintenance and enhancement, the infrastructurewould continue to deteriorate.And the budgetswere heavilyconstrainedby the nationaleconomy: it was not that universityadministratorsor governmentministriesdid not knowwhat it would take to runthe universityoptimally,but that funds were not availableto do it. Examplesof problemsin the physicalplantcould be matched by those of inadequate educational resources.The HistoryDepartment,since its earlyyears with WalterRodneyat its center,prideditselfon its continuingabilityto hold an importantseminarserieswhich involvedthe priorcirculationof papersto about fiftyfacultyand graduatestudentson campus.To mimeographthe papers,the facultyorganizerspent many hourseach month, going from secretaryto secretary on campus accumulatingenough stencils and paper to get the job done. Although paper was available, no department could obtain as much as was needed at one time for such a purpose.The HistoryDepartmentsaw its efforts explicitlyas a formof resistanceto erodingconditions.Facedwith such an ordeal of pamost otherdepartmentshostingseminarshad droppedthe pre-circulation down on the of From 1995 to success their events. pers, significantlycutting 2000, the seminarswere largelyabandoned except for occasionswhere visiting 358

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scholars came to campus, sometimes financing the pre-circulationof papers themselves. Happily,in 2000-01, the Historyseminars were resumed, in the context of an increaseof operatingfunds for the university(B. Mapunda,comments to author,September1, 2001). The overallfragilityof the qualityof intellectual life due to such exigenciescannot be underestimated. The holdingsof the Universityof Dares Salaam'slibrarywere reasonablyupto-date through the late 1970s. Afterthat, however,the worsening economic conditions in Tanzaniaand many other Africancountries meant that the government was not able to budgetforeignexchangefor purchasingbooksand periodicals.Thistrans-African phenomenon hit universitylibrarieshardand in Dar es Salaamthere has been almost no acquisitionof books or periodicalsby the central librarysince the mid-1970s,except for a remarkablyfew donated from sympathetic governments, institutions, presses or individuals. Most western scholarlyjournalswere and are unattainablefor such universities;even the lower subscriptionrates offered to institutionsin developing nations are beyond their means if foreign exchange is needed to pay for them. Interlibraryloan services were unavailableto scholarsand students except under rare circumstances. But as an on-campus resource,the librarystrainedto function as the primarylocus of researchand studythat western universitiestake for granted. Internetaccess is clearlyone of the solutionsto the informationbottleneck. The Universityof Dares Salaam'srecentrewiringand connectionto the Internet, and the establishmentof some drop-incomputerfacilities,has the potentialto makeaccessto publicationsand informationmuch morewidespread.Computer facilitiesare difficultto maintain, however,in the tropicalenvironmentof Dar es Salaam,without constantair-conditioning,steadyfundingfor equipment repairand expensive resupplying,and without reliabletelephone lines, none of which can be counted on despite the best intentionsof all involved.University administratorsare doing everythingthey can to meet the changingneeds of the students and faculty,but remainconstrainedby the enormous expense of doing so. The ArchaeologyUnit had its own computersfrom its founding,which were constantly in need of expensive repair.As faculty have returned from abroadwith computers,and certainconditionson campus have eased, the Unit has been able to establishits own small computerlab,which has enhanced the resourcebase forfacultyand students.The university,and individualfaculty,bear the bruntof keepingit running.Despitethe clear improvementsin the facilities, their fragilityagain needs to be underscored. Since the university'sfounding, foreign institutionsand governmentsoccasionally have funded specific UDSMdepartmentsto acquire relevant publica359


tions and equipment, and faculty improvement programs (e.g., the U.S., Norwegian,Swedish, and Britishsupport of the ArchaeologyUnit at various times; Germany'ssupport of the Institutefor Innovationand Technology;and The Netherlands'support of Microbiology).Departmentsjealously guard such resources,and at the same time grow dependent on this erraticand often nonrenewable source of aid. Thus throughout the universitythere have always been carefullycircumscribedpocketsof resourcesavailablefor specificareasof research.Eventhough such dedicated resourceshave been generallyregarded as havinga positiveimpact,they have tended to create resentmentsamong departments;this was the case, for example,betweenthe well-fundedArchaeology Unit, and the Historydepartment, which operated largelyas a UDSM-funded department. Undergraduates,too, have always been aware of the uneven resources among departments, and understand that they would have advantages in those with outside sponsorship. Thisreturnsus to the ongoing criticalrole of computers.Computersbrought back with facultyfrom their graduate programsor sabbaticalscomprisedthe majorityof those availableon campus until recently.Rarelyare facultyof such independent means that they can buy computers in Dares Salaam,although they are indeed for sale in the same price rangesand above as they are in the west. Whilethe DemographyUnitand the ArchaeologyUnitwere the firstacademic units to employ computers in the mid-1980s in the Facultyof Artsand Social Sciences (FASS), it was only in the early 1990s that computers became common secretarialtools, and it was only in 2000 that FASSestablisheda computer lab for students, in the basement of the Geographybuilding, outfitted with fewer than 50 work stations for a student body of several thousand (B. Mapunda,comments to author,September15, 2001). In the late 1980s and throughthe 1990s, most students did not have ready access to computers or even typewriters,and many turned in papers handwritten on hand-ruled paper. Photocopying machines, available from occasional gifts and grants, often fell out of service due to the lack of funds to maintain and supply them, although the recent liberalizingof the Tanzanian economy has made entrepreneurialphotocopying shops proliferatearound the city,and there is commercialphotocopyingon campus as well. In general few course books are available for universitystudents, who compete to read publicationsin the libraryreserveroom. Overcomingthe problem of research materialshas been centralto the ArchaeologyUnit'smission:thanksto the original privateCaltexfunds,a majorFordFoundationgrant,and latercontributions from the NorwegianAgencyfor Development,the SwedishAgencyfor Research 360

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Cooperationwith DevelopingCountries,and individualbook and journal donations,the ArchaeologyUnithas a superbteachingand researchlibrary.Thus, the Unit has been able to lend booksto students on an honor system,which in the late 1980s astounded the highlyprofessionaluniversitylibrarianwho headed the more rigorously-controlled centrallibrary.Becauseof the dearthof texts on campus, keepingthe central libraryresourcessafe was an enormous problem for her,and no semblance of an honor system had been attempted there. The small communityof the ArchaeologyUnit has made an open lending policy viable and has given the librarythere a welcoming intellectualatmosphere that continues to this day. Amidstthese challengingand sometimes deeply frustratingcircumstances, facultyand studentsat the Universityof Dares Salaam,as in such burdeneduniversitieselsewhere in the world,do their work.Studentshave an active student government,and maintainsecret societiesthat act as anonymous mouthpieces forvoicingcontroversialopinionsto the administrationand government.Faculty conductresearch,publish,and became active participantsand leadersin the internationalintellectualcommunity.Amidstsome economic improvementsand drasticdownturns,this is a functioninguniversitywhere manyscholarsand students rise to the challenges, hold the sincere hope that conditions will improve in the future, and just keep at it.

Student and Graduate Predicaments The Universityof Dares Salaam'sapproximately3,000 students compete academically for admission, and until the early 1990s, contributed one year of national serviceand at least two years of communityservice,often military,as prerequisites.Some top students come from privatelyfunded (often mission) schools, various government schools or teachers' training schools. Manystudents, however,were educated in regionalsecondary schools with their own, much worse, versions of the university'sresource problems. A considerable part of the faculty'swork, therefore, continues to involve teaching students basic language and interpretiveskills,as well as the major programs,in only three years.Thisworkis compoundedbythe fact that most readingis in English, which,althoughan officiallanguageof Tanzania,few young people controlfully, especiallywhen they arrive.Conversationoutside the classroomtakes place mostly in Swahili,the linguafranca learned in primaryand secondaryschool. These students are among the nation's elite, but most come from rurally based families around the country.A separate class of the Tanzanianpopula361

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tion is the proportionatelysmall circleof wealthy families in business with access to foreign exchange, most of whom send their childrento foreign universities in English-speakingcountries. In one class in 1989 in which we were discussingthe concept of emergingelites in ancient large-scalesocieties,the archaeology students spontaneouslydefined elites as "theeducated class."Those fortunate enough to be universitystudents are the pride and hope of their families.The universitystipendson whichstudentslivedthen and now (forfood, accommodations, books, personal effects, and stationery),though seemingly barelyadequate to supportthem, could amount to severaltimes the annual income of their parents.Manyuniversitystudentsare in their mid-twentiesor older, and some men have wives and children living in provincial towns and villages hundredsof miles away,dependant on infusionsof cash from Dares Salaam. What remains of the stipends can nonetheless provide clothing, entertainmentand an urbane lifestyleunavailableto villagers.It is not surprising, therefore, that Tanzaniansliving in villages around the country (particularly those without childrenat the university)frequentlyresent students as an overprivilegedclassof the population.However,stipendsthat seem astronomicalto ruraldwellersare barelysufficientto supportstudents who pay for goods and services(suchas photocopying)at urbanprices,respondto the consumer pressure which is part of universityculture,and cannot fall back on supportfrom usuallydistant kin-basedagriculturalresources. Studentsalso appearto have easy access to high-wagejobs when they leave the university,which compounds the resentmentfrom those who do not have the prospectof their childrenhavingsuch access; this was especiallytrue during the years when the government guaranteed employment to graduates. Student funding has recently undergone structuralchanges. Since the early 1990s, the Universityof Dares Salaamhas attempted an unprecedented"costsharing"for student support, in the form of government loans ratherthan full stipends.Thismay makefiscalsense fromthe government'sperspective,but has resulted in increasinghardshipsfor students, who hesitate to take loans when future repaymentseems an impossibility(C.Bwenge,comments to author,July I, 1996). The realityof the employment situationfor graduatesis much starker than it appears. This university-operating, despite its hardships,on a western notion of privilegeduniversitylife-often raisesgraduates'expectationsbeyondthe ability of the Tanzanianeconomy to sustain them after graduation.Thereare few careersavailable commensurablewith the graduates'new skillsand expectations, despite their placement in jobs by the Ministry(now, Department)of 362

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Manpower.2Graduatescan usuallylook forwardto governmentclerkshipsthat often carrylittle responsibilityand professionalstimulation.As in many emergpersonnelare being producedat a rategreater ing countries,university-trained than their society can absorb. Furthermore,universitygraduates in bureaucratic positions are frequently resented by their superiors-older employees without post-secondary degrees-for pay and other real and perceived inequities (see Hazlewood1989:162-220,for a discussionof educationalleveland pay in Tanzania). One resultof this post-universityrealityis that a universitydegree becomes a credentialthat can actuallyworkagainstnationalsocialdevelopment even as it promotes personaldevelopment.3Forexample, the graduatesof the Faculty of Education,who comprisethe largestsub-groupwithin the Universityof Dar es Salaam,are needed forjobs all over the countrybut routinelyrefuseruralassignmentsto stay in urbancenters.Theycan turn down a teachingjob, and opt insteadfor lesser urbanemployment,to maintainaccess to supplementalbusiness opportunities,consumergoods, entertainment,and an urbansocial life to which they became accustomed during their universityyears. Though not in keeping with the country'sprimaryand secondary-schoolneeds, this is a rational responseto developinga secure personalfinancialfuture. Development of the ruralsector through personalself-sacrificeis unfortunately,but understandably,not an attractiveoption to students who have undergone the university rite-of-passage in Dar. More recently, unemployment for college graduates has grown, and a large pool of teachers, for example, awaits job allocations.Thosewho have been out of college a year or more are a government priorityfor job placement, which means many more recent graduatesface a long period of demoralizingunemployment or severe underemployment(B. Mapunda,comments to author,September15, 2001).

Faculty Life As with students, faculty for whom their universityposition was a hard-won achievementworkwithinadequate,if improving,educationalresources.Professors and lecturersearnfromtheirsalariesonlya fractionof whatthey need to support a family.Allfacultyand all staffat the Universityof Dares Salaamare eligiblefor subsidizedhousingon campus in single-familyhouses and apartments,but because there is always a long waiting-listfor such housing,they are sometimes hotel rooms.Housingremainsa criticalcomponentin placedin university-owned of on local facultyquality life; salaries,payingrentor a mortgageis impossiblefor 363


facultyfamiliesunlessthereis steadyoutsidemoneyfrommajorbusinessventures. Evenwiththe housingsupplied,universityfacultyare forcedto find othersources of income. Sabbaticalsfunded by westernhost institutionsprovideworkingconditionsunavailablein Dar,and critically,give some facultythe chanceto establish foreignbankaccounts,as well as accessto conferencevenues, researchlibraries, consumergoods,and opportunitiesfortheirchildrenunavailableor unaffordable in Tanzania.Bylivingfrugallyabroad,facultymightsave considerablesums upon whichthey can drawin subsequentyearsat home; in orderto save, many leave theirfamiliesbehind in Dares Salaam.Othersdepend on more mundanemeasures:farmingand vegetablegardeningmany miles away from the city,keeping cowson campusto be ableto sell milk,buyingan old caror minivanto runa transportservice,or openinga smallshop.Somefacultyrunsuccessfulbusinessesor perform lucrativeconsultanciesand are thus able to live comfortablyfrom them, butsometimesat considerablecostto theiracademicwork.Facultyassociatedwith externally-fundeddepartmentscan at times enjoy,in additionto betterworking environments,a boon to outside businessactivities,due to easieraccessto copy machines,vehicles,computers,and other perks.Thisresultsin a basic improvement in qualityof life,arguablyincreasingthe possibilityfor intellectualproductivity,butalso riskingthe diversionof attentionfromcoreacademicresponsibilites. Jugglingnumerousseeminglyfull-timeconcernshas alwaysbeen partof beingan academicin Tanzania. Teachingloads are heavyand, coupled with the necessityto earn outside income for the majority,leave intellectuallyambitious scholars reduced time and energy for researchand writing. Imbued with comparable standardsof scholarlyproductivityas their counterpartsin universitiesworld-wide,and held accountable by the universityadministrationfor their yearlyaccomplishments and all absences from Dares Salaam, it is inevitablethat some Tanzanianfaculty become discouraged.4Yetregardlessof such drawbacks,scholarsat UDSM continue to work to maintain relationshipswith their colleagues elsewhere and to create situations in which they can carryout intensive periods of research.Giventheir workingconditions,it is not surprisingthat facultyyearnfor foreign sabbaticals. Arrangingone requires either a scholarly reputation alvenues, or preexisting ready built on publicationin internationally-recognized personal or departmentalties to foreign institutions,for the Universityof Dar es Salaam typically cannot provide funds to support a faculty member in a foreignvenue (althoughsometimesthey assistwith airfare).Theseconditionsrequire considerable struggle and individual sacrifice. Departments normally grantsabbaticalleave only to one facultymember at a time, due to the already 364

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heavy teaching and administrativeresponsibilities.Competitionfor sabbatical time is, in such circumstances,intense, but the universityattempts to develop all faculty,and with the support of the Ministryof Manpower,to grant leaves whenever possible (Maliyamkonoet al., 1982:36). Typically,faculty initiates go on the university payroll first as "Teaching Assistants,"recent graduates with B.A.or B.Sc.degrees who show promise in teaching and research,and come to the fore when there is an opening in a given department. They work their way up through the ranks,getting access to leave time and foreignscholarshipmoney to pursue M.A.and Ph.D.degrees as their turn comes around and the opportunitiesarise. These foreign graduate student positionsare often difficultto arrangeand long in coming;most foreign educational opportunities are not in degree programs,but shorter-termexchanges (Maliyamkonoet al., 1982:266),and there is terrificcompetitionfor the finite number of fully-fundeddegree programs.Time limitsare set within the universityfor completingPh.D.degrees, so that TeachingAssistantsface mounting pressureto find a funded program before their time runs out and they lose their position. Once youngerfacultyare in these foreigngraduateprograms,they have access to comparatively abundant educational resources despite the relative povertyassociated with student living,and thereforeoften look back nostalgically to their days as graduate students. Whateverculturalalienation experienced in extended separations from family and home, most have great KyotoUniversity,the nostalgiafor their yearsof graduateeducation.At U.C.L.A., of or Tanzanian scholars University Uppsala Cambridge,young participatein a lifestylethat, for all its inherentdrawbacksfor a foreign student, is designed to make a life of teaching and researchpossible and rewarding.The process of earning a Ph.D. raises expectations that are difficult to fulfill. Yet many of Tanzania'sscholars,as scholarsin difficultconditionsworldwide,go on to produce internationallyrecognizedwork,even if at considerablepersonalcost, and more slowlythan they would like. Universityscholarsworld-widebalancetheir research-relatedactivitywith teaching and families. A productivebalance is a more impressiveachievement, however,in an environmentsuch as that at the Universityof Dar es Salaam, where the economic pressuresand their consequences are daunting.Thefaculty'scommitmentto remainingintellectuallyengaged is an act of optimism,and an ongoing investmentin their own goals and the development of Tanzania. Facultyvoice their concerns about universityaffairsand more general political issues through UDASA,the Universityof Dar es Salaam AcademicStaff 365


Assembly,as well as through the organization'snewsletter.UDASAhas the respect of the universityadministrationand the Tanzaniangovernment,and has considerablelobbyingsuccessesto its credit.Inthe mid-1990s,for example,the universityagreed to pay fifty percent of basic salariesto faculty in the form of a non-taxable"tutorialallowance."Italso helped facultywho owned vehicles by subsidizingtheir fuel purchases,an expense that can easily use up their entire salaries(C.Bwenge,comments to author,July1, 1996). Beginningin 1999, these fuel allowances became merged into facultysalaries,increasingthem by as many as ten times (B. Mapunda,comments to author,September15, 2001). It is another sign of hope in the future that, through UDASA,faculty struggle for better workingand livingconditions and for social change. Forexample, a 1995 UDASANewsletter article contained the detailed report of an ad hoc faculty committee concerning the set of documents entitled "Institutional TransformationProgramme:UDSM2000," published by the Universityof Dar es Salaam'sadministration.The committee's comments included a concern that the universitychange accordingto nationalneeds ratherthan to pressures from externalsources;that it remainaccountableto the people; and that fac1995:3, ulty be grantedacademicfreedom in terms of what they teach (UDASA of facof the commitment another example 7). The existence of UDASAis yet ulty who must continually press for reformin a beleaguered environment.

The Archaeology Unit The full history of the ArchaeologyUnit is told elsewhere (see Schmidt and Mapunda,n. d.). Forthe purposesof this account, it sufficesto say that a joint Tanzanianand Americanvisionand a greatdeal of capital(includingimportant subsequent support from Norwayand Sweden)providedthe following:firsta western, and then a western-trainedteaching staff and Tanzanian support staff; an ambitious curriculumcomparableto an Americanmajor in anthropological archaeology,includingan annual eight-week, research-drivenfield school; laboratoryand field equipment, from campingand excavationgear to portablecomputers,microscopes,and severalfield vehicles;a libraryof current volumes and long-termjournalsubscriptionsand a short-termendowed operating fund, the lattermeant to supportthe Unitas it made the transitionto local funding, on which its day-to-dayoperation now depends. Therehas always been a low teacher-to-studentratiodue to the relativelyesoteric natureof the major and student unfamiliarity with archaeology, and to the Ministryof Manpower'sabilityto place only a few people trained in archaeologyper year 366

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in meaningful employment. This ratio, coupled with excellent teaching resources, has resulted in high academic achievements within this major-in some years,the finest within the university.The academicallystrongestgraduates, who are also able to extricate themselves from family responsibilities, have earned, or are in the process of earning, advanced degrees in foreign universities,while others are employed in related jobs-museums, antiquities, localculturaladministration,culturalresourcemanagement-in Tanzanian agencies. Some have become clerksin unrelatedoffices, some have gone into business,one graduatejoined a reliefagency,some have left Tanzania.Despite the best-laidplans of the Ministryof Manpower,not all archaeologyB.A.shave been interested in, or able, to pursue archaeology-relatedwork in the long term, but they earned universitydegrees well-supportedby resources(for detailed placement information,see Mapunda2001). Asstated above, foreignteachingstaff in the Unitwere graduallyreplacedby Tanzanian faculty and in 1993 it became a fully Tanzanian operation. The UDSMwas to have taken over from donors the administrative costs of the ArchaeologyUnit at that point, but delayed doing so until 1995, leading to much belt-tighteningin the mid-nineties.Scholarsreturningfromforeigndegree programstend to have experienceapplyingto outside grantingagencies for researchfunds, and have been thus equipped, in principle,to carryon their own researchand the workof the Uniteven in relativelylean circumstancesfor the universityat large. Although the Unit in 2002 faces the financial exigencies that all internally-fundedUDSMdepartmentsdo, by development, western educational,and archaeologicalstandardsthis was a highlysuccessfulprogram.

Educational Development

Dilemmas

Havingpaintedthis summarybut hopefullyevocativepicture,I now want to underscoresome lastingissues raisedby these circumstances.Somethingwestern scholarsteaching in non-westernsettingsshould ask ourselvesis what we want as the long-termresultsof the enterprise,and what we can continue to do to furtherthat end. Whatwe want, of course, ought to bear some resemblanceto what those on the receivingend of the effort want, but that is something we cannot take for granted,especially in this case where there was internalresistance to archaeology within UDSMfor nearly two decades (Schmidt and Mapunda,n.d.; also Ardouin1997). Wemust also look at any unintended negative consequences of the project,and try, if possible, to mitigatethose. One of the worstconsequencesof "pocket"developmentis that unavoidably, 367


the interactionsbetween the sponsoredunit, such as the ArchaeologyUnit,and those departmentson campuswith no outside patronagemirrora disturbingrelationshipbetween western and newly emergingeconomies, between richand poor, between elites and non-elites.The islandsof privilegeand development withinan institutionsuch as UDSMcreate a local hyper-awarenessof who is entitled and who is not, who is to be "developed"and who is not. Protectingthose islands,if even possible,seems a logicalway to keep them fromexperiencingthe entropythe universityfaces in the absence of adequate resources,and the resulting attempts from within other departments to colonize and exploit resources intended for other purposes(Schmidtand Mapunda,n.d.).There is an inherent danger that such relationshipsof dependency can mimic, however unwittingly,the patron-clientrelationshipsso familiarfrom the colonial period, that anthropologistsamong others presumablydo not replicateintentionally. Viewingthe situation more optimistically,such educational development programsnot only help create an enriched workingenvironment in situ, but create ties to internationalscholars, departments, and resourceswith primarilypositiveoutcomes. Atthe Universityof Dares Salaam,in the field, or in the foreigngraduate institution,individualsforge linksthat can be criticalto their long-term professional development, and ones that Tanzanian scholars actively seek. Clearly,many western scholars, in turn, seek relationshipswith researchersin the countrieswhere they carryout research.Exchangeprograms, internationalconferences, and cooperative researchand publishingventures are profitablefor everyone involved and would seem to be a reciprocaland highly desirable outcome of educational development. Personaland institutional relationships forged during the building of a program such as the Archaeology Unit can endure. However,the differential in operating funds and general institutionalresources between an average Americanuniversity, for example, even during tight economic times, and a place such as the Universityof Dares Salaam, creates an imbalance in many areas of these relationships.Largecapitalinvestments,even if they were the solution in the case of archaeologyin Tanzania,are neithercommonplacenor dependable.Outside researcherscan continue to try to channel funds and opportunities-books, journal subscriptions and subsidies, graduate fellowships, funded research partnerships, publishing partnerships, sabbatical grants, travel funds-to Africancolleagues and students, when it is within their power to do so and as long as Africancolleagues and students want them. Foreignresearchershave gained far too much from the study of Africanot to commit ourselves to this, and to continue to aggressivelyseek more ways to do it (see Bates et al. 1993). 368

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But until such time as the socioeconomicconditionsof Tanzaniaand countries in comparable circumstancesimprove radically,we cannot make such structural inequalities go away. It is of paramount importance that western researchers maintain a dialogue with colleagues in Africaand elsewhere about the manifoldimplicationsof this inequality.As much dialogue as there may be now, there surely needs to be more. A relatedissue is the questionof how westerneducatorsprofitfromthese experiences. Personaland professionalrelationshipswithin Africaneducational and bureaucraticstructureshelp those who conduct research in Africa.The foreignteachers in the ArchaeologyUnit usually managed to initiate research independent of the Unit'steaching agenda duringthe term breaksand at the end of the teaching contract,a fact that underscoreshow we benefited professionally from our positions there as well as, hopefully,contributingto the buildingof a Tanzaniannationalarchaeology.It is criticalthat foreignscholars involved with educational development reflect on what they gain from their roles:to be explicitwith ourselves,and with our Africancolleagues,about what we hope to gain personallyfrom our involvement.Scholarsin disciplinessuch as archaeology,whose researchareas are often geographicallyspecific, might benefit more from participationin educational development in Africathan those in more "portable"fields, where access to geographicalresearchvenues is not at issue.s An open admission of all agendas, even if they are indirect,on the two-waystreet is an importantpartof equalizingrelationshipsthat remain distinctlyimbalancedtowardthe west. Thisopenness does not undercutthe visiting educatorsstated desire to help create an opportunityfor Africanscholarly and economic development: it is simply more honest and less patronizing. We need to keep clearly in mind another aspect of educational development. Havingbeen educated in western-styleprograms,havingcurriculabased on works by mostly Euroamericanauthors, and therefore imbued with western intellectualparadigms,the foreignscholarsare perhapsoverexposedto foreign-styled research, particularlyearly in their careers. When the Unit was started one of the teaching goals was to challenge prevailingparadigms,thus providingspace for local intellectualexperimentation(Schmidtand Mapunda, n.d.), and this has indeed occurred (e.g., Chami1994, 1998; Mapunda1995; Chamiand Msemwa1997; Kessy1997). But the demise of relationshipswith western scholarsand the resourcesthey help control must never be the price Africanscholars pay if they were to create, for example in the case of archaeology, an entirelydifferentrelationshipwith the past and with the materialsin the archaeologicalrecord(see Trigger1984; Bense 2001). Scholarlystandards 369


are political, and with our western intellectual methods for discreditingvarious kinds of scholarship(Schmidtand Patterson1995), we might react to academic dissonance with less enthusiasm than goes into educational development up front.6Thereare many reasonsto be optimisticabout the potential of Africanand other scholarsworkingtogether, includingthe provocative, progressive and self-critical volumes of the so-called One World Archaeologyseries (see e.g., Milleret al. 1989, and Shennan 1989). But the above concernsare real,and it is worth notingthat the vast majorityof the One WorldArchaeologyvolumes are edited by senior Britishscholars,although an importantexception is the groupeffort of ThurstonShaw,PaulSinclair,the late BasseyAndah,and AlexOkpoko(1993). Giventhe world-wideextent of the archaeologicalprofessionand the commitment to dialogue that has been expressed so often, the relationshipbetween Africanand other archaeologistshas a cooperative,integratedfuture.But again, the increasedAfricanparticipationand leadershipcalled for by perhaps a dozen contributorsto Robertshaw's(1990) edited volume on the historyof Africanarchaeology,a situation now in the making,will undoubtedlyresultin an increasingpluralityof agendasand interpretations,and maygive those of us who have been engaged in educational development, as well as Africanarchaeology, new personal and intellectual challenges to face (see e.g., Andah 1995). Butthe desired increasein the numberand volume of Africanvoices involved in reconstructingthe Africanpast cannot happen quicklyenough. If developing countries are interested in, say, an offer to help build an archaeology programin a university,then relevantoutside scholarsand agencies have an obligationto cooperateand contributeas best they can. Itcould be argued that archaeologyis not the most criticaldevelopmentalagenda in Africacompared to engineering, medicine, business, social work, teaching-but numerousAfricanscholarsand other leaders have embracedthe idea that archaeology can serve as a critical component in building new post-colonial, democratic societies (e.g., Miller1984; Mapunda1991; Stone and MacKenzie 1994; cf. Holl 1990; also Hall 1984, Kuklick1991, Leone and Preucel 1992). Knowledgegained throughthe practiceof archaeologycan be a powerfultool in constructingknowledgeabout deep Africanhistorythat breaksthroughthe coloniallyconstructedhistoriesnew Africannations inheritedupon independence, but many countries lack adequate means to pursue it (Gaweand Meli 1994, Hinz1994, Nzewunwa1994, Wandibba1994). In the case of Tanzania,where westernershave been conductingarchaeological researchfor the better partof a century,aided by indigenousassistants 370

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who were nevergivenaccessto professionaleducation,the ArchaeologyUnitwas mandated into existence by the Tanzaniangovernmentand academiccommunity assisted by externalsupport. If the goal is to create alternativeAfricanarchaeologies, this is underway,in Tanzaniaand in many other venues in Africa. The ArchaeologyUnit has been, by many standardsof measurement,a stellar success. Itsteaching and researchfacultyare involved,currently,in conducting research on MiddleStone Age hominids, early eastern Africaniron-smelting technology, the transition from hunter/gatherer to agriculturally-based economies,ceramicstyleand ethnogenesison the easternAfricancoast,and Iron Age urban/ruralpolitical economy, among other subjects, mostly funded by western agencies and throughcollaborativeprojectswith western researchers. Westernacademics who participatein educational development, however, and also in collaborativeresearchmust remain not only criticallyaware of the destructivenessof colonial relationshipsthat came before us, but of those situations in our presentthat could compromisethe best intentions.Trueself-determination and an equitable distributionof opportunitywill only come with economic self-sufficiencyand equity. In the meantime, we can remain committed to aggressivelysharingour resourcesand to talkingactivelyand openly with Africancolleagues in as many venues as we can help create and fund. WithoutpatronizingAfricanfaculty and students, western researcherscan be cognizantof the conditionsunderwhich these colleagues may studyand work, particularlythe difficultiesthey may have gaining access to publications,longterm funding for research, publication venues, and access to the meetings western scholarsregularlyattend. Guidingthis should be a shared sense of optimism about the future, an optimism which students and faculty at, for example, the Universityof Dar es Salaam, express by their undertakingof an academic life.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Iwouldliketo expressmywarmappreciation to the following,who critiqued,or discussedwith me, earlierversionsof this paper:CharlesBwenge,FridaBwenge,TerryChilds,EveDanziger, JeffFleisher,FatouKeita,MarkLeone,BertramMapunda,KendaMutongi,RebeccaPopenoe, PeterSchmidt,DanielSegal,and five anonymousreviewers.Specialthanksgo to Charles but basedat the University of Dares Bwengeand FridaBwenge,currentlyin Charlottesville Salaam,who providedvaluablefeedbackand updates,as wellas accessto UDASA newsletters, andto mycolleagueBertramMapundaof the ArchaeologyUnit,UDSM, forseveralroundsof who encommentaryandwisdomat manyjunctures.Finally, manythanksto Richard Handler, couragedthe initialwritingof this essayand commentedon numerousdrafts.

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NOTES 1

of Dares Salaam, Archaeologycomprisespartof the HistoryDepartmentat the University in partbecauseof a Britishprototypefor this relationship,and also becauseanthropology is not otherwiserepresentedas an autonomousprogramat this university(andmanyothers)due to its historyin the colonialdominationof Africa.Plansare currentlyunderwayfor the Unitto become a separatedepartment,whichwouldsuit its quiteseparateintellectual agenda fromthat of the Historydepartment,and would accordwith its size and statusafter a decadeand a halfof growth.Thisrelationshipbetweenparenthistorydepartmentsand offspringarchaeologyunitshas been common in Africa(see Mapunda2001). 2 Achievinga good balancebetween educationand job placementis a problemwell-recognizedbyAfricannationsand the outsideagencieshelpingto fund suchan effort;see e.g., Makulu1971, Maliyamkono et al. 1982, King1985, Hazlewood1989;Mapunda2001.Theexternaldebate on educationaloptions in Africadates to the nineteenthcentury(see Spivey 1978, 1986),and parallelsthat forAfricanAmericansin the nineteenthand earlytwentieth centuries.Contemporary discussioncenterson such issuesas ruralversusurbaneducation, equalityof schoolingfor girlsand boys,and the expenseof internalhighereducationversus intellectualdependencyon foreignpowers(e.g., King1985, Courtand Kinyanjui1988). see the potentialproblemsof creatingan educatedelitethat is then 3 Africannation-builders torn between personaland nationaldevelopment;see, e.g., KennethKaunda'sopeningremarksin Makulu1971:vii. 4Astudyof the long-termimpactof overseastrainingon easternAfrican scholarsandothersproducedthe followingstatisticsin 1982:forover3,500traineessurveyed,"Forty-one percentof the low-levelperformance...on accountof under-employment...bureaurespondents...indicated craticrigidityand/oran environmentthatdiscouragedpersonalcreativity and innovativeness" et al. 1982:270). (Maliyamkono s Thanksto DanSegalfor this insight. 6 A relevant exampleof thatwhichmainstreamacademicsrushto discreditmaybe the most radical'Afrocentrist' scholars paradigms.Whilecritiquedeven by non-middle-of-the-road modelsare nonethelessalternative,and tend to makemany (e.g., Blakey1995),Afrocentrist 'mainstream'scholarsso uncomfortablethat they are compelledto attempt to discredit them. Itis criticalto knowwhen critiqueis a validintellectualexerciseand when it is a question of exercisingpower. REFERENCES CITED

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