In the first of a three part series, The 77 Percent is in Dar Es Salaam to debate with Tanzanian high school students about German colonial rule. It was marked by the brutal suppression of resistance, such as the Maji Maji war. We asked the students how it is taught in school and how its threads impact today's young Africans.
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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.