1st Edition

Gender, Family and Work in Tanzania

By Colin Creighton, C.K. Omari Copyright 2000

    This title was first published in 2000. The essays in this volume explore the changing nature of family and gender relations in contemporary Tanzania. Particular attention is paid to the social construction of marriage and to the interplay of family life and gender relations with economic processes and forms of work. Many of the papers are based upon recent ethnographic and survey research; others provide a much needed historical perspective upon the change in family patterns and upon the ways in which gender and family relations are shaped by, and in turn help to shape, wider social institutions and processes.

    Contents: Introduction: Family and gender relations in Tanzania - inequality, control and resistance, Colin Creighton and C.K. Omari; Race, class and community in colonial Dar es Salaam: tentative steps towards an understanding of urban society, John Campbell; Monogamy, polygyny, or the single state? changes in marriage patterns in a Tanzanian coastal village, 1965-94, Pat Caplan; Kinship in the urban setting in Tanzania, Colin Creighton; Forest livelihoods: beekeeping as men’s work in Western Tanzania, Eleanor Fisher; Divided patriarchs in a labour migration economy: contextualizing debate about family and gender in colonial Njombe, James L. Giblin; ’My daughter... belongs to the government now’: marriage, Maasai and the Tanzanian state, Dorothy L. Hodgson; Gender inequality, poverty and food insecurity in Tanzania, S.M. Kapunda; Democratization of social relations at the household level: the participation of children and youth in Tanzania, Bertha Koda; Renovating the modern home: gender, marriage and weddings among professionals in Dar es Salaam, Anne S. Lewinson; Born to be less equal: the predicament of the girl child in Tanzania, C.K. Omari and D.A.S. Mbilinyi; Two models of co-operation: development institutions and market sellers in Tabora, Alison Tierney; Gender relations in a traditional irrigation scheme in Northern Tanzania, Els Upperman.

    Biography

    Colin Creighton, C.K. Omari

    ’...the editors have [done] a good job including several papers which contribute to the necessary task of providing a deeper understanding of the history of family and gender relations in Tanzania.’ Educational Book Review '...solid scholarship...the volume's scope, depth and local perspectives on development issues are impressive; it can serve as an excellent text.' African Studies Review