Social rebellion and Swahili culture: The response to German conquest of the northern Mrima, 1888-1890

The arrival of German administrators on the mainland Tanzania coast in 1888 sparked a widespread social rebellion which threatened to topple and Arab and African aristocracy of the Swahili towns. This study used the rebellion as a window on Swahili society. Rather than focus on German provocation and a supposedly unified African response, the study looks at deep social tensions which had been intensifying since the mid 19th century, and at undercurrents of social rebelliousness which were brought to the surface by German intrusion.;The first third of the study outlines the major social and economic developments of the period, focusing on the region between Pangani and Bagamoyo. Patricians, plebeians, slaves, planters and state functionaries all struggled for enhanced opportunities within the overall framework of an expanding commodity economy. Swahili patricians, crippled by debts incurred in the caravan trade, lost their best lands to Arab settlers who established vast sugar plantations. The plantations, in turn, were the site of violent conflicts over the redefinition of the master-slave bond.;These divisions gave rise to struggles over concepts of citizenship and status. Part Two describes these struggles, emphasizing their expression in public ritual. At the same time as the Swahili patricians were rapidly losing power to the emergent Arab planter class, they found their prestige further challenged by slaves and other low status clients who sought to participate in institutions which had formerly been expressive of aristocratic exclusiveness. Religious ritual, rites of passage, and the dance ceremonies linked to political office were all racked with conflict. Public festivals were particularly delicate moments of community life, for they were customarily occasions when individuals of low status staked claims to prestige, often in the forum of disruptive potlatches.;Part Three describes the outbreak of rebellion in 1888. The Germans arrived on the coast at a rare moment when multiple festivals coincided. The violence which engulfed them was a product of the growing tensions of previous decades, and can be understood only by analyzing the rebellious consciousness of those who fought against both the Germans and the local elite.