This edited version of an article serves as an introduction to an MSc in African Studies (University of Oxford) dissertation entitled “Meaning in Miscellanea: The Social Value of Books in Stone Town, Zanzibar” that was submitted in June 2012. For further discussion and enquiry please contact Jono Jackson via the editor

Nearly half a century since the English Club closed its doors, remnants of its library can be found in the same room of the same building that once housed this bastion of English society abroad.

During the era in which Zanzibar was a British Protectorate, its library was central to its members’ leisure and learning; but within the building’s current incarnation as the Africa House Hotel, the remaining books stand in cabinets inaccessible behind a locked door. The numerous cardboard boxes within reveal that the once-active library has become a storeroom, and it is through glass panes the books’ spines relate their titles and authors. Once bright, thorough, and visited daily, its current state is that of a neglected and mildewed miscellany.

Evelyn Waugh stayed at the English Club in the 1930s, and mentioned in Remote People how he went up to the library daily to read and make notes on local history. He wrote that ‘the ink runs in little puddles of sweat that fall on to the page; I leave hot thumb-prints on the history-book. The plates have all come loose and the fan scatters them about the library.’

This study is rooted in the notion that the same object can be admired or rejected, and the objects in question are English-language books that exist in various forms and locations throughout Stone Town, Zanzibar. The ways in which people respond to and use meanings have material, social, and cultural consequences for themselves and those meanings. It is proposed that books can inhabit numerous nuances of meaning and value depending upon the web of wider social relations that surround their location in time and space.

Three categories of English-language books are identified for the purpose of this study: Artifactual; Second-hand; and New.

The Artifactual are those of the English Club library that still exist within the Africa House Hotel. Remnants of this library are also found in curio shops in Stone Town and offer a fascinating insight into the reading habits and interests of those who are long-gone yet evidence of their presence remains.

Second-hand books are worthy of consideration as significant objects within the landscape and social fabric of Stone Town. Their origin and destination are largely the Western consumer, whilst their circulation is facilitated by Zanzibari booksellers. Notions of value and meaning can be extrapolated as a result of the encounter between local practices and ideas with Western forms.

New books sold in Stone Town are predominantly priced above the financial capabilities of most Zanzibaris. Whilst reading is not as essential to the human system as eating or sleeping, the interplay between the concept of reading as nourishment for the mind and yet not essential to survival suggests that perceptions of books as valuable commodities are blurred.

If books are pre-eminent as vehicles for information and education, and a source of culture and recreation, then a discussion of the presence of such a large number of books that serve transient tourists contributes to the stereotypical and outdated, yet created and maintained, societal differences between the Western, literate and wealthy world, and the Third, illiterate and poor world.

Perhaps the Swahili proverb ‘Elimu ni maisha, si vitabu’ (‘Education is life, not books’) informs a difference in social mores, as Zanzibaris might not consider books a means to an end and are not imbedded in the notion of lifelong learning or reading for pleasure. The impact of books donated from Western agencies is also questioned insofar as their effects contrast with their intended purpose.

Books are shown to be potent objects of analysis, especially as Zanzibar possesses a complex history of cultural exchange. Exploring the book as an object that possesses a cultural biography enables the reconstruction of human interactions and variants of meaning and value that can inhabit the same object as perceived by different people, all the while entangled within the history and society of Stone Town.

Jono Jackson recently graduated with an MSc in African Studies from St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. He also studied Swahili & History at SOAS which included a term on Zanzibar. He has travelled extensively throughout Tanzania, and was a contributor to the 2nd Edition (2009) of the Footprint Travel Guide to Tanzania.

Glitz and glamour were reported to have filled the Blue Pearl Hotel recently as Brigitte Alfred from Sinza was crowned the new Miss Tanzania for 2012 in a hotly contested final.

Brigitte (centre) beat 28 other contestants to win a Toyota Noah and TShs 8 million. Eugene Fabian (left) from the Lake Zone emerged as the first runner up, and received TShs 6 million while the third place went to Edda Sylvester (right) from Temeke, who got TShs 4 million.

“I’m so happy and excited for the award, I promise not to let Tanzanians down in the Miss World event,” said the happy new queen as she stood in front of her grand prize. Brigitte is the eighteenth contestant to take the Miss Tanzania crown since its re-inception in 1994.

Elders in Mara Region have embarked on a campaign to convince boys to boycott circumcision as a protest against global condemnation of female genital mutilation (FGM). The season was due to start in December. The elders hope that their move to prevent boys from getting the cut will evoke anger among practitioners who will then enforce a revival of both female and male circumcision on the pretence that it is an order from the ancestors to cleanse the community, failure of which would lead to punitive measures.

A survey by The Citizen in Serengeti, Tarime and Rorya districts found that campaigns for the revival of FGM appealed to clan elders and most of them would gladly support the practice. “Some of the boys have threatened to boycott the initiation rite unless girls are also involved. They claim that during initiation boys and girls walk together as couples, a situation they believe makes the process colourful”, said an anti-FGM parent.

Long standing TA readers will probably recall one of the more memora­ble articles published in TA in 1997 (No 57) on the Mpemba Effect and the Tanzanian boy Erasto Mpemba at its centre.

Now, years later The London Times has updated us on this fascinating story (Thank you John Sankey for alerting us to this – Editor). Extracts: ‘The problem, in its modern form, began life in 1968 when Physics Professor Denis Osbourne visited a Tanzania school near Lake Victoria. After his address, a student named Erasto Mpemba asked how can a cup of boiling water at 100C freeze faster than a cup of water at 35C? The next year the two published a joint paper on the phenomenon since known as the ‘Mpemba Effect’.

“Amid the things we know and the things we don’t yet know, there is the unknowable” – The Times, Leading Article 27/6/12

A whole plethora of articles have been published in scientific journals. Recent examples:

Physics World casts doubt on the story: “Even if the Mpemba effect is real — if hot water can sometimes freeze more quickly than cold — it is not clear whether the explanation would be trivial or illuminating.” Investigations of the phenomenon need to control a large number of initial parameters (including type and initial temperature of the water, dissolved gas and other impurities; the size, shape and material of the container;, and the temperature of the refrigerator) and need to settle on a particular method of establishing the time of freezing, all of which might affect the presence or absence of the Mpemba effect. The required vast multidimensional array of experiments might explain why the effect is not yet understood.

New Scientist recommends starting the experiment with containers at 35°C (95°F) and 5°C (41°F) to maximize the effect.

‘It’s True: Hot Water Really Can Freeze Faster than Cold Water … Mpemba has joined a distinguished group of people who had also noticed the effect: Aristotle, Francis Bacon and René Descartes had all made the same claim’ – Laura Sanders in Science News. This article confirms that James Brownridge of State University of New York at Binghamton has managed to reproduce the effect consistently, but only when comparing cold distilled water against hot tap water.

Now, the Royal Society of Chemistry in London is looking for ‘outside the box, inventive submissions to help explain one of the great chemistry conundrums’. Submissions to: www.hermes2012.org/ice. Reward £1,000 for anyone who can explain why hot water freezes faster than cold.

Question – in 1997 Mr Erasto Mpembe was working as a Game Office for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism – does anyone know where he is now? We would love to hear from him or about him – Editor.

In July Kenya returned nearly all hominid fossils and other archaeological materials which were taken from various sites in Tanzania in the 1930s. At least 80 per cent of the rock tools and fossil bones had been returned to the country by May this year. Acting Director of the National Museum of Tanzania Jackson Kihiyo said: “I can’t tell you how many pieces they were but numbered in the thousands. Many of the hominid fossils were collected from the Olduvai Gorge in Arusha Region and were taken to Kenya for preservation and scientific analysis by experts from across the world. With the recent expansion of the National Museum and the adjacent House of Culture in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania now has enough space for storage of the material”.

At least 144 people lost their lives on July 17 when ferry MV Skagit sank at Chumbe islet, a few kilometres from Zanzibar’s Malindi Port, travelling from Dar es Salaam. This was only nine months after another ship, MV Spice Islander, sank off the coast of Zanzibar on its way to Pemba.

A total of 145 people were rescued in this latest tragedy. A survivor told the Citizen that the there was no advance warning. “Just before the accident, the captain seemed to have lost control of the vessel, which tilted to one side before it was pushed by a strong wave to the other side and shortly afterwards it capsized.” Apparently the ocean was very rough, “Even people with experience in the sea testified that the situation was horrifying,” he said.

A few days later the Minister responsible for shipping in the Zanzibar government resigned.

According to the Guardian, military action taken on the Somalia coast aimed at curbing piracy has done just that, reducing the incidents tremendously this year as compared to 2010. The Minister of Defence and National Service said there was only one incident this year where a ship was hijacked and three incidents where pirates tried to seize ships but failed. In the previous year, four ships were seized and ten hijacking attempts were made. He said that Tanzania’s border with Kenya to the North was reported to be peaceful apart from the rare but none the less serious incidents where beacons had been brought down to make room for agriculture. The borders with Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo were cited as being in a constant state of alert. The Minister explained that the shores of the lake region had been terrorized by armed robbers suspected to be from the said countries. The bandits attacked fishermen and robbed them of their fishing gear.

Possibly for the first time since 1929, a gathering took place in London recently to commemorate and remember the Great War in East Africa. Just over thirty specialists on the campaign came together at The National Archives in Kew, London to share their knowledge of the little side-show which involved over twenty-eight countries, lasted longer than any fighting in Europe (5 August 1914 – 25 November 1918) and saw action on water, air and on land. In addition to the 250,000 odd troops, around one million carriers are estimated to have been involved as well as untold draught animals.

Talks covered most aspects of the campaign – Indian, Belgian and Danish involvement as well as Nyasaland, the Rhodesias, German mobilisation and prisoners of war/internees. Aspects of researching the campaign were also addressed – what The National Archives holds, Belgian archival sources at the Royal Military Museum and how to use medal citations. The map and document exhibition by The National Archives, enhanced with memorabilia from the Northern Rhodesia Police Association, and salvaged Pegasus and Konigsberg items stimulated much discussion over lunch and tea. Information on the talks and campaign can be found at http://gweaa.com. Thank you Dr Anne Samson (Co-ordinator, Great War in East Africa Association) for sending this – Editor.

Sister Brigid Corrigan, a member of the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMM), was awarded the MBE in the UK New Year’s Honours List for ser­vices to international health. After qualifying as a doctor in Dublin, Sister Brigid’s first appointment was as medical officer in charge of Makiungu Hospital, Singida from 1964 to 1971. She returned to Tanzania as medical officer in charge of Kabanga Hospital, Kigoma (1973-75) and then worked as specialist physician at Bugando Hospital, Mwanza for 11 years (1974-85). She made a particular study of diabetes while at Mwanza, and in association with colleagues published four papers on the prevalence and treatment of diabetes in NW Tanzania.

She returned to Tanzania in 1994 as health coordinator for the Catholic archdiocese of Dar-es-Salaam and Medical Director of PASADA (Pastoral Activities and Services for people with HIV/AIDS.) She quickly became an expert on the treatment of HIV/AIDS, particularly home-based, hospice and palliative care, counselling and the role of dispensaries. From 2000 to 2006 she delivered papers on these subjects to international conferences in Canada, Thailand, Ethiopia and Nigeria. At the Tanzanian National AIDS Conference at Arusha in December 2004 she co-authored a paper on AIDS entitled AKINA MAMA KWANZA! (Ladies First!). She was Vice-President of the Association of Physicians in Tanzania (2000-6). In 2008 she moved to Uganda.

Sister Brigid said she considered the award was not so much for her personally as for all the people she had been privileged to work with, and to care for, in many parts of Tanzania through all those years.

The project for the construction of a $450 million soda-ash factory on a site about 50kms north of Lake Natron has been held up for almost five years because of opposition from environmentalists but it is now reported that the government seems determined to proceed. Environmentalists have been insisting that the factory could wipe out the only remaining breeding areas of the Lesser Flamingo and other rare flora and fauna. Available data indicates that from 1.5 to 2.5 million Lesser Flamingos from Djibouti down through Tanzania to Malawi were hatched in Lake Natron.

The Ministry Trade and Industry states that soda ash has the characteristic of multiplying at 4 million cubic litres per year meaning that its cubic reserves keep growing. President Kikwete has been quoted as saying: “What matters is the application of environmentally friendly technology to avoid disrupting the breeding grounds.”