Paper short abstract:

My paper will show how diaspora memories of the Zanzibari revolution of 1964 contest the official version of the revolution by trying to delegitimize a revolution that is perceived as an illegitimate invasion of "outsiders".

Paper long abstract:

The Zanzibari revolution of 1964 can be seen as the major break in recent Zanzibari history. It ended the Sultan's rule over the Eastern African coast and put an end to Zanzibari independence from the mainland, as it brought into being the nation-state of Tanzania in the form of a merger between mainland Tanganyika and the islands of Zanzibar. It also, however, resulted in a significant death toll and a general change of migration patterns due to the forced or chosen exile of an estimated 100,000 Zanzibaris.

I will show how Zanzibari exiles appropriated, reproduced and transformed the on Eastern African coast well-known narrative of civilization and barbarity once more in its long history. I thus aim to portray in three different parts (homeland, Zivilisationsbruch, and crusade against Islam) the ways the exiles of the Zanzibari revolution remember their former homeland, the revolution, and the ,other', that is, the political enemy who embodies the dark side of their civilization.

These memories are not only shaped by the above mentioned narrative, but also, by their exile situation, by the loss of their homeland and networks, and by the traumatic experience of revolutionary violence itself. This paper mainly focuses on memories in form of autobiographies of first generation exiles, who eye-witnessed the revolution or were even political actors of the time. The accounts clearly challenge the official interpretation of the revolution and attempt to place the events of 1964 in the wider discourse of "Zivilisationsbruch" and world conspiracy against Islam.