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Paper short abstract:

This paper builds on long-term empirical fieldwork to investigate the reproduction of a Muslim activist milieu in Dar es Salaam—one that has routinely petitioned the Tanzanian state to provide Muslims with the same conditions for social mobility and political representation as Christians.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I build on long-term empirical fieldwork to investigate the reproduction of a Muslim activist milieu in Dar es Salaam—one that has routinely petitioned the Tanzanian state to provide Muslims with the same conditions for social mobility and political representation as Christians. My discussion is organised around two different sites from which this milieu is reproduced. In the first instance, I investigate collective memories of Muslim welfare associations in Tanganyika/Tanzania during the colonial and early independence periods, examining in particular an enduring controversy surrounding the formation of BAKWATA—a state-backed Muslim umbrella organisation—in 1968. In the second instance, I explore forms of conspiracy thinking circulated by Muslim activists, particularly in relation to collective memories of Muslim citizens' contribution to the independence struggle, as well as broader claims concerning an implicit "Christian hegemony" in Tanzania (which is perceived to promote the marginalisation of Muslim citizens). Overall, this paper departs from prevailing accounts of Muslim political consciousness in Tanzania and other African countries which foreground the influence of reformist ideologies and "radical" movements that are “foreign” to the continent. Instead, it charts the development of a broad-based Muslim activist milieu that promotes a political cause which first emerged under colonial rule, and which adopts a form of political expression and togetherness grounded in collective memories about local urban sites, as well as critiques of (alleged) transnational conspiracies.