Perilous Odyssey of an Anti-hero
In the heart of Tanzania, a unique museum experience awaits visitors, offering a multi-layered sensory and intellectual journey that reflects the country's complex historical and cultural trajectory. These institutions, such as the National Museum and House of Culture, the Old Boma Museum, and the Arusha Declaration Museum, serve as a testament to Tanzania's rich indigenous heritage, its tumultuous colonial past, and its post-colonial identity.
The museums showcase a diverse array of artifacts, from the royal regalia of pre-colonial chiefs to fossils from Olduvai Gorge, offering a glimpse into Tanzania's deep indigenous history. Yet, they also delve into the period of German and British colonial occupation, highlighting the coercion, control, and exploitation that marked this era.
One exhibit, referred to as a "cruel illusionist," presents items such as a wall of antelope skulls, a blood-stained figure of Christ, small axes, sisal rope, stretched leather drums, walking sticks, gourds, cowrie shells stitched into its curved body, and a cherubic young girl peering over a wooden rail. Another photograph features a bearded man dressed in ghostly white being carried across a river, while a third captures a row of sunburned men, known as "Men of the Church," posing against a four-wheel-drive truck.
The museums also critically reflect on the colonial ambition and exploitation of natural and cultural resources. Institutions once centers of colonial power, like certain botanical institutes, now serve as spaces to contemplate the scientific and cultural achievements, juxtaposed with the exploitation and disruption colonialism caused.
The museums' atmosphere is often cold and quiet, mirroring the contrast between the celebration of indigenous cultures and artifacts and the oppressive and disruptive colonial legacy. The exhibits, including dioramas of stuffed animals, evoke a sense of the colonial past, with a dying gazelle impaled by a snarling leopard, a komodo dragon, a wide-mouthed pelican, and a crouching porcupine.
The poetic works displayed in the museums add another layer to this historical journey. They suggest a pilgrimage back to earth, to the twisted bark of ebony, and introduce concepts like the mganga (traditional healer), ungo (straw instrument), flywhisk, and ngoma (drum). The poems also refer to Shetani, a trickster character in southern Tanzanian folklore, and advise visitors to remove sacred props to stop being a hero.
The phrase "damu sio maji" (blood is not water) resonates throughout the museum, implying a continuation of an odd show, whether trapped souls or descendants, woven into the old fabric made from cotton ginneries, cracked baobab seeds, and pulverized coffee beans. The poems suggest holding onto what should not be held until it is safe to let the wind reclaim what it is owed.
In summary, Tanzania's museums present a poignant and thought-provoking exploration of the country's history. By juxtaposing the celebration of indigenous cultures and artifacts with critical reflections on the colonial imposition and its aftermath, these institutions serve as places where visitors confront Tanzania’s layered history—its rich pre-colonial cultures, the traumatic colonial experience, and the post-colonial national identity formation—thus evoking a complex emotional and intellectual response.
In these Tanzanian museums, the home-and-garden section exhibits traditional instruments like ungos and flywhisks, while the lifestyle segment showcases indigenous practices such as the use of the mganga (traditional healer) and the ngoma (drum). Furthermore, the museums offer a compelling critique of colonialism, with displays that contrast the scientific and cultural achievements with the exploitation and disruption caused by the colonial pursuit of resources.
