Uhuru Street

1
Uhuru Street

• M.G Vassanji

2
Asian Africans in East Africa

• the 1883 Act -- the importation of Indian labour
  for the colonial machinery in East Africa
• 1) Coolies -- Indians (especially Goans) were
  recruited to run the railways after they were
  built (and Goans came to dominate the colonial
  civil services). 15, 000 of the 16, 000
  "coolies"that worked on the railroads were
  Indians, who were renowned for their work ethic
  and competitiveness (Sowell, 1996). (source)
• 2)Stereotype of a dukawallah community-- rests
  on the generalization that all members of that
  community only engage in commerce corrupt
  commerce at that.

3
Asian Africans in East Africa

• Asian African 2nd class citizen but seen as
  guest race
• Blacks 3rd class.
• Miruka although the immigrant Asian community
  has become naturalized to East Africa. (sic) It
  still remains an intriguing phenomenon to many
  native Africans, who view all Asians as
  inherently shopkeepers an intrigue strengthened
  by the fact that there is very little
  inter-marriage between the two communities (qtd
  in Makokha 58)

4
Tanzania

• 1880 to 1919 -- Tanganyika as a German colony
• 1919 to 1961 -- a British trust territory.
• 1964 -- Tanganyika became Tanzania after forming
  a union with Zanzibar in 1964.
• Asians 1 of the total population,
• 1964 Zanzibar Revolution -- over 10,000 Asians
  were forced to migrate to the mainland as a
  result of violent attacks (also geared to Arabs),
  especially to Dar es Salaam.
• Feb., 1967, President Nyerere issued the Arusha
  Declaration which called for egalitarianism,
  socialism, and self-reliance. He introduced a
  form of African socialism termed Ujamaa (pulling
  together) . Factories and plantations were
  nationalized, and ajor investments were made in
  primary schools and health care (from the
  Answers.com site) but proved economically
  disastrous.
• In the 1970s over 50,000 Asians left Tanzania.
  (source)

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Dar es Salaam

• The largest city in Tanzania

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Vassanji Forward

• Dar es Salaam is a city on the east coast of
  Africa, a coast that over the centuries was
  visited by Arab, Indian and European traveller
  and merchant, slave trader, missionary and
  coloniser. Some 50 miles away on the Indian
  Ocean lies the former metropolis and slave market
  of the area, the isle of cloves, Zanzibar, barely
  visible on a clear day by some accounts ... Once
  upon a time Uhuru Street was called Kichwele
  Street. The change marked a great event in the
  country. Uhuru means "independence." This street
  of independence ran through the city. It began in
  the hinterland of exclusively African
  settlements, came downtown lined by Indian shops,
  and ended at the ocean ...(xi)

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M.G Vassanji (1950)

• paternal great-grandfather had immigrated to
  Kenya from the Indian state of Gujarat in the
  1880s
• paternal grandparents -- born in Kenya.
• mother born in Zanzibar, father in Kibwezi in
  Kenya.
• Vassanji -- born in Nairobi and raised in Dar es
  Salaam on Uhuru Street

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Uhuru Street structure

• 1st-person narration (single-parent family,
  sisters Razia, Mehroon, brothers Aloo) Ali
  Alizira For a Shilling Leaving
• 3rd-person narration of interracial relations
• -- intersection among skin colors, gender and
  class (e.g. For a Shilling Alizira and In
  the Quiet of a Sunday Afternoon)
• -- "What Good Times We Had
• -- Breaking Loose

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Uhuru Street --Collective Life and History

• Characters-- shopkeepers, servants, schoolboys,
  and refugees on Uhuru street
• Time during the transition from colonialism to
  independence.
• Colonial Heritage English Lessons Mr. Stuart
  (to civilize, as Eurasian? An ayah at home)
• Transition seen in The Driver(54) Refugee
  (122)

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Master-Servant Relations (1) "Ali"

• How are the masters dependent on their servants?
• How is the Princess Margaret presented?
• How do Alis stories reflect his cultural
  backgrounds?
• Why does Ali have to be dismissed?

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Master-Servant Relations (2) "The Driver

• How does Idi deal with his work as a driver?
  (50, 53)
• How do his masters Nurmohamed and his wife treat
  him? (e.g. toilet 52)
• What does Nurmohamed relate to his family?
• Where do we see signs of Idis rebellion?

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Breaking the Boundaries (1) "Leaving"

• The two sisters married
• Aloo trying to study abroad
• How is the mother related to her two sons?
• The influences of Mr. Datoo and Mr. Velji
• How does the mother compromise?

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Breaking the Boundaries (2) Breaking Loose

• How are Yasmin and Professor Akoto presented
  differently?
• What are the obstacles between them? (family,
  different perception of the others Indians as
  shopkeeper and westernized, etc.)

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"All Worlds Are Possible Now"

• A return storyis it like a fantasy? Are all
  worlds possible?
• What are the dangers and difficulties suggested?
  (132)
• How does he find home is Dar? Does it make it?

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Returning

• 0. All worlds are possible worlds Shadowy
  cargo vesselsreminders of deprivation,
  enticements to get up and go.
• ourselves stretched between lives as
  contrary as the ends of a cross (130)
• Resists being defined by set plots (132)
• Walking in the city first reclaiming of Dar

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Returning (2)

• Returning to school, joining the former teacher
  who is very poor, and the powerful Lateef
  (secondment to Saudi Government) thinks of
  Almeida (who is jilted in love)
• Finds permanence and home in Farida

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Returning (3)losing Farida

• "In my reticence I was being modest, but also I
  did not hasten because I was confident of the
  prize.  Now I saw it slip from me.  ... I got it
  when the Adidas-clad Karim let it drop that
  Lateef had been persuaded by his uncle to stay at
  their place--
• My game is up.  For me now the pamanence of this
  weekly ritual, this breathless empty reclamation
  of the streets instead."

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References

• Makokha, Justus Kizito Siboe. THE WORLDS
  IN-BETWEEN OF AN ASIAN AFRICAN WRITER A
  POST-COLONIAL READING OF SELECTED NOVELS OF. MG
  VASSANJI. MA Thesis. Kenya U 2006.