Project Bio:
This PhD project studies ways in which the people of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, have been dynamic in using and coping with changing availability of ecosystem services and provisions. It is my interest to study the pattern and nature of the adaptations of mountain peoples in interacting with adjacent lowland landscapes. These two landscapes, highlands and lowlands, were used at the same time but the difference being, while the highlands were preferred for settlement and cultivation under a system of farming called Kihamba, the lowlands were used sparely and seasonally. It seems, however, that due to population increases and shortages of land on the highlands that the Kihamba farming system is less tenable and the permanent occupations of the lowlands are different than the historical patterns of the past. This study will examine the kinds of conflicts that occur in the lowlands as a result of the expansion of human activities from the highlands and the interactions with other nearby communities.
I intend to examine the conflicts and competitions over resources, notably land, water, wildlife, and forests, due to human activities such as agriculture and pastoralism. How have are such negotiations and sharing agreements sought and contracted in an environment that has been historically viewed as marginal lands? What strategies and adaptations have made to sustain populations and cultural identity in such an environment?
Supervisor’s Bio:
My PhD supervisor is David M. Anderson a professor of African history at University of Warwick. He has supervised postgraduate students from different disciplines including history, human geography, development studies, and politics.
His research interests and some of his current projects include:
- In Collaboration with Professor Daniel Branch (University of Warwick) – AHRC award for a project on ‘Empire Loyalists; Histories of Rebellion and Collaboration’. A book from this project in contracted with OUP, and will be published in 2015.
- A study of the Cold War in Africa is now nearing completion and will be published by Faber and Faber in 2014.
- With research support from the Research Council of Norway, in collaboration with colleagues at the Peace Research Institute, Oslo, he is engaged in research on state violence in eastern Africa, especially in connection with the history of Somalia and its regional diaspora since the 1950s. Publications from this research are planned for 2014 and 2015.
- He is participating in Early-Stage Researcher (ESR doctoral scholarship) Marie Curie ITN Project, funded by the EU Commission. This project, ‘Resilience in East African Landscapes: Identifying critical threshold and sustainable trajectories – past, present and future (REAL)’, The work of Warwick doctoral student Maxmillian Chuhila is supported through this award. Publications from this project are planned for 2016 and 2017.
- He also participates in ESRC-funded Seminar Series on British Africa Policy after Labour. This research network involves six seminars in the UK over the coming three years, one to be hosted here at Warwick, as well as a seminar in Nairobi, hosted at the British Institute in Eastern Africa. The seminar involves partnerships with Chatham House, the Royal Africa Society, and the All-Part Parliamentary Group for Africa, as well as the Universities of Sheffield, Birmingham, and Brookes Oxford. The Warwick seminar in this series is scheduled for September 2014.
- His work on the High Court case brought against the British government by four Mau Mau veterans resulted in the publication of two important articles in 2012, focusing on the subject of torture and abuse under British rule in Kenya, and another article on wartime rape (published in 2013). A short monograph on the court case and its significance is planned for 2014. A related newspaper article can be found here: It’s not just Kenya. Squaring up to the seamier side of empire is long overdue. The chronic cover-up of torture of the Mau Mau shows how far Britain is from acquiring a true post-imperial maturity. Published in The Guardian, Monday 25 July 2011.
More about my supervisor visit http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/people/staff_index/anderson/
Student Bio:
Before beginning my PhD at the University of Warwick, I completed a M.A in History at University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which was under the supervision of Prof. Yusuf Qwaray Lawi, Associate professor, History Department. I acknowledge his guidance. For more about the University of Dar es Salaam visit: www.udsm.ac.tz