Penina Muhando

Last updated
Penina Muhando
Born1948 (age 74–75)
Tanganyika Territory
Nationality Tanzanian
Alma mater University of Dar es Salaam
Occupation(s) Playwright
Academic
Theatremaker
Organization Forum for African Women Educationalists

Penina Muhando, also known as Penina Mlama (born 1948), is a Tanzanian Kiswahili playwright, a theorist and practitioner of Theatre for Development in Tanzania.

Contents

Life and literary career

Muhando was born in Berega, Morogoro Region in Tanzania in 1948. She gained a BA in theatre arts, a BA in education, and a PhD in language and linguistics from the University of Dar es Salaam. [1] [2]

Muhando was among a group of Tanzanian playwrights in the late 1960s and early 1970s who emerged in the aftermath of President Julius Nyerere's Arusha Declaration in 1967. Ujamaa socialism became the guiding philosophy of the country. In this environment, theatres were discouraged from performing plays by foreign artists. Local playwrights were called upon by Nyerere to use their art as a means of disseminating the main concepts of ujamaa to the people of Tanzania and for art to serve as a means of development. [3] Muhando faced a dilemma between writing in English and Kiswahili. Works in English would open up a global clientele but remain inaccessible to most Tanzanians who did not speak the language. Swahili would open up this national audience at the expense of the global. She decided to focus on writing in Kiswahili because she felt that theatre was primarily a tool of mass communication and being accessible to the Tanzanian population was more important. [4] [5]

Muhando's earlier works, such as Haitia (Guilt, 1972), are enthusiastic about the prospects of ujamaa socialism. However, in the late 1970s and 1980s, it began to be clear that the expectations that ujamaa had created with respect to deepening of democracy and development had not been met. Muhando, along with other writers became more critical in this period. In plays such as Nguzo Mama (Mother, the main pillar, 1982), Lina Ubani (There is an antidote for rot, 1984), and Mitumba Ndui (The Pox, 1989) she registered her disappointment by focusing on political corruption, jockeying for political power and the pursuit of personal profit over community development. [3] [6]

In 2013, Muhando was named the chairperson of BASATA (National Arts Council) by President Jakaya Kikwete for a three-year term. [7]

Academic career

Muhando rose to become Professor and Head of the Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Dar es Salaam. [1]

She was one of the pioneers of Theatre for Development in Africa - a movement that sought to encourage marginalized people to use plays to engage in issues important to their lives within their communities and with experts. [8] Alongside her colleague Amandina Lihamba, she pioneered a particularly in-depth approach with their Oxfam-funded project "Theatre for Social Development", which took place over eighteen months in Malya, in the Mwanza region of northern Tanzania. [9] In 1996, Muhando and Lihamba's Tuseme project worked to empower secondary school girls through theatre. [10]

Her most important publication, Culture and development: the popular theatre approach in Africa (1991), gives a historical overview of community performance and popular theatre in Tanzania, and explores the methods and practices that she developed throughout her community theatre work. [11]

She also did important work on the aesthetics of African orature. [12]

Works

Plays [1]

Books

Articles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dar es Salaam</span> Largest city in Tanzania and capital of Dar es Salaam Region

Dar es Salaam is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over six million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa and the sixth-largest in Africa. Located on the Swahili coast, Dar es Salaam is an important economic centre and is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Tanzania</span> History of music in Tanzania

As it is in other countries, the music in Tanzania is constantly undergoing changes, and varies by location, people, settings and occasion. The five music genres in Tanzania, as defined by BASATA are, ngoma, dansi, kwaya, and taarab, with bongo flava being added in 2001. Singeli has since the mid-2000s been an unofficial music of uswahilini, unplanned communities in Dar es Salaam, and is the newest mainstream genre since 2020.

Bongo Flava is a nickname for Tanzanian music. The genre developed in the 1990s, mainly as a derivative of American hip hop and traditional Tanzanian styles such as taarab and dansi, with additional influences from reggae, R&B, and afrobeats, to form a unique style of music. Lyrics are usually in Swahili or English, although increasingly from mid 2000s there has been limited use of words from Sub-Saharan African music traditions due to the influence of Afrobeats and Kwaito with their dynamics usage of West African Pidgin English, Nigerian Pidgin or other Creole language.

Tanzanian Hip-hop, which is sometimes referred to Bongo Flava by many outside of Tanzania's hip hop community, encompasses a large variety of different sounds, but it is particularly known for heavy synth riffs and an incorporation of Tanzanian pop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Dar es Salaam</span> University in Tanzania

The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university located in Ubungo District, Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in 1963, shortly after Tanzania gained its independence from the United Kingdom. In 1970, UEA split into three independent universities: Makerere University in Uganda, the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Tanzania</span> History and present of cultural life in Tanzania

Following Tanganyika's independence (1961) and unification with Zanzibar (1964), leading to the formation of the state of Tanzania, President Julius Nyerere emphasised a need to construct a national identity for the citizens of the new country. To achieve this, Nyerere provided what has been regarded by some commentators as one of the most successful cases of ethnic repression and identity transformation in Africa.

<i>Ujamaa</i> Socialist system in 1960s Tanzania

Ujamaa was a socialist ideology that formed the basis of Julius Nyerere's social and economic development policies in Tanzania after it gained independence from Britain in 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscar Kambona</span> Former foreign affairs minister

Oscar Salathiel Kambona was the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tanganyika from 1963 to 1966.

Ramazani "Remmy" Mtoro Ongala was a Tanzanian guitarist and singer. Ongala was born in Kindu near the Tanzanian border, in what was the Belgian Congo at the time, and now is the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Edward Saidi Tingatinga (1932–1972) was a Tanzanian painter, best known as the founder of the eponymous painting style and school.

Ebrahim Hussein is a Tanzanian playwright and poet. His first play, Kinjeketile (1969), written in Swahili, and based on the life of Kinjikitile Ngwale, a leader of the Maji Maji Rebellion, is considered "a landmark of Tanzanian theater." The play soon became one of the standard subjects for exams in Swahili language in Tanzania and Kenya. By 1981, it had been reprinted six times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Mvungi</span> Tanzanian writer, academic and teacher (1943-2017)

Martha Mlagala Mvungi was a Tanzanian novelist, short-story writer, academic and teacher. She wrote in both Kiswahili and English.

Up to the second half of the 20th century, Tanzanian literature was primarily oral. Major oral literary forms include folktales, poems, riddles, proverbs, and songs. The majority of the oral literature in Tanzania that has been recorded is in Swahili, though each of the country's languages has its own oral tradition. The country's oral literature is currently declining because of social changes that make transmission of oral literature more difficult and because of the devaluation of oral literature that has accompanied Tanzania's development. Tanzania's written literary tradition has produced relatively few writers and works; Tanzania does not have a strong reading culture, and books are often expensive and hard to come by. Most Tanzanian literature is orally performed or written in Swahili, and a smaller number of works have been published in English. Major figures in Tanzanian modern literature include Shaaban Robert, Muhammed Said Abdulla, Aniceti Kitereza, Ebrahim Hussein, Abdulrazak Gurnah and Penina Muhando.

Amandina Lihamba is a Tanzanian academic, actress, playwright and theatre director. She is a professor at the University of Dar es Salaam in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts and has served as its dean, head of department, and university council member. In 1989, she co-founded the national Children Theatre Project and festival. She also founded the girls drama group Tuseme festival with Penina Muhando in 1998.

Farouk Mohamedhusein Tharia Topan is the director of the Swahili Centre at the Aga Khan University. He is a specialist in the language and literature of the Swahili people. He has taught at the University of Dar es Salaam, the Institute of Ismaili Studies, and the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Ruth E. Meena is a Tanzanian feminist activist and political scientist. She was a professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Dar es Salaam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanzania–Turkey relations</span> Bilateral relations

Tanzania–Turkey relations are the foreign relations between Tanzania and Turkey. The Turkish embassy in Dar es Salaam first opened in 1979, although the Ottoman Empire had previously opened a consulate in Zanzibar, now a part of Tanzania, on March 17, 1837.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ngoma music</span> Music genre in East and South Africa

Ngoma(also ng'oma or ing'oma) is a Bantu term with many connotations that encompasses music, dance, and instruments. In Tanzania ngoma also refers to events, both significant life-changing events such as the first menstruation or the birth or passing of a loved one, as well as momentary events such as celebrations, rituals, or competitions. Ngoma was the primary form of culture throughout the Great Lakes and Southern Africa. Today it is most notable in Tanzania, where it is deemed an official music genre by the National Arts Council (BASATA - Baraza la Sanaa la Taifa). In Tanzania, it is experienced throughout the country and performed, taught, and studied in many schools and universities. The most notable school for ngoma is the Bagamoyo Arts and Cultural Institute, which produces the most prominent chairmen (directors/conductors) and dancers.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ada U. Azodo, "Muhando, Penina", in Jane Eldredge Miller (ed.), Who's Who in Contemporary Women's Writing, Routledge, 2001, pp. 226–227.
  2. ↑ Griffiths, Gareth (2014). African Literatures in English: East and West. Routledge. p. 381.
  3. 1 2 Chambers, Colin, ed. (2002). "Tanzania". The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre. Continuum. pp. 746–747.
  4. ↑ James, Adeola (1992). "In their own voices, African women writers talk". In Graebner, Werner (ed.). Sokomoko Popular Culture in East Africa. Rodopi. p. 216.
  5. ↑ Amankulor, J. Ndudaku (1993). "English language drama and theater". In Owomoyela, Oyekan (ed.). A History of Twentieth-century African Literatures . University of Nebraska Press. p.  158.
  6. ↑ Lihamba, Amandina (2004). "Tanzania". In Banham, Martin (ed.). A History of Theatre in Africa . Cambridge University Press. p.  243.
  7. ↑ "Tanzania: Mlama Appointed BASATA Chairperson". allAfrica.org. September 4, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  8. ↑ Plastow, Jane (2015). "Embodiment, Intellect and Emotion". In Flynn, Alex; Tilius, Jonas (eds.). Anthropology, Theatre, and Development: The Transformative Potential of Performance. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 107.
  9. ↑ Kerr, David (1995). African Popular Theatre: from pre-colonial times to the present day. London: James Currey. p. 158. ISBN   978-0-85255-534-7.
  10. ↑ Shule, Vicensia (2015). "Binti Leo: Women in the arts in Tanzania". In Hutchison, Yvette (ed.). African theatre. Contemporary women. Woodbridge: James Currey. pp. 72–83. ISBN   978-1-84701-131-2.
  11. ↑ Savory, Elaine (1993). "Review of Culture and Development: The Popular Theatre Approach in Africa". Research in African Literatures. 24 (1): 149–151. ISSN   0034-5210.
  12. ↑ Ogundipe-Leslie, Molara; Davies, Carole Boyce (1994). "Introduction". Research in African Literatures. 25 (3): 1–6. ISSN   0034-5210.
  13. ↑ Mlama, Penina (1991). Culture and development: the popular theatre approach in Africa. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. ISBN   978-91-7106-317-5.
  14. ↑ Mlama, Penina O. (1981). "Digubi: A Tanzanian Indigenous Theatre Form". The Drama Review: TDR. 25 (4): 3–12. doi:10.2307/1145372. ISSN   0012-5962.
  15. ↑ Mlama, Penina (1986). "Tanzania's Cultural Policy And Its Implications For The Contribution Of The Arts To Socialist Development". Utafiti: 9–19.
  16. ↑ Mlama, Penina Muhando (1990). "Creating in the Mother-Tongue: The Challenges to the African Writer Today". Research in African Literatures. 21 (4): 5–14. ISSN   0034-5210.
  17. ↑ Mlama, Penina Muhando (1991). "Women's Participation in "Communication for Development": The Popular Theater Alternative in Africa". Research in African Literatures. 22 (3): 41–53. ISSN   0034-5210.
  18. ↑ Mlama, Penina (2000). "African Perspectives on Programs for North American Students in Africa: The Experience of the University of Dar es Salaam". African Issues. 28 (1/2): 24–27. doi:10.2307/1167053. ISSN   1548-4505.
  19. ↑ Mlama, Penina (2002-01-01). "Popular theatre and development‐challenges for the future: The Tanzanian experience". Contemporary Theatre Review. 12 (1–2): 45–58. doi:10.1080/10486800208568651. ISSN   1048-6801.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.