Abstract
In the aftermath of the WWII, some historians have typified the post-war period as akin to a second colonial occupation, characterised by ambitious development initiatives. These initiatives, influenced in part by the aftermath of the war, were also driven by government efforts to stimulate rural economic activity. Using the example of sleeping sickness control in the Kilombero Valley as a case study of a rural intervention, this paper examines how such campaigns were emblematic of an underlying development agenda in the region. Drawing on empirical evidence from archival research and fieldwork in the valley, we argue that government interventions in sleeping sickness control went beyond mere eradication efforts. Instead, the colonial administration used the epidemic as a pretext to enforce stringent control measures and implement transformative rural development programmes aimed at modernising the agricultural sector. These initiatives included the establishment of concentrated settlements, the improvement of farming practices among rural peasants, and the introduction of new crops and mandatory cultivation of some selected subsistence and commercial crops. Generally, sleeping sickness control campaigns were used as a caveat to implement both overt and covert development objectives.
Recommended Citation
Ntobi, Geofrey Emmanuel and Chuhila, Maxmillian J.
(2024)
"Operation Kihamo: Sleeping Sickness Control and the Agrarian Question of the Kilombero Valley, 1940s–1961,"
Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences: Vol. 13:
No.
1, Article 6.
DOI: 10.56279.13.1.6
Available at:
https://commons.udsm.ac.tz/jhss/vol13/iss1/6