| Socialist Modernities and Discourses of Development: The Drive-in Cinema in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |  Printable version
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Date: 8 March 2012, 15.30-17.00
Room: 1A22 (first floor)
Speaker: Laura Fair, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA
Discussant:
Rijk van Dijk
You are kindly requested to register for this seminar.
In May 1966, the first, and perhaps only, socialist drive-in cinema
on the planet opened in Tanzania on the site of what is today the
American Embassy in Dar es Salaam. One of more than forty high modernist
projects operating under the auspices of the government’s principle
organ of economic development, the National Development Corporation (NDC),
the drive-in was a unique and highly successful project in its
portfolio, realizing TSh 1.3 million in sales during its first year of
operation (roughly US$ 1.3 million at 2011 exchange rates). Yet why
would a young nation like Tanzania that was striving to dig its way out
from decades of colonial underdevelopment chose to invest its limited
resources in a dive-in? How could state ownership of a cinema possibly
help to advance a socialist agenda? Isn’t there a huge contradiction
between state ownership of a drive-in – predicated on the commercial
consumption of foreign films and propelled by the urban amenities of
electricity, automobility and leisure – and the village-based vision of
African socialism being promoted by President Nyerere?
Laura Fair uses the case of the drive-in to craft a colourful, nuanced
image of state socialism in Tanzania, revealing the importance of
supporting actors and off-screen technicians in bringing the state to
life. Debates about the meaning of independence, modernity and
development – between politicians, civil servants and average citizens
–are also brought to light. While a drive-in cinema may not seem to be a
quintessential socialist enterprise, Fair reveals that it was an
important social space that regularly brought a diverse cross-section of
the urban community together in pursuit of a common goal during the
early years of nation-building.
Laura Fair (fairl@msu.edu) is
Associate Professor of African History at Michigan State University and
the author of the widely acclaimed book Pastimes and Politics: Culture,
Community and Identity in Post-abolition Zanzibar (Ohio, 2001) that
examines how former slaves demonstrated their freedom and challenged
their subordination to new colonial masters in the early years of the
20th century. Crafting new forms of Islamic ritual and practice, music,
dance and sport were central to these efforts. She is currently working
on a book on the social history of cinemas and movie-going in Tanzania.
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