Jipemoyo Project

Jipemoyo was a Participatory Action Research project carried out in the Western Bagamoyo District in Tanzania in 1975–9 as a co-operative endeavour between Tanzanian and Finnish scholars as part of the programme of the Research and Planning Department of the Ministry of National Culture and Youth and the Academy of Finland's Department of Humanities. Two Tanzanian and four Finnish doctoral candidates formed the interdisciplinary core of researchers representing sociology, anthropology/ethnology, ethnomusicology and geography. Marja-Liisa Swantz, a lecturer in the University of Helsinki, and Odhiambo Anacleti, Director of Research in the Ministry of National Culture and Youth, shared the leadership of the project under the general theme ‘The Role of Culture in the Restructuring Process of Rural Tanzania’. The aim was to enable the villagers to realize the development potential within their cultural context while utilizing the available resources.

The participatory approach was in line with the community-based Ujamaa politics of the nation, in which development of people by the people was spelt out. The concepts development, maendeleo, and culture, utamaduni, were being worked out in the country under [Page 471]the direction of the ruling party, Tanganyika National Union, and the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania. Jipemoyo encouraged villagers to take the initiative in solving their own problems by using their own resources (jipemoyo, meaning literally ‘give yourself heart’, in contrast to the ‘trembling hearts' in the name of the town of Bagamoyo, which may have been a reference to the local slave trade).

The time was opportune for the researchers to join the villagers in common pursuit of solutions to problems as the government's nationwide programme of ‘villagization’ was in progress, with the aim of facilitating social, health and school services for all and using the sense of togetherness. The moving of people from scattered settlements to bigger villages on roadsides had been largely implemented in the study area while the building of houses was still in process. One issue that became central to the project was the participation of the pastoralist Parakuyo Maasai, who were being ostracized by the government staff and accused by their farming neighbours of allowing their cattle to feed in the farmers' fields, resulting in cases in the local courts. The obligatory education became another entrance point to the pastoralists who clashed with the education officers.

In terms of research, the project had tangible effects on Tanzanian development conceptions. The project aimed at making cultural knowledge an asset in the restructuring process. The research team organized a training course for cultural officers and a number of seminars, workshops and discussions in which the co-operating villagers from different sectors brought out their strengths and strains. In meeting together with local, regional and national leaders and administrators, people could experience the usefulness of the interactive and dialogical approach. Especially significant was the seminar the Parakuyo organized with the researchers for dialogue with officers of animal husbandry and political leaders from different levels. The Maasai prime minister initiated one encounter in Dar es Salaam for concerned government officers to meet with a group of pastoralists and farmers from the study area to discuss ways of overcoming the disagreements over land use. Another significant encounter was the locally organized women's seminar in interaction with village women and women officers from the district and national levels.

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