Operation Kihamo: Sleeping Sickness Control and the Agrarian Question of the Kilombero Valley, 1940s–1961
Journal of Humanities & Social Science (JHSS),
Vol. 13 No. 1 (2024)
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.
Keywords
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- Alsan, M. 2015. The Effect of the Tsetse Fly on African Development. American Economic
- Review, 105(1): 382–410.
- Baum, E. 1968. Land Use in the Kilombero Valley: From Shifting Cultivation Towards
- Permanent Farming. In H. Ruthernberg (Ed.): Smallholder Farming and Smallholder
- Development in Tanzania, Ten Case Studies. Munchen: Woltforum Verlag.
- Bax, S. N. 1949. Notes on the Presence of Tsetse Fly Between 1857 and 1915 in the Dar es
- Salaam Area. Tanganyika Notes and Records, 16: 33.
- Beck, A. 1971. The Role of Medicine in German East Africa. Bulletin of the History of
- Medicine, 45(2): 170–178.
- Fairbairn, H. 1943. The Agricultural Problems Posed By Sleeping Sickness Settlements. The
- East African Agricultural Journal, 9(1): 17–22.
- Giblin, J. 1990. Trypanosomiasis Control in African History: an Evaded Issue? the Journal of
- African History, 31(1): 59–80.
- Giblin, J. L. 1992. The Politics of Environmental Control in Northeastern Tanzania, 1840–1940.
- University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Griffiths, J. 1937. The Aba-Ha of Tanganyika Territory Some Aspects of Their Tribal
- Organization and Sleeping Sickness Concentration. Tanganyika Notes and Records, 2.
- Headrick, D. R. 2014. Sleeping Sickness Epidemics and Colonial Responses in East and Central
- Africa, 1900–1940. Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases, 8(4).
- Hetzel, M. W., Et Al. 2008. Malaria Risk and Access To Prevention and Treatment in the Paddies
- of the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania. Malaria Journal, 7: 1–13.
- Hoppe, K. A. 1997. Lords of the Fly: Colonial Visions and Revisions of African Sleeping-Sickness
- Environments on Ugandan Lake Victoria, 1906–61. Africa, 67(1): 86–105.
- Iliffe, J. 1971. Agricultural Change in Modern Tanganyika. An Outline History. Dar Es Salaam:
- Historical Association of Tanzania.
- Jackson, J. M. 2022. Coercion and Dissent: Sleeping Sickness ‘Concentrations’ and the Politics
- of Colonial Authority in Ulanga, Tanganyika. The Journal of African History, 63(1): 37–54.
- Kazimoto, A. A. 1967. Political Development of Mahenge. Mimeo.
- Kjekshus, H. 1996. Ecology Control and Economic Development in East African History: The Case of
- Tanganyika 1850–1950. London: James Currey.
- Koponen, J. 2009. Tsetse and Historians. Ecological Collapse in Tanzania Reconsidered. Tanzania
- Zamani: A Journal of History Research and Writing, 6(1): 27–56.
- Lang, M. K. 2017. Sleeping Sickness Epidemic in British Southern Cameroons 1922–1961: The
- History of a Colonial Medical Response. Afrika Zamani, 25, 21–40.
- Larson, L. 1976. A History of the Mahenge (Ulanga) District, C. 1860 – 1957. PhD Thesis: University
- of Dar es Salaam.
- Lyons, M. 1985. From ‘Death Camps’ to Cordon Sanitaire: the Development of Sleeping
- Sickness Policy in the Uele District of the Belgian Congo, 1903–19141. Journal of African
- History, 26(1): 69–91.
- Lyons, M. 1992. The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire, 1900–
- Cambridge University Press.
- Mbosa, M. P. S. 1989. Colonial Production and Underdevelopment in Ulanga District, 1894–1950.
- PhD Thesis: University of Dar es Salaam.
- Moffett, J. 1953. A Review of Scientific Progress in Tanganyika During 1952. Tanganyika Notes
- and Records, 34.
- Monson, J. 2009. Africa's Freedom Railway: How a Chinese Development Project Changed Lives and
- Livelihoods in Tanzania. Indiana University Press.
- Mwilinde, A. M., et al. 2017. Estimating the Economic and Social Consequences for Patients
- Diagnosed With Human African Trypanosomiasis in Muchinga, Lusaka and Eastern
- Provinces of Zambia (2004–2014). Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 6(5): 39–51.
- Neumann, R. P. 2001. Africa's ‘Last Wilderness’: Reordering Space for Political and Economic
- Control in Colonial Tanzania. Africa, 71(4): 641–665.
- Ormerod, W. E. 1986. A Critical Study of the Policy of Tsetse Eradication. Land Use Policy, 3(2):
- –99.
- Ruthenberg, H. 2013. Agricultural Development in Tanganyika (Vol. 2). Springer-Verlag.
- Uriyo, A. P. 1980. Farming Systems and Soil Erosion Hazards in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Dar es
- Salaam University Press.
- Webel, M. K. 2019. The Politics of Disease Control: Sleeping Sickness in Eastern Africa, 1890–1920.
- Ohio University Press.
- Weiskopf, J. M. 2016. Living in “Old Storage”: an Interior History of Tanzania's Sleeping
- Sickness Concentrations, 1933–1946. The International Journal of African Historical
- Studies, 49(1): 1–22.
- White, L. 1995. Tsetse Visions: Narratives of Blood and Bugs in Colonial Northern Rhodesia,
- –9. The Journal of African History, 36(2): 219–245.
- Wilson, S. G., et al. 1963. The Effects of Trypanosomiasis on Rural Economy: With Special
- Reference To the Sudan, Bechuanaland and West Africa. Bulletin of the World Health
- Organization, 28(5–6): 595.
- Worboys, M. 1989. British Colonial Medicine and Tropical Imperialism: A Comparative
- Perspective, in Van Hateren (Ed.): Dutch Medicine in the Malay Archipelago, 1816–1942.
- Amsterdam: Rodopi, 153–167.
- Worboys, M. 1994. The Comparative History of Sleeping Sickness in East and Central Africa,
- –1914. History of Science, 32(1): 89–102.
References
Alsan, M. 2015. The Effect of the Tsetse Fly on African Development. American Economic
Review, 105(1): 382–410.
Baum, E. 1968. Land Use in the Kilombero Valley: From Shifting Cultivation Towards
Permanent Farming. In H. Ruthernberg (Ed.): Smallholder Farming and Smallholder
Development in Tanzania, Ten Case Studies. Munchen: Woltforum Verlag.
Bax, S. N. 1949. Notes on the Presence of Tsetse Fly Between 1857 and 1915 in the Dar es
Salaam Area. Tanganyika Notes and Records, 16: 33.
Beck, A. 1971. The Role of Medicine in German East Africa. Bulletin of the History of
Medicine, 45(2): 170–178.
Fairbairn, H. 1943. The Agricultural Problems Posed By Sleeping Sickness Settlements. The
East African Agricultural Journal, 9(1): 17–22.
Giblin, J. 1990. Trypanosomiasis Control in African History: an Evaded Issue? the Journal of
African History, 31(1): 59–80.
Giblin, J. L. 1992. The Politics of Environmental Control in Northeastern Tanzania, 1840–1940.
University of Pennsylvania Press.
Griffiths, J. 1937. The Aba-Ha of Tanganyika Territory Some Aspects of Their Tribal
Organization and Sleeping Sickness Concentration. Tanganyika Notes and Records, 2.
Headrick, D. R. 2014. Sleeping Sickness Epidemics and Colonial Responses in East and Central
Africa, 1900–1940. Plos Neglected Tropical Diseases, 8(4).
Hetzel, M. W., Et Al. 2008. Malaria Risk and Access To Prevention and Treatment in the Paddies
of the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania. Malaria Journal, 7: 1–13.
Hoppe, K. A. 1997. Lords of the Fly: Colonial Visions and Revisions of African Sleeping-Sickness
Environments on Ugandan Lake Victoria, 1906–61. Africa, 67(1): 86–105.
Iliffe, J. 1971. Agricultural Change in Modern Tanganyika. An Outline History. Dar Es Salaam:
Historical Association of Tanzania.
Jackson, J. M. 2022. Coercion and Dissent: Sleeping Sickness ‘Concentrations’ and the Politics
of Colonial Authority in Ulanga, Tanganyika. The Journal of African History, 63(1): 37–54.
Kazimoto, A. A. 1967. Political Development of Mahenge. Mimeo.
Kjekshus, H. 1996. Ecology Control and Economic Development in East African History: The Case of
Tanganyika 1850–1950. London: James Currey.
Koponen, J. 2009. Tsetse and Historians. Ecological Collapse in Tanzania Reconsidered. Tanzania
Zamani: A Journal of History Research and Writing, 6(1): 27–56.
Lang, M. K. 2017. Sleeping Sickness Epidemic in British Southern Cameroons 1922–1961: The
History of a Colonial Medical Response. Afrika Zamani, 25, 21–40.
Larson, L. 1976. A History of the Mahenge (Ulanga) District, C. 1860 – 1957. PhD Thesis: University
of Dar es Salaam.
Lyons, M. 1985. From ‘Death Camps’ to Cordon Sanitaire: the Development of Sleeping
Sickness Policy in the Uele District of the Belgian Congo, 1903–19141. Journal of African
History, 26(1): 69–91.
Lyons, M. 1992. The Colonial Disease: A Social History of Sleeping Sickness in Northern Zaire, 1900–
Cambridge University Press.
Mbosa, M. P. S. 1989. Colonial Production and Underdevelopment in Ulanga District, 1894–1950.
PhD Thesis: University of Dar es Salaam.
Moffett, J. 1953. A Review of Scientific Progress in Tanganyika During 1952. Tanganyika Notes
and Records, 34.
Monson, J. 2009. Africa's Freedom Railway: How a Chinese Development Project Changed Lives and
Livelihoods in Tanzania. Indiana University Press.
Mwilinde, A. M., et al. 2017. Estimating the Economic and Social Consequences for Patients
Diagnosed With Human African Trypanosomiasis in Muchinga, Lusaka and Eastern
Provinces of Zambia (2004–2014). Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 6(5): 39–51.
Neumann, R. P. 2001. Africa's ‘Last Wilderness’: Reordering Space for Political and Economic
Control in Colonial Tanzania. Africa, 71(4): 641–665.
Ormerod, W. E. 1986. A Critical Study of the Policy of Tsetse Eradication. Land Use Policy, 3(2):
–99.
Ruthenberg, H. 2013. Agricultural Development in Tanganyika (Vol. 2). Springer-Verlag.
Uriyo, A. P. 1980. Farming Systems and Soil Erosion Hazards in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Dar es
Salaam University Press.
Webel, M. K. 2019. The Politics of Disease Control: Sleeping Sickness in Eastern Africa, 1890–1920.
Ohio University Press.
Weiskopf, J. M. 2016. Living in “Old Storage”: an Interior History of Tanzania's Sleeping
Sickness Concentrations, 1933–1946. The International Journal of African Historical
Studies, 49(1): 1–22.
White, L. 1995. Tsetse Visions: Narratives of Blood and Bugs in Colonial Northern Rhodesia,
–9. The Journal of African History, 36(2): 219–245.
Wilson, S. G., et al. 1963. The Effects of Trypanosomiasis on Rural Economy: With Special
Reference To the Sudan, Bechuanaland and West Africa. Bulletin of the World Health
Organization, 28(5–6): 595.
Worboys, M. 1989. British Colonial Medicine and Tropical Imperialism: A Comparative
Perspective, in Van Hateren (Ed.): Dutch Medicine in the Malay Archipelago, 1816–1942.
Amsterdam: Rodopi, 153–167.
Worboys, M. 1994. The Comparative History of Sleeping Sickness in East and Central Africa,
–1914. History of Science, 32(1): 89–102.