Language and resistance in Zanzibar

Much of the literature concerning Zanzibar's political history suggests that local conflict is the result of a struggle between two racial groups. Today in Zanzibar, as in the 1960s, the rivalry manifests itself as a struggle between two political parties threatening to bring the country into armed conflict. In fact the current struggle, like the conflict in the 1960s, is notable because the two contending groups share a common racial heritage, but speak different languages. They compete over state and national resources.; This dissertation analyzes the origins of Zanzibar's communal conflict by studying the five phases of its colonial history. The first chapter discusses Britain's conversion of the Zanzibari economy from subsistence farming to a massive plantation complex. This first phase of colonial rule dislocated Zanzibar's African political and social institutions. Britain's second phase social policies promoted the Arab elite by creating educational institutions that excluded the majority African population.; In the third phase of colonial rule, Britain's protectorate government promoted social policies that advanced British and Arab interests at the expense of African economic advancement. Britain rendered illegal any attempts by Africans to organize political resistance, creating more anti-Arab animosity in the process.; Colonial rule ended when Swahili-speaking Zanzibaris organized a revolt ending English command and Arab control. The revolutionary authority pushed wealthy Arab and Indian communities off the island, allowing mainly Shirazi and a few middle class Indians the right to remain. In the current and fifth phase of Zanzibar's political history, the newly powerful Swahili elite dismantled the bankrupt plantation economy. The Shirazi bore the brunt of this political transformation.; As of 2006, Zanzibar's fifth phase of modern political development, conflict between Shirazis and Swahilis remains grave. The social climate mirrors the first phase of British colonial rule. Economic stratification deepens, while linguistic cleavage intensifies and political tensions grow.