caplan_1985

Caplan archive

Topics studied: food, health and fertility

Historical setting: economic difficulties in Tanzania shortly before Nyerere left office and economy began to be liberalised

Problems and issues in fieldwork: realisation that indices for women’s well-being were now very bad

What I wrote about: sexuality, spirit possession, stratification, socialism, doing fieldwork

Funding: Nuffield

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Abdu Bwana and Binti Issa (Swahili)

Abdu Bwana (pseudonym) was tape-recorded with his wife in 1985 (see interview on this side), but by the time of this conversation below, she had died and he was living alone.

Binti Jabir interview (Swahili)

Binti Jabir lived in the centre of the village with her husband and co-wife. Only a minority of men had more than one wife, and this was the only household in which co-wives shared a house. Here they explain their arrangements.

Conversations with Mwahadia and Subira (English)

Mwahadia was the ex-wife of Mohamed, and Subira was one of their daughters. All three were major characters in my 1997 book African Voices, African Lives. We began by discussing Subira's marital career. She had a daughter who is now 7. Then she got married in Baleni village for three years and had a daughter who is now 6. She got divorced, stayed with her father, visited her mother. She had another daughter (outside of wedlock) who died at 9 months. At this time she had been married in Bweni for 1 year and was now pregnant by her husband but the marriage was looking uncertain. This conversatpon was not recorded, reconstructed from notes

Mbibo Binti Hatibu interview (Swahili)

At the time of this interview, Mbibo was middle-aged and living alone, although she had adult children in the village. She was one of the wealthier women in Kanga, a situation she explained in terms of her hard work

Mgeni binti Nassor interview (Swahili)

I had known Mgeni since she was a child at the time of my first visit to Kanga. At the time of this conversation, she was probably in her thirties and married to her second husband. She is the subject of my article ‘In my office we don’t have closing hours’ (1995)

Mwaharusi Binti Nyihaji interview (Swahili)

Mwaharusi had become a good friend and important informant on women’s affairs at the time of my first visit, when she helped me with understanding the girls’ puberty ceremony, and also interpreting women’s songs. She had been interviewed for the BBC TV film in 1976, but unfortunately the transcription has been lost. The final interview with her was in 1994 (qv) shortly before her death.

Mwavura binti Silima (Swahili)

Mwavura was an elderly neighbour living on her own, although children, grandchildren and several great-grandchildren lived nearby.

Ngwari Malim and his wife interview (Swahili)

Ngwari was the younger half brother of my adopted ‘older brother’ and thus also my ‘brother’, although my relationship with him was not as close as that with his older brother. At the time of this interview, I estimate that the couple were in their forties.

Unknown Man interview (Swahili)

Mafia 1985