From Dar es Salaam to Bongoland: Urban Mutations in Tanzania

Confusing views: from a wealth of representations to a “polyphonic city”

Confusing views: from a wealth of representations to a “polyphonic city” Bernard Calas “Cities are not only made up of that which takes place on its territory, but also the way in which migrants and tourists pass through it… Hence the importance of studying textual descriptions and visualizations of the city1 ” (Garcia Canclini, 1997, p. 23). As we shall see, this analysis remains incomplete to the extent that it is based on a rather meagre corpus; more particularly, it does not lead to a definite conclusion, but opens up to methodological doubt. What is offered here, are different avenues of analysis. The large metropolis constitutes the common horizon of a certain number of local and non-native role players with intersecting points of view that hardly coincide, although they are directed towards the same space. In this sense, space is considered a pretext for different discourses, the perspective of which provides more information on geographical groups than on the urban space itself. The discourses analyzed here pertain to tinga-tinga paintings, the map at 1: 50 000, a Tanzanian novel entitled Dar es Salaam by night, and tourist guides. 1 – The map at 1:50 000 The central role of maps in formatting Western representations and researchers’ geographical ideas of researchers means that escaping it is a priori an impossibility. The vision expressed by topographical maps is a technocratic and vertical one and conveys the urban discourse of the State: one with hegemonic pretensions, inherited from colonization and Europe’s history of taking (cartographical) possession of the world. It is this sense that one must be especially distrustful. This discourse is only interested in buildings and in space, not in people. The key to the map absolutely reveals this point of view. Firstly, its main point of interest is the geometric and geodesic expanse. Furthermore, this expanse is characterized by its material aspects: “empty or occupied”, wooded areas, buildings. Lastly, the expanse is marked out with things and not with human beings; it is punctuated with buildings and facilities, infrastructures cut across it, and topographical features provide it with names. This hegemonic and utilitarian vision is the necessary scenery for the actors to play their roles. As it were, residents are invited to be moulded by a pre-existing, discursive and 1 La ville n’est pas constituée uniquement par ce qui se déroule sur son territoire, mais également par la manière dont la traversent les migrants et les touristes … D’où l’intérêt de travailler sur les textes qui décrivent et imaginent la ville. 386 FROM DAR ES SALAAM TO BONGOLAND material fabric. From this vertical point of view, horizontal ascendancy prevails over verticality. This urban reading is thus not an innocent one, all the more so since it sketches the authorities’ normative discourse vis-à-vis working-class urbanization. Indeed, the key very clearly opposes regulated spaces and slums, classified as the greyish vagueness of an other area. Urban dualisation is very clear here, without any kind of fragmentation being revealed, however. This representation is poles apart from that developed by the tinga-tinga painters. II – Tinga-Tinga Paintings2 Tanzania’s tinga-tinga school of painting is one of the most famous in Africa. Although “its outlines owe a lot to the success of Eduardo Saidi Tingatinga,its motifs, reminiscent of a poetic comic strip and greatly inspired by paintings from the East of Congo, quickly became popular with Western clients” (Maupeux, 2003). The aim here is not to present this school, but to determine which urban representation emerges from the proposed canvasses. The tinga-tinga city has few buildings. The residential function has been completely evacuated here. There is a limited number of represented buildings which only pertain to public services (school, police station, hospitals accommodated in permanent structures), stalls (duka), shops and small restaurants, bars, hotels, kiosks and guest houses. One of the places favoured by the tinga-tinga painters is the market: the Kariakoo market, of course, but also the fish market close to the ferry or the Mwenge market. The only buildings emerging from the human influx are most often official buildings (schools, police stations, hospitals, markets, etc.) Most of the buildings are covered by corrugated iron. There are very few representations of buildings with more than one storey; street level buildings dominate by far. However, the animation in the city is very dense: strong density and an absence of organizing polarity constitute its second most important characteristics. The...