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LABOUR POLITICS AND AFRICANIZATION AT A TANZANIAN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE, 1949–66

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2016

Branwyn Poleykett  and
Peter Mangesho
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Abstract

In this article we examine labour politics and unionization at a scientific research station: the former Institute of Malaria and Vector Borne Diseases (‘Amani’) in north-eastern Tanzania. Drawing on an analysis of an archive found at Amani, this paper approaches the process of decolonizing and Africanizing science and medical research from the perspective of African technicians. The technician cadre at Amani was drawn to scientific employment as it seemed to offer the promise of training, education and advancement. The union at Amani argued that African labour was crucial to the production of scientific knowledge at the station and that there ought to be a ‘ladder’ of promotion and progress that led from auxiliary scientific technician to independent researcher. The daily politics of the decolonization of science was conducted as everyday contentious labour relations and as increasingly vociferous claims upon the cultural power of science by African workers. Drawing attention to the social and spatial practices of African workers at Amani in the 1960s, we argue that Amani functioned not just within globalized networks of tropical medicine and scientific research but as a place bound both to local economies of labour and to larger geographies of African ambition and aspiration.

Résumé

Cet article examine la politique du travail et la syndicalisation dans un centre de recherche scientifique: l'ancien institut de recherche sur le paludisme et les maladies à transmission vectorielle (Institute of Malaria and Vector Borne Diseases, également appelé Amani) dans le Nord-Est de la Tanzanie. S'appuyant sur une analyse d'archives trouvées à Amani, cet article aborde le processus de décolonisation et d'africanisation de la recherche scientifique et médicale du point de vue des techniciens africains. À Amani, le cadre technicien était attiré par un emploi scientifique car il semblait offrir la promesse d'une formation, d'une éducation et d'une promotion. Le syndicat présent à Amani soutenait que la main-d’œuvre était essentielle à la production du savoir scientifique au centre de recherche et qu'il devrait exister une échelle de promotion et de progression qui permettrait à un technicien scientifique auxiliaire de devenir chercheur indépendant. La politique quotidienne de décolonisation de la science était menée sous la forme de relations quotidiennes conflictuelles du travail et de revendications de plus en plus vocifératrices du pouvoir culturel de la science par les travailleurs africains. Attirant l'attention sur les pratiques sociales et spatiales des travailleurs africains à Amani dans les années 1960, l'article soutient qu'Amani fonctionnait au sein de réseaux globalisés de médecine tropicale et de recherche scientifique, mais aussi en tant que lieu lié à la fois aux économies du travail locales et à des géographies plus larges d'ambition et d'aspiration africaines.

Type
The Politics of Labour
Information
Africa , Volume 86 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 142 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2016 

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