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A Religion of the Rupee: Materialist Encounters in North-West Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Brad Weiss
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Abstract

This article examines the moral ambiguities of materialism that emerged with the coffee trade in north-west Tanganyika. The White Fathers, who played a prominent (often unintended) role in the growth of coffee markets, and the Haya villagers who became coffee farmers and traders alike understood the threat that commercial activity posed to non-commercial forms of value. The Fathers' attitude to the trade was often at odds with what they perceived as their evangelical mission; equally interesting are the ways this quandary shaped the attitudes and practices of the Haya people in the twentieth century. The article describes the White Fathers' anxieties about ‘civilisation’, then turns to the concerns of Haya farmers and traders as they developed in subsequent decades. The aim is to address the projects through which the moral ambiguities of the forms of materialism the coffee trade ushered in were—and were not—resolved, so as to illuminate the complex entanglement of colonisers and colonised.

Résumé

Cet article examine les ambiguïtés morales du matérialisme qui est apparu avec le commerce du café dans la région nord-ouest du Tanganyika. Les Pères Blancs, qui ont joué un rôle important (souvent involontaire) dans la croissance des marchés du café, et les habitants des villages hayas, devenus producteurs et négociants de café, ont compris que l'activité commerciale était une menace pour les formes de valeurs non-commerciales. L'attitude des Pères à l'égard de ce commerce était souvent en contradiction avec ce qu'ils percevaient comme leur mission évangélique; tout aussi intéressante était la manière dont ce dilemme a façonné les attitudes et les usages des Hayas au vingtième siècle. L'article décrit les fortes inquiétudes des Pères Blancs concernant la “civilisation”, avant de se tourner vers l'évolution des inquiétudes des producteurs et négociants hayas au cours des décennies suivantes. Le but est d'étudier les projets à travers lesquels les ambiguïtés morales des formes de matérialisme engendrées par le commerce du café ont été résolues—et non résolues—, afin d'éclairer l'imbroglio dans lequel se trouvaient les colonisateurs et les colonisés.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 72 , Issue 3 , August 2002 , pp. 391 - 419
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2002

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