Tanzania's Cultural Policy And Its Implications For The Contribution
                          Of The Arts To Socialist Development
  Penina O. Mlama*
   Introduction
        Art has alway been an important tool for man's socio-economic development. Man of
   the pre-scie'ftific age, fo r instance, discovered how to use dance and music, as well as masks,
   in rituals that he hoped would bring rain and improve his crops or game.1 Art was, to him, an
   effective medium of communication with the supernatural powers which he believed
   controlled some aspects of his well-being.
          Apart from this religious role, art has also always been an ideological tool for shaping,
   the consciousness of a people so that they accept and maintain their, socio-economic
   structure. Societies based on the communal mode of production, for example, used the arts
   to inculcate in their people, values and attitudes that fostered sharing of property, working
   together, and communal responsibility for the well being of the members of the society. This
   was true of some African pre-capitalist societies such as the Kaguru, as evidenced by the
   following wedding song:
  '.'fcikagiiru                               English
  Ichidoo                                     This little food
  r . uani ndic                               with whom shall I eat it
  Ndic mii ndugu ndie                         I must share it with my kin
  Chidogogi                                   It is so little
  Ndie na nani ndie                           With whom shall I eat it
  Ndie nai nciugu ndie                        I must share it with my kin
          Similarly, other societies, socialist and capitalist alike, used art to shape the people's
1
  consciousness to accept the system. In capitalist systems, the mind of the exploited was tuned
  to accept their exploi^rion. Religious songs for example, especially those of Christianity,
  have been extensively used by capitalism to make people accept worldly material poverty in
 the hope of receiving heavenly spiritual salvation. See the following song for example.
    I hunger and I thirst                      Renew my life with Thine
   Jesus my manna be                           Refresh my soul with love
    Ye living waters burst                     Rough paths my feet have trod
   out of the rock for me                      Since first their course began
     fhou bruised and broken bread             Feed me Thou Bread of God
    my iifc-long wants supply                  Help me Thou son of man
     •Associate Professor, Department of Art, Music and Theatre, University of Dar es Salaam.
                                                       9


 As living souls are fed,                    For still the desert lies
 O feed me, or I die                          my thirsting soul before
 Thou true life-giving vine                  O living waters rise,
 Let me Thy sweetness prove                  Within me ever more :
       Art has also been an important tool in revolutionary processes. During the Chinese
  revolution, for example, Mao saw art as being
             Part of the entire cause of the revolution., its cogs and screws, indispensable to the
             whole machine, and forming an indispensable part of the entire cause of the
            ^evolution. If we had no art and literature even in the broadest and most general sense,
            ithen the revolutionary movement could not be carried to victory.'
 Songs, drama, dance, poetry, painting and so on, have been used extensively all over the
 world as ideological tools for liberation movements. Consider, for example, the popular
 song for the liberation struggle in South Africa by Amandla, the Cultural Troupe of the
 African National Congress Liberation Movement.
 Ayakinggikaza                               They tremble
 Agangigikaza ayesabamagwala                 They shiver
 Athi Kungcono sibuyelemuva                  The cowards have cold feet
 Qiniselani nani maghawe                     They say it is better to retreat
 Sekuseduze Lapho syakhona                   Steel yourselves
                                             Intensify the struggle you brave ones
                                             Our destination is close
                                             (our victory is certain)
      This song emerged at the time of the Soweto national uprising. Numerous examples
 could be cited to show the uses and potentialities of art as an ideological tool for the socio-
 economic struggles of man.
      The use of art has, however, varied according to different societies. Some bourgeois
 societies have reduced the use of art to the mere provision of entertainment. Like many other
 aspects of these societies, art is alienated from the production process and struggle for
 survival.
      In some socialist countries, art is looked upon as an indispensable component of
 development. The German Democratic Republic states categorically in its constitution that:
           Socialist national culture (including art) is one of the foundations of socialist jociety.
           The German Democratic Republic fosters and protects socialist culture, which serves
         , peace, humanism and the development of socialist society. It combats imperialist anti-
           culture which serves psychological warfare and the degradation of man. Socialist
           society promotes the cultured life of the working people, cultivates the humanistic
           values of the national cultural heritage and of world culture and develops socialist
           national culture as the concern of the whole people.4
      This policy is implemented through state organised programmes and structures for the
development of various cultural activities, including the promotion of the arts, the artistic
interests and abilities of the working people, physical culture, sports and tourism and the all-
round physical and intellectual development of citizens.
                                                    ,10


       The People's Republic of China also has a clear-cul policy on culture. Culture is looked
 upon as the people's way of life and this is manifested in a system of well organised cultural
 programmes including art activities that are part and parcel of work, education and leisure.
 Cultural palaces and cultural facilities at school, work places and residential areas have been,
 established. The Cultural Revolution of 1965 was also a manifestation of the importance of
 culture to socialist revolution.
       Because of the realisation that the arts are an important ideological tool in the shaping
 of a people's consciousness, most countries, especially socialist ones, have definite cultural
 policies and plans which give a specific direction for the arts, enabling them to contribute
 meaningfully to the development processes. This, however, does not seem to be the case in
 Tanzania. This article argues that Tanzania does not have a defined cultural policy.
 Consequently, no specific direction is given to the arts, as a part of culture, towards
 Tanzania's socialist development.
       The first section of the article reviews Tanzania's cultural policy in relation to socialist
 development as seen in the policy of Ujamaa and the second section discusses its implications
  :or the contribution of the arts to development.
Tanzania's Cultural Policy in Relation to Ujamaa
       In 1967, Tanzania adopted Ujamaa, the Tanzania brand of Socialism. Ujamaa, as
 stipulated in the Arusha declaration, "believes in thf ownership of the major means of
production by peasants and workers, self-reliance and human equality and castigates the,
exploitation of man by man.
    The adoption of Ujamaa has resulted in various major steps being taken to direct the
country's developmental policies and plans towards socialist construction. This is true of
economic policy and plans as manifested in the nationalisation of the major means of
production, the reorganisation of agricultural production through villagisation, the
decentralisation of regional and district planning, the reorganisation of industrial
management, and the adoption of education for self-reliance.
      It would be assumed, therefore, that cultural policy $nd plans have also been directed
towards socialist construction. The truth, however, is to the contrary. A look at the cultural
policy since 1967 shows a lack of effort in directing culture towards socialist development.
      This situation is due to a number of factors.
       Firstly, there has been an overall lack of a defined cultural policy and this has been
 characteristic of Tanzania since independence. Even though Mbughuni5 wants us to believe
 that there has been a cultural policy, that has not been the case. Tanzania's cultural
 undertakings have been based on speeches and statements made here and there, not
 originally meant as cultural policies but subsequently taken as such.
       For example, the implementation of the revival, promotion and development of
 Tanzanian culture has been vaguely based on Nyerere's statements on culture from his 1962
 Presidential inaugural speech.6
     From 1961 to 1967, this lack of a clearly defined cultural policy can be attributed to the
-general lack of direction for the nation as a whole. The lack of direction was characteristic of
 economic, political and other policies although it was more pronounced in culture.
       Whereas the adoption of Ujamaa provided a specified theoretical direction for
 economic development, it did not provide direction for cultural development. Ujamaa policy
 has overemphasized economic change at the expense of ideological change. There has not
  been a realisation that economic development has to go hand in hand withi ideological deve-
  lopment. As such, most of the major documents stipulating various characteristics of Uja-
                                                 1!


  maa poiicy, including the Arusha Declaration, Socialism and Rural Development, Mwongo-
  zo, overemphasize economic change. Even the Education for Self-Reliance policy overlooks
 the role of education as an ideological tool and treats it, instead, as an economic tool.
       Ideological development has only been visualised from the point of view of politics. It
 has been taken for granted that mass political involvement alone will shape the people's
 consciousness to accept and foster socialism. This has led to the neglect of the role of other
 ideological tools, such as cultural tools in socialist construction. This state of affairs exposes
 a misconception of human development.
       The neglect of culture as an ideological tool for socialist construction is due to other
 factors apart from the misconception of development. One factor is the lack of a correct
 definition of culture to fit socialist construction. There is little to suggest the realisation that
 culture is not only a deposit in the material manifestations of a people's identity, but also.
and perhaps most important, a deposit in the consciousness o!" man himself; deposits o\'
  methods, habits, skills, values and attitudes that are a fruit of long development and which
shape the society and which in turn are shaped byit.
       As such, the adoption of Ujamaa did not include a consideration of how this deposit in
 the material possessions and the consciousness of man can be used, changed or shaped, in
such a way that it contributes towards socialist construction.
      Neither has there been a recognition that there is culture, which is the overall deposit in
 man's material possessions and consciousness, and that UIMC are tools of culture which act
 upon and influence these material possessions and consciousness. Instead, the term
 "culture1" has been restricted to only the tools of culture, such as the arts, and games, and its
  material manifestations such as tools ana utensils. As such, undertakings have not
gone beyond promoting a few arts ana games and collecting tools and utensils, and"even
then, without relating them to the cultural aspect of human and, specifically, socialist
development.7
       Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the neglect of culture as an ideological tool for
socialist construction even up to the present (fourteen years after the adoption of Ujamaa) is
 a reflection of Tanzania's practical failure to—-date to institute a socialist socio-economic
structure. The structure is still capitalist. It is not the workers and peasants who are in control
of the means of production or the products of labour, but rather the state, which is controlled
 by the petiy bourgeoisie. The economy is capitalist and so is the culture.
      Even though there has been an outcry to build a Tanzanian culture, suggesting a desire to
 promote a people's culture, the officially sanctioned cultural undertakings reflect the
promotion of a petty bourgeois view of culture that sees it as a luxury, a set of activities
detached from the struggle for existence.
       The dominance of the petty bourgeoisie as a ruling class prevents the promotion of
socialist cultr.re for workers and peasants, one that should be part and parcel of socio-
economic struggles of the people for development/
       Because of these problems there has not been a cultural policy directed towards socialist
development. The nearest that the country has gone to a cultural policy is TANU's statement
in 1976 that:
         Mkutano nikuu unatilia mka/o umuhiniuvva kuuclowa utamaduni kama kielcle/o
         cha utashi na uhai wa Tail a katika maisha >a kila siku ya u a t u wake.
         (1 he conlcrcncc emphasizes the importance of understanding culture as ihe
          portrayal of the needs and spirit of the nation in the day to day life ol' her people.)"
and that of the Ministry of Culture that culture is:
          chombo cha silaha muhitnu katika ukombozi vvetii kisiasa, kiuehumi na liasa
        • ki'ikra.
                                                   12


         (A tool and vital weapon in our political, economic and especially intellectual
          liberation).
       The lack of .; <!efined socialist cultural policy is sometimes defended by the argument
 mat once a socialist economic structure is instituted, the so;•ialist culture will come of i*s own.
 This argument ignores the fact that the economic base and the cultural superstructure
 determine and influence each other and cannot therefore be separated. It also ignores the fact
 that while the country is waiting for socialist culture to come it is under constant exposure to
the influences o f capitalist and imperialist culture which is part and parcel of the
 imperialist struggle against socialism. There is a tendency to think that the war against
 imperialism is only an economic one, and a failure to realise thai imperialism is fighting the
 war against socialism both economically and culturally.
       The lack of a defined socialist cultural policy has resulted in a lack of direction for
 culture as a whole, resulting in turn in the promotion of a few tools of culture which are not
themselves directed towards the socialist development of the country. The arts is one case in
 mind.
       The implications for the contribution of the arts to socialist development.
   Because of the lack of a defined socialist cultural policy, cultural planning in relation to
socialist development in Tanzania leaves a lot to be desired as can be seen in the following
 examples.
       Although a Ministry of Culture was established in 1962, one year after independence,
 with the definite aim of developing a Tanzanian culture, to date the place and status of this
 ministry [e not clear cui This is reflected for example, in the frequent transformation of this
 ministry from ministeri;'1 status to that oi a department within other ministries. Culture was
 a ministry of its own (1962), part of the Ministry of Community Development (1964-671
 Regional Administration and Rural Development (1968), National Education (1969-1973),
 ministry of its own (1974), and part of Information (1980 to 1984) and part of Prime Ministe-
 r's Office (1984 to date). Such frequent shifting reflects a lack of understanding of exactly
 what culture is and what its role is in development. The adoption of Ujamaa in 1967 should
 have/given culture A specific place and status in socialist construction but, for reasons stated
 earlier, that did not happen.
       The shnting and changing of me Ministry of Culture gives it a lack of permanency and •
continuity. The chaos arising out of the changes gives little reference to fall back to, and
creates a chance to throw away long term cultural plans. This does not create -i fertile ground
for developing any of the elements of culture to some meaninglul conclusion. As to the arts,
one gets the impression that what goes on depends on the whims of whoever is heading the
Directorate of Arts and National Language. For example, in the 1960's there-was a national
ngoma (traditional dance) troupe created for the purpose of entertaining dignitaries, locally
and abroad. In the 1970's the National Dance Troupe was supposed to be a model for regio-
nal and district and village troupes, while maintaining its role of entertaining dignitaries du-
ring state and official functions. Instead of staying in Dar es Salaam, it toured the regions to
set an example and to prompt the people to create similar troupes, without taking into
consideration whether or not the people needed such troupes for their development. In the
 !980's this dance troupe his been disbanded and a college of art instituted to train dancers so
that they can go back to form their own troupes in tne regions and districts. The results are
still being awaited. These efforts, however, have shown little consideration of the question of
the contribution of ngoma to socialist development in terms of making culture part and
parcel of the socio-econimic struggle for development.
                                                  13


      Contrary to the goal of socialism, of giving the masses the powers to determine and to
benefit from all aspects of their well-being, the promotion of the arts by the Ministry, especia-
lly of dance, poetry and music, has shown a strong tendency towards pleasing the ruling
class. The official organisation of ngoma, poetry, and song is basically geared to the purpose
of entertaining party leaders at state functions and festivals. The content of most poems, so-
ngs (choir, ngoma and pop songs) is oriented towards praising of either Government and Par-
ty leaders or Government policies, decrees and campaings. This tendency hasgiven rise to
puppet art which largely parrots what the leaders are saying. See the following examples.
 Kiswahili                                             English
  Kisomo ee kisomo ee                                Education yes education
  Kisomo cna watu wazima kisomo                      Education adult education
  Kisomo ee kisomo Mwalimu kasema                    Education Mwalimu (The President) has said so.1"
       Similar traditional dance songs can be heard all over the country. They pick as their
 content a few political slogans from speeches or some words from political campaigns. These
 songs, as can be seen in the above example, display no artistic treatment of the content. Nor
 do they feature any views on or analysis or interpretation of the subjects expressed.
      A similar tendency can be seen in Swahili poetry, such as the following which appeared
 in the Party Newspaper UHURU:
             Hotuba ya Mwalimt
             Desemba tarehc tisa, Baba kwa njia ya anga
            Katueleza mikasa, ambayo imetuzonga
           iKujikosc". makosa, na jinsi ya kujikinga
            Tujitolee muhanga, kwa kul'ufua uchumi
            Baba katoa usemi, kujitolea muhanga
           • Watumishi na walimu, mkumbuu kujifunga
            Nchi yetu tuihami, tuitoe kwenyejanga
            Tujitolee muhanga, kwa kufufua uchumi
            Kasema tukaze roho, janga linalotutinga
            Tusiingiwe muhaho, kama kuku kwa kupanga
            Tuvue roho majoho, tuvae jembe na panga
            Tujitolee muhanga, kwa kufufua uchumi..."
            Translation
            Mwalimu's (President's) Speech
            On ninth December, through a radio broadcast he told us the catastrophes that are
             stifling us we must criticise ourselves and know how to defend ourselves.
             We must sacrifice to salvage our economy .
             Our father (the President) has given word to sacrifice
             Civil servants and teachers, to tighten our belts
             To defend our country and save it from doom
             We must sacrifice to salvage our economy
             He said we must be brave, and face the catastrophe.
             We must not shake like a chick before the hawk.
             We must take the shrouds off our hearts, and carry the hoe and the machet.
             We must sacrifice and salvage our economy.
                                                    14


       This poem was composed at the time of a political campaign urging Tanzanians to work
  hard to save the country's tottering economy. One can, however, notice the lack of any deep
  analysis of the economic situation of the country at the time. The poet does not discuss, for
  instance, the causes of the economic problems but concentrates on parroting what the
  President had said earlier.
       Parrot art is also prevalent in the popular music heaid in dancing halls, over Radio
  Tanzania and at political rallies. Miti and Kahamba12 discovered that out of 186 songs they
  identified as political songs from Radio Tanzania, 34 were on the Party, 20 on the leadership
  (mainly on Nyerere) and over 52 on Socialism (mainly Ujamaa Villages, the Arusha
  Declaration). They further observe that:
           the most common and striking feature of political songs in Tanzania is their direct
           echoing of leadership speeches and writings. There is virtually no originality in the
           songs since they are mere repetition of the words of the leadership.13
      They go on to show that this parrot art is not accidental, but that there is a deliberate
 political contrbl of music production so that only music that is in tune with the leadership
ideology is promoted. The Prime Minister's Office, through the National Music
Council (BAMUTA), cultural officers at all levels and Radio Tanzania, exercise direct
 censorship of music and give directives on the kind of music to be produced.
      Such control betrays a misguided view of the role of art in ideology. Art can be critical
 and yet contribute positively to ideological development. Parrot art does not contribute to
 socialist construction because it does not analyse problems and point put solutions.
      The other tendency in most arts in Tanzania is an overemphasis on entertainment over
 the other functions of art such as the pedagogical. This is due to the capitalist monopoly of
 the economy in spite of the intention to build socialism. Many facets of the economy are still
 operating on a capitalist basis. Art, especially that of urban areas, largely operates on a
 capitalist basis. Art is a commodity and is exploited for commercial purposes. In order to be
 commercially profitable, art over-emphasizes cheap entertainment that attracts audiences to
 bars and dancing halls. This is especially true of pop music, most of which has content that
 has very little contribution to make to the development of the people. Instead, it is meant to
 increase commercial gains.
      Such music makes up the largest percentage of the pop music broadcast over Radio
 Tanzania. A simihr type of art can also be observed in the many paintings that are
 commonly seen on the walls of bars and dancing halls. These paintings, mostly of sexy
 dancing girls, are meant to attract customers into the establishments.
      Traditional dance is also now being exploited for commercial purposes. Hotels and bars
 sponsor traditional dance troupes to performso as to attract customers, especially tourists.
 The Muungano dance troupe which performs at the Village Museum in Dar es Salaam and
the Kibisa groyp at the DDC Social Centre in Dar es Salaam are examples ofdance troupes
 used for such purposes.
     This commercially based art does not pay attention to the functions of art, other than
 entertainment, which could contribute to the development of man. It exists only to procure
financial profit. Nevertheless, some effort has been made to try and make this art serve a
 socialist ideological role. For example, theMinistry of Culture has organised competitions
 'hat have encouraged popular music bands to compose politically relevant songs. Radio
 Tanzania is also encouraging the same. These efforts have, however, not proved successful
 because they are superficial and not directed at the coie of the problem. As long as the bands
 operate on a capitalist basis, it is difficult for them to serve socialist goals. For example, the
 competition for markets drives the bands to produce that music which attracts the largest
 audience, no matter how degenerate that music may be.
                                                    15


      Because of the lack of a defined socialist cultural policy, little is being done to change tne
direction of the arts; they are treated as if they have nothing to do with socialist construction
or development in general. For example, there is little effort to use art as a means of creating
an awareness in the people of the cause and nature of, and the solutions to, the numerous
problems that Tanzania is facing in socialist construction.
      The lack of socialist cultural policy is also reflected in the absence of a well-co-ordinated
training programme for cultural personnel to promote various cultural activities including
the arts. For example, to date, the arts are optional subjects in the primary and secondary
school curricula. The result is: Marry schools do not teach at all. Instead, in most
schools the arts are conducted as extracurricular activities, again, mostly for the purpose of
entertaining Government and Party visitors to the schools or at state functions. In spite of
the omission of arts subjects in primary and secondary schools, the arts (music, theatre & fine
 art) are nevertheless taught at post-secondary school level. There is an art college under the
 Prime Minister's Office at Bagamoyo and another, under the Ministry of Education at
 Mwanza. Both colleges train form four leavers at certificate level. It is, however, absurd to
 start post—form tour colleges of art without first teaching the arts at primary and secondary
 school levels. Tins assumes that students with no academic background in the arts can be
 admitted and trained as well-qualified arts personnel.
      In addition, the arts are taught at the University of Dar es Salaam in order to train
degree level cultural personnel. But there is no art training at form six or diploma level, which
 constitutes the qualification required for university entry. Again, the University trains
people with very little or no academic background in art. The situation has become even
 more absurd since the Musoma Resolution which stipulates that university entrants must
come from work places in order to be trained in the disciplines of their work and later go back
 to the same work places. This means that the Department of Art, Music and Theatre ought to
 be drawing its students mainly from the Prime Minister's Office and training them to go back
 to the same Ministry. However, very few of the cultural personnel actually qualify for univer-
 sity entrance because they do not have the required academic background. The Ministry does
 not have a system for training its cultural personnel to a point where they can qualify for
university entrance.
      Without an adequate training system, it has become increasingly difficult to undertake
any meaningful cultural development programmes. To date, most cultural personnel are not
qualified for their jobs and they do whatever they themselves view as cultural work, which in
most cases amounts only to the organisation of football matches or ngoma troupes for state
functions. Most of them have little idea of what culture is and howto relate it to the overall
socialist development struggles. Such a situation does not create fertile ground for the
 development of the arts, or any other aspect of culture, so as to contribute to the develop-
 ment of the country.
  The lack of a definite cultural policy often gives way to programmes based on misguided
conceptions, of cultural development. For example, recently, the Prime Minister's Office
has embarked en a national cultural competition programme. Entries in this
competition include the fine and performing arts, crafts and literature. The competition,
organised nationwide in four zones, is aimeel at encouraging local artists to use their talents
to advance art and national culture.'14                                                              :
      Developing art through competition is an approach that has long been abandoned. It
 has been proved that unless there is aesthetic uniformity, it is unwise and often difficult
 to make artists of different aesthetic and cultural backgound compete against each other.
 For example, how does one arrive at the conclusion that a Masai dance is better than that of
 the Bondei, or the Hehe better than that of the Nyakyusa, when these societies are aestheti-
 cally different from each other?
      The lack of a clearcut cultural policy has made it impossible for the Prime Minister's
                                                  16


Office to. realise that cultural promotion efforts elsewhere now emphasize
cultural festivals rather than competitions. Festivals have proved to be ferti'e ground for
encouraging artists to greater creative effort without having to go through the pain of being
told that tliei; arts are bad, as happens in competitions.
      If the aim of the Ministry is to encourage the arts nationwide, one would expect that rt
vvould encourage those activities which would integrate artistic effort into the overall strug-
gle for development. Not only does making artists compete against each other fail to contri-
bute to development but, in the long run, it might create ill-feeling among artists which will
be detrimental even to the development of the arts themselves.
      Another consequence of the lack of a defined socialist cultural policy is the futile
attempts of the Prime Minister's Office to develop a Tanzanian culture from above. Contrary
to the socialist idea of developing a people's culture, the Ministry is trying to impose culture
from above in the name of developing a "national" culture Cultural planning and underta-
kings are decided at a national level and directions are sent down to the regions, district and
villages on what is to be done. Often, however, those who decide at the national level have no
 idea'of the cultural needs of the people a* i lie grassroots. Instead, they impose on them their
 own petty bourgeois views of culture. T he case of the National Dance Troupe mentioned
earlier is one such example. Directives that reflect a misconception of culture as not being
part of work have been thrown around under such catch phrases as kazisiyo lelemama (work
is not dance). Dances are therefore by order, only done after work. Those who issue these
directives do not seem to have considered the possibility oi'using dance as part of work like
 most Tanzanian tribes used to (and actually some still do) in traditional society; for example,
the 'BuiiobogObo' 01" the Wasukuma, which is a work dance that was used for farming or
 millet thrashing. Many other tribes which worked communally made much use of dance,
song or story telling as a means of making people work without feeling the drudgery of ihe
work. One wonders whether such dances and songs cannot contribute to the communal
farming instisted upon by Tanzania's socialism, especially since the methods of farming are
still largely the same as those of traditional society.
       It seems that those responsible for the promotion of the arts are not concerned about
 promoting the arts of the people according to the needs of the people or for their develop-
 ment. This is reflected in the lack of much official promotion of the arts at the village level,
 unless it has sonething to do with entertaining at state functions.
      As such, the arts of the people which should be the ideal foundation for the development
of art for socialist development are left on their own. In some cases they flourish and serve the
needs of the people concerned. But in many cases, they are <wept aside a:> not being part oi"
the struggle for Ujamaa. Listening to the Radio Tan/ mia Mbiu ya Mko? p-ogramine, where
villages all over the country report their efforts towards development, one hardly ever hears
 reference being ma^o to art being part of that development effort. People have been made to
 view development as being only in terms of economic activity.
      In order for the arts to contribute meaningfully to socialist development, contemporary
 Panzanian society has to consider a number of issues. Firstly, there is need for a definite
 cultural policy which specifies the culture deemed appropriate for socialist development. In
this respect, Tanzania has much to learn from the experience of other societies, such as China
or Cuba. A'definite cultural policy will give direction as to how the arts and other cultural
phenomena can contribute towards socialist development. Such a policy might also specify
the relationship between cultural expressions and party ideology and enable art to play a
more positive political role than the existing parroting of leaders.
      Secondly, the role of culture in socialist development needs to be made clear to cultural
                                                17


 personnel and society as a whole. Such awareness will facilitate the proper utilisation of
 cultural expressions. There are numerous examples of what the role of art in development
 can be. The Laedza Batani (Botswana), Wason Manoma andMaska (Nigeria) and Yangge
 (China) projects, to mention just a few, have proved the theatre's ability to mobilise rural
 populations for development programmes.
       Thirdly, cultural personnel ought to be aware of the great potential for development to
 be found in Tanzanian traditional art forms. Theatre, for example, was successfully used as a
 pedagogical tool in many Tanzanian traditional societies.15 For example, story-telling was
 used to instruct children on the morals of society and initiation dances were instructional
 media for introducing youth to the world of adults. Ordinary dances and recitations
 corrected and guided behaviour of the members of society. Attention now needs to be
 directed towards whether and how such traditional uses of art can be exploited for
 contemporary society. For example, questions need to be asked as to whether the pedagogi-
 cal function of traditional theatre can be adapted to contemporary needs.
     Fourthly, it is important to encourage and promote existing positive efforts to use art for
 development by various artists in the country. There are quite a number of traditional artists
 who, without the patronage of the Party or the Government, continue to use art as an
 ideological tool in their given society. The positive aspects oi'such art could be encouraged.
      Modern artists are also involved in quite a number of projects and experiments with a
 view to adapting traditional and modern Tanzanian art to contemporary needs. One such
 experiment is the 'Theatre for Social Development' project by the University of Dar es
 Salaam Theatre Department. This project, based in Mal>a village in Mwanza, entails the use
 of the villagers' own theatre forms in discussing, analysing and suggesting solutions to their
 own development problems.16
     Other attempts at adapting art content or form to contemporary needs are being made
 through plays, uances, songs, poetry, paintings, sculptures and so on by various artists.
These and other artists should be encouraged further to direct more effort towards socialist
 development.
      Other attempts of adapting art content or form to contemporary needs are being made
 by such groups as the Paukwa Theatre Group, the Bagamoyo Theatre College, the Butimba
 Art College, and the Sayari Group. Other artists are engaging in similar efforts through
 plays, dances, songs, poetry, paintings, sculpture and other arts. These artists should also be
encouraged further to contribute to socialist construction.
      Finally, tackling all these issues will not be fruitful without the involvement and
participation of society at large.
                                          References
1. K. MacGowank & W. Melinitzw, The Living Stage, U.S.A., Prentice Hall Inc., 1955, p. 2.
2. The Mennonite Hymnary, Newton, Kansas, Mennonite Publication Office. 1940, p. 308.
3. Mao Tse Tung, "Yenan Forum on Art and Literature" in Selected Works Vol. 5JNew York,
     international Publishers, 1956, p. 82.
4. The constitution of the German Democratic Republic of 7th October 1974, article 18(1), p. 18.
5. L. Mbughuni. Tanzanian cultural policy — documents and studies, UNESCO, Paris, 1974.
6. J.K. Nyerere, Tanzania National Assembly Official Reports. Dec. 10. 1962.
7. G. Ruhumbika, Towards Ujamaa, Arusha, East African Literature Bureau, 1974.
8. See P. Mlama. Tanzanian traditional theatre as a pedagogical institution — University of Dares
  • Salaam, 1982. Ph. D. Thesis (unpublished).
                                               18


9. Ripoti ya Mkutano Mkuu wa TANU, Dodoma. 1976 (unpublished)
10. A song for the '"Sangula" dance of Wapogoro of Mahenge, Radio Tanzania, "Asilia Salaam"
     programme, 11th May 1982.
11. UHURU, Wednesday, January 4th, 1982.
12. K. Miti, & H. Kahamba, "Music and the reproduction of State ideology in Tanzania". Political
     Science Depart - c n t , University of Dar es Salaam, 1982. (unpuWhhed).
13. Ibid, p. 4.
14. The Dailv News. Thursday, November 25, 1982.
15. Mlama, op. cit. p. 85.
 16. A~ Lihamba, E. Cbambulikazi, P.O. Mlama, "Theatre for Social Development Project",
     Department of Art, Music and Theatre, University of Dar es Salaam, 1982. (unpublished).