Zanzibar Was a Country: Exile and Citizenship between East Africa and the GulfZanzibar Was a Country traces the history of a Swahili-speaking Arab diaspora from East Africa to Oman. In Oman today, whole communities in Muscat speak Swahili, have recent East African roots, and practice forms of sociality associated with the urban culture of the Swahili coast. These "Omani Zanzibaris" offer the most significant contemporary example in the Gulf, as well as in the wider Indian Ocean region, of an Afro-Arab community that maintains a living connection to Africa in a diasporic setting. While they come from all over East Africa, a large number are postrevolution exiles and emigrés from Zanzibar. Their stories provide a framework for the broader transregional entanglements of decolonization in Africa and the Arabian Gulf. Using both vernacular historiography and life histories of men and women from the community, Nathaniel Mathews argues that the traumatic memories of the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964 are important to nation-building on both sides of the Indian Ocean. |
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Abu Dhabi Afro Afro-Arabs al-Barwani al-Ismaily al-Maamiry al-Riyami Aman Thani Arabia Barwani Beirut British Cambridge University Press century citizens colonial Crozon Dar-es-Salaam Decolonization dhows diaspora Dubai East Africa economic edited election Emirates Empire ethnic exiles Ghassany Glassman Global Goodyear Gulf Hamoud Hashil Heritage and Culture Ibadi Identity Imamate immigration Indian Ocean International Islam islands Journal of African Karume Kenya Kharusi Kwa Heri Ukoloni Lofchie London mainland Marie-Aude Fouéré Memory Middle East Migration Ministry of Heritage Mkuti wa Nyota Modern Mohamed Mombasa Muhammad Muhsin Muscat Muslim nationalist Nyerere Omani Omani citizenship Omani national Oxford passport Pemba political postcolonial Princeton published Qaboos Rashid Red Cross refugees returnees Revolution in Zanzibar Revolutionary Salaam Salim self-published Seyyid Sheikh Shirazi Social Sultan Swahili Tanganyika Tanzania tion Umma Party Unguja UNHCR Union violence World York Zanjibār Zanzi Zanzibar en Tanzanie Zanzibar Revolution zibar