Only a misunderstanding? Non-conformist rumours and petitions in late-colonial Tanzania

Abstract

The rich and nuanced literature on African intermediaries has shed new light on the colonial encounter from the perspective of African interlocutors, but has often neglected to study failed acts of communication between colonial administrators and non-elite African intermediaries. This article fills in some gaps by focusing on non-successful communications. Analysing rumours and non-conformist modes of petitioning, the article explores misunderstandings between Tanzanians and representatives of the late-colonial state. While the British could afford to ignore idiosyncratic messages when they did not clash with their own operational interests, they had to act upon others, and their responses were not always those desired by the Tanzanian senders. Despite communicating in relative proximity, the close distance between Tanzanians who were not fluent in the bureaucratic idiom of the colonial state and British administrators could not always be bridged.