Safeguarding Intangible Heritage among the Wajita in Northern Tanzania

Abstract

The waJita are among the communities in Tanzania that have their own ways of safeguarding their diverse forms of ancestrally inherited culture, which include strict observance of oral traditions, informal training and apprenticeships. Yet these community practices have been neglected in favour of more recently developed measures (e.g. digital and written documentation, revitalization and creating living museums) which are proposed by experts and foreign organizations including UNESCO. But these more modern safeguarding initiatives often fail; they also have caused conflicts between communities and the authorities overseeing such endeavours. It is instructive therefore to revisit in some detail the waJita community’s indigenous customs and practices that ensure the survival of their own traditional ceremonies. Illumination of such strategies inspires the question of how these community-based practices can be incorporated in the centrally organized formal arrangements and structures designed to preserve intangible heritages of Tanzania.