Aspects of Colonial Tanzanian History is a collection of essays that
examines the lives and experiences of both colonizers and the colonized
during colonial rule in what is today known as Tanzania. Dr. Mbogoni
examines a range of topics hitherto unexplored by scholars of Tanzania
history, namely: excessive alcohol consumption (the sundowners);
adultery and violence among the colonial officials; attitudes to
inter-racial sexual liaisons especially between Europeans and Africans;
game-poaching; European settler vigilantism; radio broadcasting; film
production and the nature of Arab slavery in Zanzibar. A particularly
noteworthy case related to European vigilantism is examined: the trial
of Oldus Elishira, a Maasai, for the murder of a European settler farmer
in 1955. The victim, Harold M. Stuchbery, was speared to death when he
attempted to "arrest" a group of Maasai young men who were passing
through his farm. The event highlighted the differences in the concepts
of justice held by Maasai and the imported justice systems from the
colonizers. It also raised vexing questions about the colonial judge's
acquittal of Oldus Elishira, while the Maasai who should have been
satisfied with that decision decided to take it upon themselves to mete
out an appropriate punishment to Elshira instead of total acquittal, and
to compensate Mrs. Stuchbery for the death of her husband by giving her
a number of heads of cattle.
