Colonialism in Tanganyika followed by child abuse?
Colonialism: policy directed on acquisition and expansion of colonies; focussing on military, economic and political benefit through oppression
The British Kingdom and its colonies, called the British Empire(BE) since the beginning of colonialization, was one of the biggest colonial powers. One fourth of the world population belonged to the BE. It had its peak in the 19th century. It’s wealth was astounding. After the first world war Tanganyika was part of the British Empire. The 20th century marked the end of the B.E.
1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar formed the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, which was later renamed to Tanzania.
“Albinism is an inherited condition where a person is unable to produce normal colouring of the skin, hair and eyes (lack of pigments). The condition can be limited to the eye or involve the eye and the skin.“ (see embed)
Albinism is a genetical, congenital illness. Oculocutaneous albinism (= OCA) can appear in various forms.
Today, OCA type 2 is the most common form in Africa. OCA generelly appears most frequent in Africa — roughly 1:1000 in Zimbabwe (Hong et al., 2006:2) compared to 1:37 000 in the USA (Lund, 2001: 1) is ‘infected’.
One of the many myths about albinism concerns the possibility that body parts taken from people with albinism will make you lucky. Especially among miners and fishermen this is a popular myth taken for granted(Africa Investigates, 2011). Buying medicine made by so-called witchdoctors using blood, body parts or even organs; or taking bones of albinos to work, is said to make you rich. Marksteiner shows that this myth might have originated of the fact, that people compared albinos to Europeans/Americans which both have a light skin colour. This goes along with the conception that all Whites are wealthy/lucky and the hope that this luck could rub off. (S.43)
If colonization had not happened the way we know it did (display off wealth of ‘Whites’) — would innocent children still be killed for their body parts? Or would these myths never occur?
Hong, Esther S.; Hajo Zeeb & Nichael H. Repacholi, 2006: Albinism in Africa as a Public Health Issue. BioMed Central Ltd.
Lund, Patricia May, 2001: Health and Education of Children with Albinism in Zimbabwe. In: Health and Education Research 16(1); S. 1–7.
Marksteiner, Bernadette Angela, 2010: Der Diskurs über “Witchcraft” in tanzanischen Online-Zeitungen. Eine kritische Analyse. Unv. Diplomarbeit. Wien: Universität Wien.
