My name is Fousani Hamidou, and I am a senior at St Lawrence University (Canton, NY, USA), majoring in Global Studies with a minor in African Studies. Last semester, I studied abroad in Kenya and had the opportunity to travel to Arusha, Tanzania, as a part of my program. We lived for a week alongside the Hadzabe tribe, one of the last surviving hunter-gathering tribes in the country. Throughout the week, we hunted hyraxes and made arrows with the Hadzabe men, and we gathered tubas (a tree root) and made beads with the Hadza women. On the last night, we all gathered with members of the tribe on a large rock by the camp to discuss their lifestyle, the Tanzanian government, education, and forced assimilation.

Beaded objects made with Hadzabe women in Tanzania. (Photo: Carole Mathey, St. Lawrence University)

The Hadzabe is a group of hunter-gatherers who have inhabited what is now northern Tanzania for thousands of years. However, over the past 50 years, the Hadzabe have been losing their land due to forced relocation and other destructive policies carried out by the Tanzanian government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and aid organizations. “Decades ago, when Hadza children were taken by the government to boarding schools, many would run away to find their families back in the bush,’ says research scientist and anthropologist Alyssa Crittenden, who has worked with the Hadzabe for many years. Crittendon is also part of the Olanakwe community fund, an organization that has been supporting community-based educational programs and economic development projects that directly benefit indigenous Hadzabe hunter-gatherers.

Through it all, the Hadzabe persevered, and now the government relies on other tactics to remove the tribe through forced assimilation. During my travels, I was told that in some cases a few members of the Hadzabe were also forced into military schools, replacing bows and arrows with guns, and clothing with uniforms. In one instance, a Hadzabe member was taken to a military school in an attempt to assimilate him into modern society. Days later, he left and returned to his land, rejecting the forced assimilation.

Children in the boarding schools have been forced to learn about modern Tanzanian culture, a process which stripped them of their identity and culture. According to author Andrew Madsen, “As we have seen elsewhere, once a people lose their land it is not long before they lose everything else: their language, their heritage, identity, children, culture and all too frequently their lives.” Madsen goes on to discuss the causes of this monumental loss, highlighting the ways that outside influences from the Tanzanian state, NGOs, and foreign aid agencies have damaged the Hadza society. He explains that the Hadzabe have long experienced popular pressure from neighbors, discriminatory attitudes, land degradation, misguided interventions, and destructive government policies that have forced them to relocate and challenged their autonomy.

Within Hadzabe culture, modern Western education is rejected, as it is seen as a way to step away from traditional culture. Missionaries have also played a role in attempting to assimilate the Hadzabe people through religion. The Hadzabe people are not religious, but they practice spirituality, believing their ancestors look over them during times of need. Furthermore, Christian and Catholic missionary groups came onto Hadzabe land and invited the members of the Hadzabe to church. In return, the missionaries gave them gifts in an attempt to convert them to Christianity or Catholicism, trying to steer them away from their traditional spiritual practices.

With the Hadzabe facing such constant pressure due to land loss, government actions, and forced assimilation, companies like the Arusha-based Dorobo Safaris combat these issues through tourism that brings awareness to the situation. Dorobo, whose motto is “Connecting People, Wildlife, and Education in the Heart of Tanzania's Natural Wonders,” states that its main goal is harmonizing nature and humanity, and promoting community-based conservation through tourism. Tourism provides the opportunity for visitors to see and live alongside the Hadzabe, just as I did, and to participate in their day-to-day activities. With the tribe, I was able to hike across the Great Rift Valley, make and shoot arrows, have conversations around a campfire, and learn about the overall importance of the Hadzabe. I have a deeper understanding of how they’ve been able to overcome trials and tribulations from the Tanzanian government and from other tribes within the area.

Every night, we concluded our activities with conversations with the Hadzabe themselves. The tourism opportunities produced by Dorobo Safaris provide visitors with exposure to the Hadzabe tribe, allowing more people like me to become aware of the issues affecting the tribe. The money that the Hadzabe make from their participation with Dorobo Safaris provides enough funding for them to cover medical emergencies.

Conversation between Kenya Program students and the Hadzabe. (Photo: Ella Harari)

Overall, the Hadzabe is a tribe that values community, which is something that is desperately needed within many contemporary societies. The forced assimilation of the Hadzabe into dominant society through various interventions from the Tanzanian government, NGOs, foreign aid organizations, and missionaries, is slowly stripping away this vital sense of community.