USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Where are the papers of Bonaventure Swai?

IB, that was a quote from Monday Yakiban Mangvwat's (2013) book. I did not know Swai personally. But his 'radical' colleagues in Tanzania regarded him highly. The same applies to some readers in Nigeria and elsewhere such as this:

"Bonaventure Swai made a laudable contribution in analysing the colonial politics in Kolathunadu. He did his D.Phil from Sussex on the topic, 'The British in Malabar' in 1974. He contributed several scholarly articles on colonial hegemony in Malabar. He identified Randathara as a flash-point in Anglo-Kolathunadu relations and analyses the colonial foul play initiated by the English East India Company to control it in the course of colonial penetration.31 He analysed the peculiarities of the colonial state in Malabar32 and the demotion of Kolathunadu to the status of a petty principality as a result of the merchant capitalist intrigues of colonial agents33 and the role played by the Moplah merchants of Tellicherry in strengthening the cause of British colonialism.34"

"Swai was another of our unsung heroes who was not given sufficient recognition by his alma mater, UDSM" - Former Colleague

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From: "ibdullah@gmail.com" <ibdullah@gmail.com>
To: "usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> 
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2016 11:06 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Where are the papers of Bonaventure Swai?

Swai left Nigeria without looking back! He was not too happy in Sokoto. When he trooped back to East Africa that was it. He had no friends that he stayed in contact with. Not even Arnold Temu, my teacher at ABU, and my Dean at UWC, South Africa, was in contact with Swai after he departed Nigeria.

Hope this helps. The claim in your posting about his radicalism is overrated; Swai did not get pass Althuser and Corrigan. Before he even left ABU he had seemingly reached the end of intellectual journey with constant repetition and citations unconnected with history as lived experienced. The book you cited--Historians and Africanist History--contains all the pitfalls of his evolving notion of the African pasts.  He was not into empirical research and his philosophizing, if one can call it that, did not add much to our understanding of the African past. Comrade Swai, was definately not Wamba, another historian philosopher with his feet squarely in Aftica.

Hope this helps.

Ib

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From: Chambi Chachage
Sent: ‎14/‎01/‎2016 10:45 PM
To: USAAfricaDialogue
Cc: Wanazuoni
Subject: Where are the papers of Bonaventure Swai?

Dear Professor Falola et al.,

By any chance did Bonaventure Swai (described below) deposit his papers in Nigeria or elsewhere?

"Closely related to Professor Temu was another Tanzanian Professor with whom I became closely associated. He was Professor Bonaventure Swai, a younger and more intellectually restless scholar whose Ph.D. thesis was supervised by the same Temu back at the University of Tanzania, Dar es Salam. He had joined the history department at A. B. U. on the encouragement of his teacher who had recommended him to the Head of Department. He was excessively critical and tore apart almost every argument I was putting forward until Temu would calm both of us down. Professor Swai was uniquely well-read and knowledgeable but highly critical and impatient with any scholar who could not keep pace with his thinking. Together with Temu, they authored the famous book, Historians and Africanist History: A Critique published by Zed Publishers, London, 1981, while they were still in Zaria. Swai eventually left Zaria for the Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto, and finally left Nigeria for the University of Uganda, Gulu, where he took ill and passed on; may his soul rest in perfect peace. I will never forget him" - http://www.cap-press.com/pdf/08476.pdf

Best Regards,

Chambi