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Master Narratives in Omani history: Between Glorification and Erasure
Abstract
In 1698, Zanzibar fell under the control of Saif ibn Sultan, the Sultan of Oman, after a successful expulsion of the Portuguese colonizers. Migration from Oman to East Africa accelerated after the nineteenth century when the Omani ruler Said ibn Sultan established Zanzibar as the capital, and Oman was renamed The Sultanate of Muscat and Zanzibar. Henceforth, Zanzibar became the hub for the Omani ruling elite, expanding on three economic pillars: plantations to grow spices (mainly cloves), ivory sales, and slave labor, until a violent revolution overthrew the Arab rulers from the Tanzanian archipelago in 1964. Despite a long painful history of colonization, slavery, and forced land redistribution, the dominant master narrative in Oman about its history in East Africa rests on three ideological pillars: first, oversea territorial expansion is implicitly justified on the basis that Oman spread Arab-Islamic civilization to East Africa; second, co-existence and co-prosperity with local African inhabitants is emphasized; and third, Oman’s role in the Indian Ocean slave trade and its monopolization of Zanzibar’s economy is downplayed. Thus, this paper argues that the Omani master narrative either glorifies this past or erases some significant aspects of it. An overview of Oman’s history in East Africa will first be provided. It will then be followed by a discourse analysis of Omani newspaper articles that examines this history, utilizing theoretical concepts from Postcolonial studies and Critical Race Theory. A special emphasis will be given to the story of Tippu Tip, an Omani merchant who is remembered in the public memory as a “legend” who conquered the “Jungles of Africa,” while downplaying the fact that he was a slave trader and a plantation owner. Finally, this paper will conclude by providing a revisionist history, and an alternative narrative that replaces comfortable majoritarian interpretations of events, subverts the dominant paradigm, disrupts taken-for-granted beliefs, and exposes oppressive structures.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Oman
Sub Area
None