Kilimanjaro Mountain, Memory, Modernity

Edited by Francois Bart, Milline Jethro Mbonile, and Francois Devenne. Mount Kilimanjaro is one of Tanzania’s most consummate symbols. Interest in the mountain dates back to the nineteenth century, when epic excursions by scientists, explorers, and missionaries kindled controversy, envy, and unquenchable desire, and the mountain became a prototype of colonial exoticism. Contemporary preoccupations with the mountain as an essential ingredient of national identity and of Tanzania’s self-image are, in some senses, attempts to recapture what has been stolen. As part of the legacy of both Chagga farmers and Maasai shepherds, it is both an image of agricultural toil and of traditional pastoral values. A psychic landmark for collective identity, permanence, heritage, and memory. This beautifully illustrated book of essays and photographs examines Kilimanjaro’s place at the intersection of memory, modernity, tourism, development, and environmental change.