Telling Our Own Stories

Edited by Jan Bender Shetler. A collection of ethnic group histories, written by authors from the Mara Region of Tanzania, in which local people tell their stories as a way to inspire development that builds on the strengths of the past. The collection combines histories from the small but closely related ethnic groups of the Ikizu, Sizaki, Ikoma, Ngoreme, Nata, Ishenyi, and Tatoga in South Mara, east of Lake Victoria and west of Serengeti National Park. Many of the authors compiled their stories by meeting with groups of elders, concerned to preserve history for the next generation who had not taken the time to learn the stories orally. The stories were written in Swahili and translated into English with annotations and an introduction so that readers unfamiliar with this region might also share in the experience. The collection also includes transcriptions of oral interviews with some of the same stories, giving a sense of ongoing conversations about the past. Jan Bender Shetler is Assistant Professor of History at Goshen College, Indiana.