Culture in Tanzania

There are over 130 ethnic groups in Tanzania. The largest ethnic groups are Sukum with over three million people, and the Haya, Nyamwezi, and Chagga who have over one million people each. All four of the major African language groups are spoken; the majority of them are Bantu speakers, the others are Khosian, Nilotic, and Cushitic. These ethnic groups, unlike many of the countries around them, have found ways to live together within the country without disintegrating into civil war. The population is only about twenty-seven percent urbanized; the rest of the population lives in rural areas.
Education in Tanzania is very important formal education last for fifteen years. They separate their educational years by pre-primary, primary, junior secondary, and senior secondary. The literacy level of the country is about sixty-eight percent, meaning at the age of fifteen a person is able to read and write in Kiswahili, Arabic, or English. The education system on both the mainland and Zanzibar are bilingual. On the mainland the languages are Kiswahili and English and on Zanzibar Arabic and English are required. Much of the literature available is in either English or Arabic because the indigenous culture is passed on through oral traditions. There are some collections of fables and idioms collected and written down by foreigners. If the family can afford to they will send both male and female children to school, if they must make a choice the male children nearly always are the ones who will be given preferred treatment for education. Education level is a determining factor for women in their marriage and professional opportunities; it also changes how they feel about their traditional labor roles.
Kinship systems have always been important within Tanzania with all ethnic groups. These kinship groups are made up of the immediate family, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and even married children and their families. These kinship groups will live in the same house, compound, and/or village. There are both matrilineal and patrilineal kinship lineage, some groups have changed from a matrilineal to patrilineal this is usually with the introduction of Islam. But with increasing urbanization and Western education there is an increase in the breakdown of these traditional kinship groups. Other factors in the changing of kinship groups and reliance are the increase of AIDS and alcohol abuse. These factors are changing women’s choices more than men’s.
Marriage is a very important role in kinship relationships as well as the structure of society. Traditional marriages were always arranged by the parents of the bride and groom, but this is also beginning to change with the younger generation who want to choose their own life partners. Customs include a giving of a dowry to the bride’s family; this is the opposite of traditional Western dowry tradition. The way for women to earn respect in most groups is through her children and will be identified through their oldest child’s name such as “Mama Kyaruzi”. The central government recognizes both monogamous and polygamous marriages. There is a provision in the marriage law says that the husband must get the wife’s agreement, but this does not mean that women will actually go against what their husband wants even if they do not agree. There is one other form of marriage that is very unconventional to Westerners. This type of marriage is when:
An elderly rich woman can betroth a young girl, fulfil all the required things like bride wealth and so on. After the marriage is arranged and accomplished, the girl comes and lives with the elderly woman. Then the elderly woman arranges for a relative man to cohabit with the young woman so as to beget children for the elderly woman. The "married" woman is regarded legally "married" to the elderly woman since she fulfills all the requirements.
This type of marriage is so that the children that come in the marriage will inherit the wealth of the elderly woman. The inheritance laws in Tanzania are complex and difficult sometimes even for the people who live there to understand. This is because of the government laws versus traditional customs that often conflict with one another. The relations between boys and girls are closely monitored in rural areas, and they are not to show affection in public. Women are not supposed to smoke, raise their voice, or cross their legs in public. Children who attempt to eat with their left hand are quickly disciplined to stop this behavior, because there is a belief of purity of the right hand over the left. There are puberty traditions for both boys and girls. There are several different kinds of genital surgeries performed on girls and boys will be circumcised. Women and girls are the ones who work in the fields and are given the responsibility of raising children, taking care of the home, and providing food for the family. For educated women and men, especially in urban areas, their traditional roles are being challenged. Women are becoming dissatisfied with being treated as second class citizens and this is causing an increase of strife within marriages. Religious freedom is an important tenant in Tanzania. On mainland Tanzania twenty percent of the people follow indigenous religions, forty percent are Christian, and thirty-five percent are Muslim; and on Zanzibar ninety-nine percent of the population are Muslim. All religious holidays are recognized throughout the country. All people no matter their faith have extremely important roles for their ancestors. Healthcare has been increasingly harder to receive for many in Tanzania. When the country switched from a socialized system to a capitalist system many of the foreign nations who loaned the country money insisted that expenditures such as healthcare be lowered. This has had some devastating effects on the health of the population. The life expectancy is sixty years old. Dirty drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poverty are all significant factors to the poor health throughout the country. Of all the health problems that effect Tanzanians the most devastating are Malaria and HIV/AIDS. Malaria is the leading cause of death in the country and is known as the Tanzanian flu. At least 5.6 percent of Tanzanians are infected with HIV/AIDS. Large numbers of children have been orphaned because of AIDS, and with many of the deaths being young adults an increased strain has been put on the older family members whom are usually taken care of by the younger family members. Under Nyerere the economy was socialized but has changed into a mostly market economy. The government still runs the mining, banking, telecommunications, and energy industries within the country. Agriculture is most common form of industry employing four-fifths of the population, this is both for subsistence and to sell. Agricultural exports comprise eighty-five percent of the country’s exports. The growth rate for the country is 6.9 percent and ranks 30th out of the 220 countries throughout the world.