Dar Days: The Early Years in Tanzania

by Charles R. Swift

Overview

Dar Days is a narrative account of Charles R. Swift's experiences in Tanzania during his eight year employment by the Tanzanian government, serving as Consultant Psychiatrist to the Ministry of Health and Professor of Psychiatry in the new Faculty of Medicine. This book proceeds chronologically from Swift's arrival in Dar es Salaam in September 1966 to his departure in July 1974. Dar Days is unique in its description of life in a newly independent African nation. It helps the reader understand why Tanzania has remained politically stable throughout its forty years, a paradigm of what can occur when people work together for a common good.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761823315
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	07/16/2002
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.49(d)

About the Author

Charles R. Swift is a Freelance Consultant and Author in Durango, Colorado.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Tanzania Maps Chapter 2 Foreword Chapter 3 Preface Chapter 4 Acknowledgements Chapter 5 Introduction Chapter 6 1966: Settling in, Aided by Drs. Akim and Ladda; First Upcountry Safaris; University Students Protest; Psychiatric Patients in Prisons Chapter 7 1967: Tabora: Nyerere as Student and Teacher; National Self-reliance; Eduardo Mondlane and FRELIMO; Moslem Women in Village Chapter 8 1968: Zanzibar: Closed Society, Regular Visits Begin; Friendship with Hassan; Mirembe Revisited; Charles Nchimbi Delivers Chapter 9 1969: Eduardo Assassinated; Hassan and Whales; "Laughing Disease"; Thought Control (?) on Zanzibar, Visits Terminated Chapter 10 1970: Safari to Mbeya via "Hell's Run"; Nyerere's Dialogue with University Students; Chinese Come to Build Tan-Zam Railway Chapter 11 1971: Innovative Medical Student Teaching in Villages; Ex-Zanzibar Minister in Detention; Safari to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika Chapter 12 1972: Visit to Jane Goodall's Chimpanzee Research Center; More Mass Hysteria; Camel Auction in Sudan Chapter 13 1973: Making of a Witch; Begin Psychiatric Text; N. Shamuyarira Relates Childhood Fears; Audience with Haile Selassie Chapter 14 1974: My Successor, Johnson Hauli, Returns from Edinburgh University; Winding Down; Book is Complete; Difficulties in Leave-taking Chapter 15 Epilogue Chapter 16 Notes Chapter 17 Index Chapter 18 Biographical Note

Editorial Reviews

Charles Swift's 'Dar Days' is an engaging and highly readable account...

Charlie Langdon

Dr. Charles Swift has written an absorbing account of life in Tanzania in the crucial years just after independence. 'Dar Days' is important reading for medical practitioners, psychiatrists, historians, for those partisans of Africa's struggle againstcolonialism, and for those drawn to mountain climbing, or Africa's unparalleled animal life.

George M. Houser

'Dar Days' provides an engaging account of a Western physician's dedication to and collaboration with African colleagues on the development of a functional mental health field in Tanzania.

Joe Kovacs

What is the relevance today, amidst talk of terrorism and of AIDS, of a memoir from Dar es Salaam in the 1960s?. . .The answer is simple. Tanzania, the United States, and the world have changed almost beyond recognition from that period only decades removed, yet the need for an internationalism based on mutual respect for our common humanity has never been greater. Charlie Swift's unpretentious stories show how the milieu in Dar es Salaam fostered such ties. They also reveal the personal qualities required for such respect to take root and grow.

From the foreword

An American psychiatrist remembers his life in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania during the 1960s. Swift arrived in Tanzania in 1966, during the era of President Julius Nyerere, and stayed for eight years. The memoir focuses primarily on the author's personal life, detailing his dealings with colleagues and trips through the country, but in the milieu of the times, it is natural that politics plays a significant part in the narrative. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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