Where is the link between an immigrant from Lebanon opening a falafel shop in Berlin, and a man who has lived in Dar es Salaam for thirty years, selling maize and snacks next to the bus stop for a living? What connects the anecdote of a woman recalling the wastelands of the Moabit district of Berlin, and a young man describing his memories of childhood games in the sandy fields of Sinza?
This book presents urban narratives from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Berlin, Germnay. Juxtaposing the stories to provoke associations, it explores contradictions and draws parallels between the seemingly dissimilar cities. Based on interviews with local residents in a variety of neighbourhoods in both cities, the stories consider urban heritage ‘from below’. They address the cultural or spatial practices that contribute to a sense of community, the buildings that people identify with, and the places that make a neighbourhood special.

Edited by Diane Barbé, Richard Besha, Anne-Katrin Fenk, Rachel Lee & Philipp Misselwitz
Published with the TU Berlin – Universitätsverlag

Order a copy through the university, read it at the library or download it online as a PDF!

PARTICIPANTS
The texts and photographs collected in this book are the result of an exchange between Ardhi University, Dar es Salaam and TU Berlin. The involved students (and teaching staff) all participated in writing and editing the stories during two summer schools and a research studio. As the process was based on group work and collaboration, no individual authors can be credited. Instead, the book is a work of multi-authorship, created by the following contributors:
Lisa Blum, Iulia Ciomu, Carlo Costabel, Negar Hashemi, Max Hege, Benjamin Herfurth, Sascha Hofmann, MinJi Kim, Darius Duong Le, Sarah Manz, Dorothea Mbosha, Arnold Mkony, Arne Mickerts, Michael Minja, Kate Mrema, Hannes Mundt, Gift Mushi, Ena Ninkovic, Khilan Parmar, Irina Pelmegow, Maryam Poursafar, Andrea Protschky, Franziska Rüss, Aileen Runyoro, Hilbert Shirima, Patrycja Stal, Adrian Taylor, Beatrice Termeer, Arianna Tiberti, Anka Walker, Rui Wang, Pommeline Warringa

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is an outcome of Simulizi Mijini / Urban Narratives, an exchange-based interdisciplinary enquiry into urban heritage from below in Berlin and Dar es Salaam. It was made possible by the generous contributions of many people, to whom we are very grateful. Firstly, thank you to the enthusiastic and hardworking students of Ardhi University and TU Berlin who participated in the summer schools and design studio. It was a pleasure working with you! Special thanks to Benjamin Herfurth, MinJi Kim, Hannes Mundt, Maryam Poursafar and Patrycja Stal who contributed to the design and production of the book. Many thanks also to Comfort Badaru (ANZA), Stephan Becker (BauNetz), Cloud Chatanda, Rehema Chachage, Marian Dörk (Urban Complexity Lab, FH Potsdam), John Kitime (Tanzania Heritage Project), kunstREpublik, Aline Löw (Stadt Aspekte), Aida Mulokozi (DARCH) and Annika Seifert (DARCH) for their inputs. We are very grateful to the TURN fund of the Federal German Cultural Foundation, and to Anne Fleckstein in particular for her enthusiastic support, inputs and guidance. And finally our sincere thanks go to Walter Bgoya, managing director of Mkuki na Nyota in Dar es Salaam, who encouraged us to collect the stories in a book.