Tanzania - an example of the vibrant African blogosphere
July 8th, 2007 by Christian Kreutz
I stumpled over an interesting interview on Global Voices with Jeff Msangi about his blogging experiences, the growth of Swahili bloggers and its social impact.
I find this growth very stimulating. You know, information is power and therefore the more Swahili blogs out there, the more influential we become as Swahili bloggers. I anticipate, as a result of blogging, we will see true social change through debates and dialogue, which will ultimately re-shape social, economic and political policies. However, we need to clearly define our vision and mission and believe that blogging is a tool for social change. It is my hope that with the formation of the Tanzanian Bloggers Association, we will be able to achieve that goal sooner than later.
As I said, yes, beyond any doubt I believe that Swahili blogging community can bring enormous changes in our society. We are actually already witnessing changes following what started as a simple online blog discussions. Moreover, I anticipate seeing citizens, through tools like blogs, participating in writing, planning and executing national social, economic and political policies. That will be a dream come true for me.
I had a look at the Global Voices’ wiki, which shows bloggers from many African countries. Tanzania seems quite vibrant with all kinds of blogs (e.g. political, fashion, photo, cartoon). Its blogger community even has a virtual election for their Tanzanian Bloggers Association.
It appears to me that the size and activity of the blogger community varies a lot between African countries. For example, I did not find a single entry for french blogs in the global voices wiki although I know there a lot as well (I guess Global Voices is, so far, very much focused on English).
Do you have examples of other blogospheres and their activities? Do you share Jeff Msangi’s thought that blogging can promote social change? He, for example, promotes the great idea to introduce blogs in schools.
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We cover a lot of french blogs and we even have a francophone editor (covering french speaking African bloggers).
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African blogosphere is blooming, and I do share your views about the Tanzania blogosphere. Other regions are represented as well – Kenyan, Nigeria, and the South African. I even read a while back about the Malawian sector. While Global Voices Online (GVO), has done a whole lot more than any agency in creating awareness around African blog and building a connection between them; its focus is more on bridge-bloggers – blogs that bridge two worlds, and its global perspective means several African blogs are being left out and may never be listed on mainstream blogs like GVO.
This is where AfricanLoft.com (AL) steps in - a multi-author, multimedia platform built for the African and Afrophile audience. The site comes with features that encourage users to connect and interact in a Community. In short, AL offers users the ability to reach across the political boundaries that have, unfortunately, limited the reach and scope of Africa/Afrophile blogs.
Hello CareTaker,
You write that:
How do political boundaries limit the reach and scope of African blogs? I don’t know if I am being overly idealistic, but it seems to me that the blogosphere - even without a bridge blog like Global Voices or a community blog like AfricanLoft - transcends all boundaries. It just depends on us bloggers to get out there and post about our experiences and passions.
That said, given the difficult logistical conditions under which many Africans live, it is very useful and important to encourage especially those working in civil society to understand the power of blogging and that it is worth overcoming the barriers to getting online and figuring out how to set up and maintain a blog. So kudos to you for contributing to that effort!
Blog aggregators also help to connect us all wherever we are in the world - http://www.afrigator.com and http://www.muti.co.za are two of my favorites that specialize on African blogs.
Cheers,
Tobias
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