The Making of Hindu Communal Organizations, Places, and Identities in Postcolonial Dar es Salaam

The author focuses on the religious and caste-based (or ‘communal’) organizations and places of the Hindu immigrant community in postcolonial Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). The paper illustrates how communal organizations, and the contending public narratives that they generated, played a crucial role in defining Hindu communal places and the caste, class, and gender politics around these places. In highlighting these complex politics of multiple identities and communal places, the author underscores the importance of a rapidly shifting political context and a constant reconfiguration of the Tanzanian Asian diaspora at the local, national, and international levels.