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The Arab Slave Trade in Zanzibar: Why This Novel Was Banned in Oman

Weyni Tesfai

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ABOUT THIS VIDEO
Why was a novel about Zanzibar’s Arab slave trade banned in Oman?
In this episode, I sit down in Nairobi with Sudanese author Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin to discuss his powerful historical novel Samahani. I genuinely recommend buying and reading this book for yourself. Samahani is one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve read about Zanzibar, slavery, power, identity and the question of what freedom really means.
But this is more than an author interview.
Throughout our conversation, I read and discuss passages from the book while exploring the history of slavery in Zanzibar and East Africa, Arabization and Black identity, racism, castration and sexual violence, resistance, religion, contested memory, Princess Salme, Tippu Tip, and why confronting this history continues to provoke such strong reactions today.
We also ask some much bigger questions: Who gets to tell history? What happens when heritage becomes part of our identity? Can we acknowledge historical injustice without turning history into a competition over whose ancestors suffered more? And what does true freedom look like after generations of oppression?

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Thanks for watching!

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:39 - The Real People Behind Samahani
8:58 - Can Oman Say Samahani?
9:29 - Retelling History as Revenge
11:44 - From Royal Privilege in Zanzibar to Victim of Racism in Germany
13:44 - The Arabization of Africans
17:16 - The Power of Myths
19:32 - Why Samahani Upset People in Zanzibar
23:06 - The History We Choose to Remember
30:53 - Is the Arab Slave Trade a ‘Eurocentric’ Narrative?
34:48 - The Violence Behind ‘Civilizing’ Africans in the Arab Slave Trade
38:53 - Was Religion the Problem or Power?
41:22 - Does Freedom Mean Becoming the Master?
45:39 - Is Saying “Sorry” Enough to Heal the Past?
47:09 - What Does It Really Mean to Be Free?
48:40 - Join My Zanzibar Expedition

20 Comments

@planbacktoAfrica Creator 1 day ago Pinned

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@HassanIrby 11 hours ago

Great video i will have to buy the book. The irony a few weeks back I got into a protracted debate that Arab slavery and European slavery equally monstrous. Muslims always like to downplay the atrocities committed against African slaves. I speak as a muslin

@richieredw9218 21 hours ago

I'm Jamaican born and i visited Zanzibar about 2 years ago...i visited Stone town and saw the museum of Slave Trade, it was awful... i left there with a bad taste in my mouth knowing how slaves were treated by the Omanis, we in Jamaica at least many of us are products of the Atlantic slave trade which was just as brutal. Well, Oman left it's mark on East Africa and Tanzania/Zanzibar but few have written about it so that book should be interested.

@yusufturner1971 20 hours ago

I have ordered the book am looking forwards to reading it as I think that the evils of the Atlantic Slave Trade have been much discussed and are known, but not the African Slave Trade that preceeded and outlived it, making it even possible! And not forgetting of course, the Arab role in the Slave Trade as it was not about just one people enslaving another, it's a human story and we need to be talking more about this very uncomfortable part of human history, so thank you for making this book known to me! History is always written from a particular perspective, to fulfill a particular purpose, we need to constantly re-examine history otherwise it is simply "His Story!" 🙏🏼👏🏼

@eomanga 19 hours ago

Wow, yet these people control our people to this day!

@MrZochi 20 hours ago (edited)

Great presentation. I love how you addressed the issue of slavery. Thank you

@jimmyd4092 17 hours ago

I'm a African American and have found many black Americans know nothing of the slavery that went on in the middle east ,Africa and Asia. I am ignorant of much of it but do know it existed and lasted longer than the chattel slavery here.

@thomasm5796 16 hours ago

Samahani by Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin

@geralddavino5213 11 hours ago

Thank you for opening my eyes to Samahani. Your narrative shows nuance, subtilty and deep consideration. Growth can be painful,and I hope that you have pain behind you. You have done a great service in presenting the novel and the broader matter in a multifaceted critique. Bravo.

@dansalmons105 1 day ago

Destruction of black civilization by Dr. Chancellor Williams.. This book goes into detail details about their role of the Arab slave trade along with Islam in Africa.. and they kept it going for 1300 years. And that is why we experienced racism in the Middle East today from the Arabs.

@Garigoan 14 hours ago

Thank you Weyni again for this great Presentation! I am one of your regular followers and i enjoy hearing you all the time.

@kchally 1 day ago

Thank you Weyni for introducing us to the brother and his work. You have asked some deep deep questions.

@lightasp 1 day ago

Thank you for sharing this important part of history. If we cant face history, we will replace development and peace with guilt, shame and anger. Thank you for your many good reports🌞

@thedoingwell 1 day ago

Thank you for sharing this story. However, the irony of the writer is, he still bares an Arab name. The question is, what’s his ancestral name.

I very much appreciate the South Sudanese that maintains their cultural identity.

@EMINADO.1.11 2 hours ago

A strong topic to cover.
Thank you for bringing it up to light.

@sileysiley4888 1 day ago

Sudaneses have complex of inferiority with arabs. They claim they are arabs but no arab consider Sudaneses arabs. Sudaneses had civilisation before arab colonisation like nubia or koush

@AddIs-d2v 1 day ago

Well reported. Good job. 🇨🇬🇬🇭🇬🇳🇸🇳🇲🇲🇧🇯🇪🇹

@StephenEnongene 1 day ago

Whoa! Weyni, once again, I must confess that you have hit the nail on the head with this discourse. Many thanks for the illuminating insight, which so many of us Africans need to study carefully. As a matter of fact, many of the current ruling elite in Africa lack the cutting edge of such prudent analysis of historical exegeses, which is why they are easily swayed by astute and shrewed Eurocentric politicians and White supremacist industrialists who parade themselves as intellectuals. Thanks, once again, ma'am, for your brilliant content.