Some time early next year I intend to serve as an Agricultural Extension Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania. For those who don't know, the Peace Corps is an organization run by the United States government. Volunteer service entails at least two years living in a homestay with a local family and engaging in 'development' projects.
Service will not begin for at least another nine months. My current employment allows me enough free time and relaxation to actively read for two to four hours per day. I want to put this time to good use, which is why I am asking /r/askhistorians: What books/articles do you think might be germane to someone working in Tanzania's development community? This could be about African history, Tanzanian history, "development", agriculture, Indian ocean, economic history, anthropology, Theory.....whatever. I just want to avoid being a dumbass.
I currently live in a country where I have very limited access to English books, let alone academic texts. I do, however, have access to jstor and libgen.
Here are a few books I've read that I have found especially helpful when thinking about these sorts of things. I've been trying to hit as many different topics and perspectives as possible. What am I missing?
Arturo Escobar, Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World
Marcel Mazoyer, A History of World Agriculture: From the Neolithic Age to the Current Crisis
Marjorie Shostack, Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman
Jeff Sachs, The Age of Sustainable Development
Aichille Mbembe, On the Postcolony
Amartya Sen, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation
Fred Cooper, Africa in the World: Capitalism, Empire, Nation-State
Robert Young, Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction
Chris Bramall, Chinese Economic Development
I realize my question is broad, but I am hoping that a shotgun approach to this will get me as many interesting things to read as possible.
Thanks! Sorry if this question isn't really appropriate to this subreddit.
Volunteer service entails at least two years living in a homestay with a local family
I've never heard of Peace Corps Volunteers staying with home stay families during their entire service in Tanzania. Unless there's been a recent change, volunteers stay with a family during training (~ 2 months) and then typically live alone in a house provided by the community or institution that they serve with.
I'm not a historian, but here are some titles that come up for Tanzania, colonialism, development, etc. The first few are more scholarly, which seems to be more what you are looking for based on the list you provided
John Illife, A Modern History of Tanganyika
Abdul Sheriff, Dhow Culture of the Indian Ocean
Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost
Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid
Ngugi wa Thiongo, Dreams in a Time of War
Paul Theroux, Dark Star Safari
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Admiring Silence
You might try spending some time gathering electronic resources that might be useful during your service. For instance, I would download Rachel Shamba, which as a lot of agricultural related articles (including some in Swahili).
Which area of Tanzania?
Hey there! RPCV-TZ here. Check out the Peace Corps Tanzania wiki on /r/peacecorpsvolunteers for more info on the country.