Sarah's version of Justin's trip & his contact info

Justin arrived in Tanzania safe and sound, though exhausted. He's in the main city, Dar-es-Salaam, until tomorrow, when he'll fly to Pemba (one of the islands that makes up Zanzibar), the island where he'll be living. This is the same island we lived on in 2006 and 2008. While there, he'll be extremely busy conducting research for his dissertation, on the 1960's in Pemba.

When we (those of use who didn't live through them) think of the 1960's, we think Vietnam, hippies, and major changes in American social and political life. The 1960's in Africa also saw very rapid and dramatic changes--this is the decade when most of the African colonies became independent nations. Some had revolutions and coups. Zanzibar gained independence from the British in December 1963, and then the political party that had lost the elections enacted a revolution a month later. This revolution has books and manuscripts about it.

What hasn't been written is what happened on Pemba island. Pembans liked the ruling party that the British had left in power. They were not supportive of the revolution. Pemba has its own unique story, untold and unnoticed, because it's been cut off from tourist and researchers until rather recently. Scholars have assumed it was the same as the other island. But it wasn't.

Justin's seeking to tell that history. Pretty cool, eh?

Oh, and Justin can be reached by email justin dot beckham at gmail dot com but don't expect his internet access to be very reliable or frequent. Also, he has a cell phone:

011 255 715 789 450

011 is to get out of the US, 255 is the country code. If you call, I recommend using an international calling card (10-20 cents a minute) or a service like Skype (28 cents a minute). Calling from my regular old phone service would cost me $2.57 a minute!

If you're up for sending him a letter, you can send something through our friend at

Justin Beckham
c/o Mohamed Saidi
PO Box 193
Chake Chake, Pemba
Zanzibar, Tanzania