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AbstractThrough a multi-sited ethnological lens, this article highlights the influences of political and economic dynamics on the Omani-Zanzibari family construction. It explores the fluid nature of the Omani-Swahili identity, the role of the family institution in regulating morality and sexuality, and the impacts of political events and forces on the development of multiple family configurations. It further analyzes key societal concepts such as marriage, legitimacy, succession, post-forced-displacement adaptation, and evolutionary identity. Through a qualitative study, the author uses fieldwork in Oman and Zanzibar, a range of primary archival sources, dialogues with prominent Omani-Zanzibari personalities, and published and private personal memoirs reflecting key historical periods in the development of Omani-Zanzibari identities to speak to the themes of the Omani polity that are unique to the Gulf.

This article examines how Zanzibari women in KwaZulu-Natal are negotiating their identities within the context of local and global realities. In South Africa, while the post-apartheid period gave birth to non-racial democracy, South Africa is haunted by high unemployment, widespread poverty and poor service delivery. Globally, this period has witnessed increased conflict since the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the subsequent War on Terror which has led some to suggest that the irreconcilable fault lines of religion and culture have ushered in a clash of civilisations. This article examines the identities of Zanzibari women in the context of these rapidly changing local, national and international conditions. It also speaks to the local context of apartheid race engineering as the Zanzibari experience underscores the contingent nature of race as a category of identity. The article argues that while religion is important in the lives of the women, their identities are shaped by the complex interplay between religion, politics, class, race, language, community, and geography. An analysis based solely on religious laws and "race" deflects from a nuanced one that takes into account social and economic conditions when it comes to historicising identity

Taarab in contemporary Zanzibar currently experiences great changes since the Nineties with the emerging and growing success of modern taarab. This has shocked the fans of the traditional style (taarab asilia) with musical and instrumental innovations, including powerful amplifiers and more danceable rhythms, but also textual innovations, using in their songs, commonly called mipasho, a sort of language and poetical imagery very open and non-disguised (Khamis 2002: 200). The perception of a split between the two musical and poetical styles is widely shared among the artists and fans of traditional taarab, but it actually tends to simplify the dynamics of continuity and change of this art deeply rooted within the social and political life of Zanzibar islands.

On April 26, 1964, the People's Republic of Zanzibar merged with the Republic of Tanganyika to form the Tanzanian Union. Yet the circumstances surrounding the formation of this Union and the nature of the Union itself raise several unanswered questions. Indeed, some Zanzibaris fear that their island archipelago has been effectively "taken over" by Tanganyika through the guise of the Union government of the Tanzanian mainland. This manuscript explains how Zanzibari fears over the archipelago's usurpation have no basis since the current and evolving nature of Zanzibar's autonomy and legal rights have enabled the islands to become a strong player in the determination of the Tanzanian Union.