2024: A HISTORICAL DECONSTRUCTION OF ANIMAL TRYPANOSOMIASIS IN KWIMBA DISTRICT, TANZANIA 1920s-1970s.

The historiography of African trypanosomiasis is featured by a lopsided relationship between studies on human and animal trypanosomiasis.There exists too much leaning in historical scholarship towards the study of human trypanosomiasis while there is a handful studies on animal trypanosomiasis. Studies on animal trypanosomiasis have focused at national and regional levels, covering colonial period while lacking local people's response. These studies provide a room for historical analysis of animal trypanosomiasis control and local people's response at a local level and over a long historical period from colonial to post-colonial periods. This paper constructs the history of animal trypanosomiasis control and local people's responses in Kwimba district from the 1920s to the 1970s. The paper argues that bush clearing in Kwimba district was an important veterinary intervention in controlling animal trypanosomiasis under the period of study though local people's response varied from acceptance to rejection at different times. The paper contributes knowledge on understanding African governments' initiatives to control animal trypanosomiasis at a local level over a long historical period from colonial to post-colonial period. Furthermore, the paper is crucial in redressing knowledge gap between human and animal trypanosomiasis since historians have focused more attention on human than animal trypanosomiasis.