Ernest Moronda is a Tanzanian anthropologist whose research focuses on memory, affect, and urban life in postcolonial and contemporary Africa. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Freie Universität Berlin and an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam. His doctoral work continues critical inquiries into the ongoing coloniality of heritage, drawing attention to the alternative ways of knowing and doing heritage. His current project examines how Zanzibari urban communities engage with colonial and postcolonial histories through everyday social practices in public spaces like the baraza, in contrast to formal institutions such as museums. It seeks to reveal how emotion—particularly trauma, nostalgia, resentment, and shame—drives people to claim and legitimise their versions of the past. His broader interests include decolonial thought, social memory, and the politics of knowledge in African urban contexts.

Socio-spatio-temporal Expressions of the Past: Zanzibar’s Social Memory, Urban experiences, and Affect

Publications (selected)

2023

Moronda, E. (2023). Here to Stay? Unsustainable Sustainable Street Food Trading in Dar es Salaam. In 40 Perspectives on Urban Sustainability from around the Globe Compilation of Country Replies, edited by Tilmann, Thando and Sarkissian, Tamar (108-109). Berlin: SMUS Publication.

2022

Moronda, E. (2022). Trade and Exchange Contacts: Zanzibar Archipelago and Interior Africa in the Pre-Islamic Period, Nyame Akuma, Vol. 98, 81-86.

2021

Chami, F. A., Shikoni, A., Moronda, E., & Manzinali, G. (2021). Evidence for Subsistence Activities on the Ancient Coast of East Africa, Man and Environment Journal, Vol. XLVI, No.2, 100-114.