DISCOURSE CROSSROADS: POWER DYNAMICS IN CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM DEBATES WITHIN THE TANZANIAN CONTEXT

Abstract

This paper explores the linguistic dimensions of the Christian-Muslim debates in Tanzania to assess whether the country's lack of unity can be attributed to the Ujamaa ideology. The political ideology of Ujamaa sought to consolidate a non-discriminatory and secular state by separating religion from government and allowing citizens to uphold their religious affiliations. Nonetheless, deep-seated suspicions persisted between Christians and Muslims, prompting an investigation of two separate debate meetings, using Conversation Analysis and Lacan's Divided Subject. The analysis showed that rather than being a friendly conversation, the dialogue had a competitive atmosphere, with parties competing for control of discourse resources, pointing to power struggles and animosity. Therefore, this paper concludes that Tanzania's divided-subjectness indicates that unification is a distant goal despite Ujamaa's objectives. This study contributes to the discussions of religious pluralism in Tanzania, as well as the historical context of Christian-Muslim relationships