Books & Films on Zanzibar, Oman & Afro-Arab Histories
Nathaniel Mathews is Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Binghamton University and the author of Zanzibar Was a Country: Exile and Citizenship between East Africa and the Gulf. His research traces the entangled histories of Zanzibar and Oman, from the cosmopolitanism of the Indian Ocean world to the upheavals of the 1964 revolution. He joined us on The afikra Podcast and reflected on memory, migration, empire, and Afro-Arab identities. He closes the conversation by recommending a rich set of books and films for anyone curious about the layered histories of East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
Things To Read on the Afro-Arab Connection
In the Time of Oil
by Mandana Limbert
This anthropological study includes interviews with Omanis of East African origin, unpacking their sense of belonging and historical memory in a post-oil Gulf.
Society of the Righteous
by Kimberly T. Wortmann
A newly published book on Ibadi transnationalism in Tanzania, exploring the religious and political networks that linked Oman and East Africa.
Sea of Debt
by Fahad Bishara
This landmark work investigates the commercial and legal ties across the western Indian Ocean. It traces how Gulf and East African merchants navigated overlapping legal systems, redefining debt, ownership, and commerce in an interconnected world.
Zanzibar Was a Country:
Exile and Citizenship between East Africa and the Gulf
by Nathaniel Mathews
The book explores the Swahili-speaking Arab diaspora from East Africa to Oman. Focusing on Omani Zanzibaris — many exiled after the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution— Mathews shows how their memories and life histories link Africa and the Gulf in the shared story of decolonization.
Dissertation (forthcoming book)
by Ahmad Al-Maazmi
Mathews also highlights a fascinating ongoing project: Al-Mazmi’s dissertation on the Omani engagement with East African occult sciences. “It looks at how East African occult practices influenced Omani scholars and intellectual traditions, a totally underexplored but important topic.”
Things To Watch on the Afro-Arab Connection
House of Wonders by Friedrich Kluetsch
A German-produced documentary using the iconic House of Wonders, once the royal palace of the Sultan of Zanzibar, as a lens through which to examine the Omani presence in East Africa. "It’s a really great documentary,” Mathews notes, “even if it’s a little hard to track down." If you can find a copy, it’s well worth the watch.
The Tourist by Gary Zhexi Zhang
This short film explores the story of Ali Sultan Issa, a revolutionary of Omani-Zanzibari descent who played a role in the 1964 revolution. It examines how Issa and others saw the revolution as a socialist uprising against feudal rule, complicating the familiar narrative of the Omani elite in Zanzibar.
