Historia ya Jamii ya Zanzibar Na Nyimbo za Siti Binti Saad

Laura Fair ni Profesa wa historia na anafundisha Michigan State University, Marekani. Aliishi Zanzibar miaka kadha alipofanya utafiti kwa ajili ya kitabu chake cha kwanza: Pastimes and Politics: Culture, Community and Identity in Post-abolition Urban Zanzibar, 1890-1945. Katika kitabu hicho anaeleza jinsi ambavyo watumwa walidai uhuru wao kutoka kwa mabwana wao na vile walivyojaribu kudai haki zao kutoka kwa watawala wapya, Waingereza. Baadaye alifanya utafiti visiwani na Tanzania bara kuhusu historia ya sinema na anategemea kuchapisha kitabu kingine kuhusu sinema hivi karibuni. Kama maprofesa wengi wa enzi za nyuma wa Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam, Profesa Fair ni mfugaji pia. Huko Marekani anafuga kuku na kondoo bila matumizi ya dawa (kiasilia) na pamoja na mtoto wake Sabri wanalima takriban vyakula vyao vyote. Njoo Marekani, uwatembelee huko mashambani

Laura Fair is Professor of History at Michigan State University in the U.S.A. She lived in Zanzibar for many years doing research for her first book: Pastimes and Politics: Culture, Community and Identity in Post-abolition Urban Zanzibar, 1890-1945. In thisbook she illustrates how  former slaves used the social and cultural tools at their command to demonstrate their freedom from slavery and articulate alternative visions of justice under colonialism. Her current book project is a wide-ranging study of commercial cinema in colonial and post-colonial Tanzania, exploring changes in exhibition, distribution and reception over time. Like many former Professors at the University of Dar es Salaam, she is also a farmer. In the United States, Professor Fair and her son Sabri raise organic, free-range chicken and sheep and raise most of their own food.