Amandina Lihamba (born 1944) is a Tanzanian academic, actress, playwright and theatre director. She is a professor at the

University of Dar es Salaam The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in ...

in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts and has served as its dean, head of department, and university council member. In 1989, she co-founded the national Children Theatre Project and festival. She also founded the girls drama group ''Tuseme'' (Let's Speak Out) festival with Penina Muhando in 1998. Lihambra was born in

Morogoro District Morogoro Urban District ( sw, Wilaya ya Morogoro Mjini) is one of the six districts of the Morogoro Region of Tanzania. It contains the city Morogoro, capital of the Morogoro Region, and no villages. Morogoro Urban District covers . It is bordere ...

, Tanzania in 1944. She earned her Ph.D. from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

. Her 1985 doctoral dissertation focussed on "Politics and Theatre in Tanzania after the Arusha Declaration 1967–1984". There, she describes how after the Arusha Declaration the Tanzanian verse drama '' ngonjera'' evolved from a propaganda tool of the ruling party into a subversive and syncretic form. Apart from plays and children's books, Lihamba also wrote ''Hawala ya fedha,'' based on Senegalese film director

Ousmane Sembène Ousmane Sembène (; 1 January 1923 or 8 January 1923 – 9 June 2007), often credited in the French style as Sembène Ousmane in articles and reference works, was a Senegalese film director, producer and writer. The ''Los Angeles Times'' consider ...

's '' The Money-Order''.

Plays

* ''Harakati za ukombozi'' (2003) * ''Hawala ya fedha'' (2004)

Fiction for young readers

* ''Mkutano wa pili wa ndege'' (1992) * ''Nana, Upepo mwanana'' (1999)

Filmography as actress or writer

*''The Marriage of Mariamu'' (1985) *''Khalfan and Zanzibar'' (1999) *'' Maangamizi: The Ancient One'' (2001)

References

1944 births Living people Alumni of the University of Leeds Tanzanian actresses Tanzanian dramatists and playwrights Tanzanian film directors Tanzanian women film directors Tanzanian women writers Academic staff of the University of Dar es Salaam 20th-century Tanzanian actresses 21st-century Tanzanian actresses {{Tanzania-bio-stub