Zanzibar was a country : exile and citizenship between East Africa and the Gulf / Nathaniel Mathews.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : diaspora, development, and national citizenship in the Indian Ocean -- Immigration, exogenous origins, and the politics of citizenship in Zanzibar, 1957-1963 -- Violence and emigration in the Zanzibar revolution, 1964-1965 -- 'On behalf of Zanzibaris abroad' : the Zanzibar organization and postcolonial Tanzanian politics, 1964-1985 -- Zanzibari diaspora communities in the Arabian Gulf, 1964-1977 -- Return migration from East Africa and the politics of citizenship in Oman, 1970-2020 -- Transregional relations, Omani heritage, and a vernacular historiography of Zanzibar, 1990-2020 -- Conclusion.

"Zanzibar Was a Country traces the history of a Swahili-speaking Arab diaspora from East Africa to Oman. In Oman today, whole communities in Muscat speak Swahili, have recent East African roots, and practice forms of sociality associated with the urban culture of the Swahili coast. These "Omani Zanzibaris" offer the most significant contemporary example in the Gulf, as well as the wider Indian Ocean, of an Afro-Arab community who maintain a living connection to Africa in a diasporic setting. While they come from all over East Africa, a large number are post-revolution exiles and emigres from Zanzibar. Their stories provide a framework for the broader transregional entanglements of decolonization in Africa and the Arabian Gulf. Using both vernacular historiography and life histories of men and women from the community, Nathaniel Mathews argues that the traumatic memories of the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964 are important to nation-building on both sides of the Indian Ocean"-- Provided by publisher.