The Baraza A Grassroots Institution

Abstract

Public or semi-public places where people meet to chat, communicate, quarrel, sit, and watch may be found in many societies: the Piazza in Italy, the beer-garden in Bavaria, or the majlis in Arabia, represent a few such examples. Zanzibar‘s baraza is a place for the negotiation and observation of the ordinary as well as the extraordinary. Sitting in a baraza provides an opportunity to experience every day life at its most local.