Amandina lihamba biography of michael

Tanzanian actress and writer

Amandina Lihamba (born ) is a Tanzanian academic, actress, playwright and theatre director. She is a professor at the University of Dar es Salaam in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts and has served as its dean, head of department, and university council member. In , 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 ^[1]

Lihamba was born in Morogoro region, Tanzania in ^[2] She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Leeds. Her doctoral dissertation focussed on "Politics and Theatre in Tanzania after the Arusha Declaration –".^[3] 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.^[4]

Apart from plays and children's books, Lihamba also wrote Hawa Clear.