UJAMAA IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF JULIUS NYERERE A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

UJAMAA IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF JULIUS NYERERE A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT

This project addresses the question of what Nyerere’s particular version of Ujamaa (socialism) is. It answers that question by focusing on themes which surround and feed into Ujamaa, in order to provide its conceptual account.  The thesis is an account of the ideology of Ujamaa in both theory and practice. Thus, while the writings of Nyerere have been a primary source along with contemporary and subsequent commentators, the thesis is not about Nyerere, the person or the body of his work, but about the development and construction of the particular social, cultural, and political theory and practice. Therefore, only the elements of Nyerere’s thought which speak directly about this have been included. Data was collected from the writings of Nyerere as a primary source and supplemented with the work of other commentators in order to argue that Ujamaa was not just a development theory but it was also an ideology, a reconstruction of an imaginary relationship at the level of the state, which should be reinstated in order to free Nigerians from the yoke of domination. Thus, as well as being interesting historically and conceptually, the thesis might also be relevant considering the contemporary political situation in Nigeria.