MOI UNIVERSITY MAIN CAMPUS

SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY

NAME: BRIAN KYALO

REG NO: PSY/36/15

COURSE CODE: BAS 303

COURSE TITLE: CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES

TASK: TAKE-AWAY CAT

LECTURER: MS. ARUSEI

DATE: 18TH APRIL 2017

SIGNATURE: ……………….

QUESTION: Discuss African Nationalism highlighting their philosophies. Pick an African

nationalist and type of philosophy and its relevance today in African perspective. (Nyerere)

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 Introduction

African nationalism emerged as a mass movement in the years after World War II as a

result of wartime changes in the nature of colonial rule as well as social change in Africa itself.

Nationalist political parties were established in almost all African colonies during the 1950s and

their rise was an important reason for the decolonization of Africa between c.1957 and 1966.

However, African nationalism was never a single movement and political groups considered to be

African nationalists varied by economic orientation and degrees of radicalism and violence.

Nationalists leaders struggled to find their own social and national identity following the European

influence that controlled the political landscape during the colonial occupation.

African nationalism in the colonial era was often framed purely in opposition to colonial

rule and was therefore frequently unclear or contradictory about its other objectives. According to

historian Robert I. Rotberg, African nationalism would not have emerged without colonialism. Its

relation to Pan-Africanism was also ambiguous with many nationalist leaders professing Pan-

African loyalties but still refusing to commit to supranational unions. African nationalists of the

period have also been criticized for their continued use of ideas and policies associated with

colonial states. In particular, nationalists usually attempted to preserve national frontiers created

arbitrarily under colonial rule after independence and create a national sense of national identity

among the heterogeneous populations inside them.

Ujamaa Philosophy by Julius Nyerere

The philosophy of education for self-reliance was propounded by Mwalimu

Nyerere, the first president of the Republic of Tanzania. The underlying principle of this

philosophy is that education should produce an individual who has acquired, not only knowledge

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and skills, but also social and mental attitudes that will help the individual to be self-sufficient

after leaving school. “Education for self-reliance” should also interrogate the pupils with the local

community so that they can learn relevant skills from other community members.

Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, in his Arusha Declaration of 1967, advocated “Education for

self-reliance’. This declaration proclaimed war on poverty, oppression and dependency on foreign

aid. Nyerere stressed that the country’s development depended on good use of the land, good

leadership and intelligent application of individual effort.

The word he adopted for this concept of self-reliance was Ujamaa, which means

brotherhood, or family hood. This principle emphasizes cooperation, equality and self-help in the

inherited colonial system. The reasons why Nyerere introduced this philosophy were:-

· To emphasize cooperation rather than individual advancement.

· To break the dependence of Tanzania’s development on foreign assistance and

control

· To inculcate a sense of responsibility to the society in the youth.

· To solve the problem of unemployment for school leavers and university graduates.

· To discourage access to education only by a select few which would lead to

intellectual arrogance or elitism.

· To redress regional imbalances.

· To enhance national unity.

‘Education for self – reliance’ was introduced in the following ways:-

· Ujamaa schools were established and, through them, education was taken to the

community. This made it possible for children and members of the community to learn from each

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other. For instance, craftsmen shared their skills with children, while children made use of

community farms to put the knowledge gained in school into practice.

· Primary school education curriculum emphasized teaching of the 3Rs with Kiswahili

as the medium of instruction.

· Students had to learn and practice agriculture on the school farm.

· The content of subjects such as History, Geography, Math’s and Science was

changed to incorporate aspect relating to the local environment. Activities such as bee-keeping,

poultry farming, animal husbandry, use of fertilizers, tie and dye and carpentry were emphasized.

· Each school, especially secondary schools, had to contribute to its own upkeep. To

achieve this they had to have a farm to grow their own food and a craft workshop to generate

income.

· The entry age for primary school was raised to eight years. This was to ensure that

when children finished their primary schooling, they would be old enough to engage in self –

reliance activities.

· Primary education was considered complete in itself rather than as a foundation for

higher education. This was to ensure that they youth could be gainfully self-employed rather than

seek white collar jobs.

· Selection to secondary school was based on examination outcome and the teacher’s

reports on the Childs attitudes, initiative and commitment.

· It was compulsory for all students to join the national youth service for two years

before entering university.

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 Relevance of the philosophy

Learning from the educational philosophy of Mwalimu Nyerere, one can note the rich

universal relevance of his philosophy to the contemporary education practices in higher education

in Tanzania. The attitude of critical thinking as one of his philosophical ideas today should be used

as a prerequisite to policy makers and planners of higher learning institutions in their steps towards

improvement of higher learning institutions. Scholars in higher learning institutions are challenged

to put into practice Nyerere’s philosophy by being critical thinkers to address problems affecting

higher learning institutions. In the contemporary times, higher learning institutions have turned to

be the boiling port of many problems ever experienced before, ranging from social, economic,

political to academia. It is the view of this paper that once the attitude of critical thinking will be

inculcated among scholars in higher learning institutions then scholars are expected to be in a good

position to address if not all, some of the problems facing their communities and society. For

example, higher learning institutions in the contemporary time are faced with problems of rapid

increase of higher education demand, which do not match with existing resources in terms of

human and material facilities. In other words by using Mwalimu Nyerere’s philosophy these

problems can be turned into challenges to foster creativity and innovations among scholars aiming

at addressing some of these problems.

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