A Tanzanian Culture: Catalyst or Inhibitor of Social Development? A Short Comparison of the Cases of Dr. J.K. Nyerere and Dr. J.P. Magufuli

Jacek  Górka

doi:10.18290/rt22699.11

Published : 2022-11-16

Vol. 69 No. 9 (2022)

A Tanzanian Culture: Catalyst or Inhibitor of Social Development? A Short Comparison of the Cases of Dr. J.K. Nyerere and Dr. J.P. Magufuli

Jacek Górka

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rt22699.11

Abstract

Undoubtedly, culture is a unique way in which every human being identifies himself with a group of people and, in parallel, differentiates from others. It is also obvious that culture is not stable in its form, mostly because it is considered as an average of many factors determined by time, place, etc. Hence, culture searches for uniqueness, and that makes it the overriding objective for a group of people. On the other hand, it provides an ancillary support through common values that makes us human. On top of that, culture expresses itself through unique form of communication and as such might become a irreplaceable tool in the whole process of sending and receiving information. In our study, we made an effort to analyze the above-presented ambiguous concept of culture and to compare it with two exemplary leaders of Tanzania, namely Nyerere and Magufuli. Such analyses meant to help us to understand how they understood, lived, and used culture in their struggle for the development of Tanzania.

Keywords:

culture, development, communication, Tanzania, J.K. Nyerere, J.P. Magufuli

Details

References

Statistics

Authors

Download files

pdf

Altmetric indicators

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

“A letter from NYU President, Andy Hamilton”, NYU, accessed February 10, 2021, https://www.nyu.edu/washington-dc/nyu-washington-dc-events/events-by-year/2013/realizing-a-dream.html.

Akwei, Ismail. “Thousands of Tanzanian Civil Servants Sacked Over Fake Certificates.” Africa news.com, April 28, 2017. https://www.africanews.com/2017/04/28/thousands-of-tanzanian-civil-servants-sacked-over-fake-certificates.

“An African President’s dream (Socialism),” vol. Z11, n. 1: 1. Schildknecht fonds. Archives of the White Fathers, Rome.

Aristotle. Topic (Topica). Translated by Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge. In The Complete Works of Aristotle, edited Jonathan Barnes. 2 vols. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.

Biryabarema, Elias. “President Queries Tanzania Coronavirus Kits after Goat Test.” Reuters.com, May 3, 2020. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-tanzania-idUSKBN22F0KF.

Buguzi, Syriacus. “Tanzania: Clocking 100 – Clean-up Campaign Loses Steam.” The Citizen, February 12, 2016. Accessed February 1, 2018. https://allafrica.com/stories/201602121447.html.

Cote, Richard G. Re-visioning Mission: The Catholic Church in the Postmodern Divide. Ottawa: St. Paul University Press, 1955.

“Discurs divers: Conference of the implementation of the Arusha Declaration and the policy statement on education for self-reliance,” vol. Z11, n. 4: 1–14. Schildknecht fonds. Archives of the White Fathers, Rome.

“Discours et livrets de Nyerere: Nyerere’s speech at TANU Headquarter,” February 21, 1971, vol. Z11, n. 3: 1–2. Schildknecht fonds. Archives of the White Fathers, Rome.

“Dk. Magufuli: Sitawaangusha, sitamuogopa mtu na hakuna atakayeonewa.” Mwananchi, July 14, 2015. https://www.mwananchi.co.tz/mw/habari/kitaifa/dk-magufuli-sitawaangusha-sitamuogopa-mtu-na-hakuna-atakayeonewa-2786256.

Eco, Umberto. A theory of semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1979.

Eilers, Franz Joseph. Communicating in Ministry and Mission. Manila: National University Press, 2004.

Føllesdal, Dagfinn. “Semantics and Semiotics.” In Structure and Norms in Science, Synthese Library, Studies in epistemology, Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science 260, edited by Maria Luisa Dalla Chiara, Kees Doets, Daniele Mundici, and Johan Benthem, 449–57. Dordrecht: Springer, 1997.

Geertz, Clifford. The interpretation of culture. New York: Basic Books, 1973.

Gorka, Jacek A. Youth Ministry in the Face of Unemployment: A Historical-Critical Study of the Development of the Church and Its Concern for Youth Formation and Employment in Mwanza Tanzania (Morogoro: Salvatorianum, 2017).

“Hotuba ya Rais John Magufuli kwa Wazee wa Mkoa wa Dar es Salaam, aliyotoa katika Ukumbi wa Diamond Jubilee, Dar es Salaam mnamo Februari 13, 2016.” Jamhuri, February 18, 2016. http://www.jamhurimedia.co.tz/tumejitoa-sadaka-kwa-watanzania-magufuli.

“Magufuli Strike Again,” The Citizen, April 21, 2021, https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/national/magufuli-strikes-again-uhuru-day-scrapped--2539372.

Mbiti, John Samuel. Introduction to African Religion. Nairobi: Heinemann, 1986.

Msekwa, Pius. “President Magufuli Orders Compulsory Teaching of History in Tanzania’s Secondary Schools.” Daily News, February 13, 2021. Accessed February 22, 2021. Available at https://allafrica.com/stories/202102150321.html.

Nyerere, Julius Kambarage. “Speech to Parliament.” In The Critical Phase in Tanzania, 1945–1968: Nyerere and the Emergence of a Socialist Strategy, edited by Cranford Pratt, 67–79. London: Cambridge University Press, 1976.

Nyerere, Julius Kambarage. After the Arusha Declaration: Presidential Address to the National Conference of the TANU, October 16, 1967. Dar-es-Salaam: Government Printer, 1967.

Nyerere, Julius Kambarage. Freedom and socialism (Dar es Salaam: Oxford University Press, 1968).

Nyerere, Julius Kambarage. Nyerere on socialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979.

Obika, Jonathan A., and Emilio Ovuga. “I Forgive to Forget: Implication for Community Restoration and Unity in Northern Uganda.” Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies, vol. 4, no. 1 (2018): 1–17.

Ong, Walter Jackson. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. New York: Routledge, 2002.

Paget, Dan. “John Magufuli Has Changed Tanzania in Just Two Years as President.” Quartz Africa, November 8, 2017. https://qz.com/1123780/tanzanias-president-john-magufuli-is-changing-his-country-for-better-and-for-worse.

“President Magufuli Sacks 9,932 Civil Servants at a Go”. The Citizen, April 28, 2017. https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/national/president-magufuli-sacks-9-932-civil-servants-at-a-go-2587390Read, James S. “Human rights in Tanzania.” In Mwalimu: The Influence of Nyerere, edited by Colin Legum and Geoffrey Mmari, 125–149. Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na nyota, 1995.

SADC Tanzania 2019, “Hotuba ya rais Dk. Magufuli Akifunga Mkutano.” YouTube, August 18, 2019. Accessed March 25, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBUklXzrr0M.

Sztompka, Piotr. Socjologia: Analiza społeczeństwa. Kraków: Znak, 2021.

“Tanzania President Tells Burundi Refugees to Go Back Home.” Deutsche Welle, October 11, 2019. https://www.dw.com/en/tanzania-president-tells-burundi-refugees-to-go-back-home/a-50803967.

Tarimo, Aquiline. Human Rights, Cultural Differences, and the Church in Africa. Morogoro: Salvatorianum, 2004.

“The African Political Scene (Communism in Tanzania, 1961–1964),” vol. Z9, n. 5: 2. Schildknecht fonds. Archives of the White Fathers, Rome.

“Watanzania asilimia 6,5 hawana vyoo kabisa, Mwananchi.” Mwananchi, March 15, 2021. https://www.mwananchi.co.tz/mw/habari/makala/afya/watanzania-asilimia-6-5-hawana-vyoo-kabisa-2881862.

Yahuda, Michael. Towards the End of Isolationism: China’s Foreign Policy after Mao. London: St. Martin’s Press, 1983.