Rereading Ujamaa, rethinking freedom

Wanga, Stephanie (2025) Rereading Ujamaa, rethinking freedom. Development and Change. ISSN 0012-155X

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Abstract

This article examines the compatibility of Ujamaa's conceptualization of freedom with the limits of the sovereign state. This is done by examining popular enactments of Ujamaa in Tanzania in the 1960s, which resulted in what, for a moment, was a quasi-utopian realization of post-colonial freedom. It analyses the ways in which Julius Nyerere, in turn, was inspired by these popular practices and attempted to codify and advance their spread. Viewing this back-and-forth communication as a multidirectional means of theorizing the ideals of Ujamaa, including its radical conceptions of freedom, the article examines how such imaginations were eventually interfered with and restricted by the state, and how they might be revisited today.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Government
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DT Africa J Political Science > JC Political theory J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Date Deposited:	16 Jun 2025 15:36
Last Modified:	07 Jul 2025 16:03
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/128419

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