The Idea of Ujamaa in the Hermeneutics of the Sustainable Development Discourse: A Reconstruction of Nyerere’s Thought of Development from an African Perspective

Abstract

This research work is a reflection on Nyerere’s contribution to the development of an African platform for social and economic development. It takes as its purpose a reflection, from a local perspective, on values that characterize Africa’s social and economic development course. It recognizes, as a problem, the widespread pandemic state of governance, which enshrines legacies of poverty, that disable and obstruct people from achieving an adequate quality of well-being for themselves, despite the wealth they and their land possess. This study achieves its aims by looking into both the political and economic aspects of African people’s lives under the persistent social unrest. It uses a bibliographical method of data collection and a hermeneutical approach to interpretation. In terms of results, the study declines blindly following democratic models borrowed from abroad due to their unsustainability resulting from politicians’ lack of compliance with its demands. It was found that Africa is largely rich in cultures and traditions from which, despite the diversity, a common platform of moral and ethical values can be built; the idea of Ubuntu philosophy or ethics stands as a common ground founded on the African way of doing things. So, to make our case, the study reflects upon Ujamaa, a moral philosophy and form of African humanism that applies the traditional idea of family to the state (communitarianism) (Nyerere 1968). Persuaded by this philosophy and the need to adjust it to the western liberal values (which represent modernity), we conclude that a moderate communitarianism (a fusion of foreign and local knowledge) can outline the foundation of a sustainable political, economic social well-being, aspects that African leaders fail to realize and achieve. Ujamaa encompasses most of the African problems due to its inherent power to respect human dignity through the promotion of justice, peace, freedom, unity, and solidarity among people.