Julius Kambarage Nyerere (1922-1999) and the quest for decolonizing African mind: Reflection on first generation of African nationalist leadership

Abstract

The colonization of the African continent mainly in the 19th century was neither for the African interest nor for the interest of Africans. The alien domination caused the greatest damage to the African continent nearly in every aspect of life. Though most of the African countries became independent in the early 1960s and 1970s, many are still connected to Neo-colonialism for more than five decades. Julius Kambarage Nyerere is one of the African freedom fighters, Pan-Africanists, sages, and one of the founding leaders and First president of independent Tanganyika (Present-day Tanzania mainland). There is abundant literature on the role of the first generation of African nationalist leaders including Nyerere on African anticolonialism and nationalism but, relatively less has been covered on how they contributed to the decolonization of African minds which is the centre of the coloniality of power and decolonal processes on the continent. Therefore, this paper seeks to uncover Nyerere's quest for decolonization of the African mind. The paper also aims to analyze historiographical trends in the African decolonization process. The study is purely qualitative and uses secondary sources to enrich it. It has been revealed that Nyerere's philosophy on politics, education, development, policies, and socio-economic aspects is highly focused on the decolonizing African mental landscape. The paper concludes that in order to achieve true liberation and development, African leaders are called to lead their people and direct their efforts decolonize the minds by reconstructing and deconstructing important aspects such as language, education systems, traditions, and customs as well as building a transformative Pan-Africanism.