My intention in this study was to assess the response of the ‗Anglican Church‘¹ of Tanzania to Ujamaa².Using archives and interviews as sources, I explored the reactions of Anglicans to the struggle for independence, the new regime and Ujamaa. I also explored the response of the political elite to these Anglicans' reactions to the new regime and Ujamaa. Furthermore, I investigated the consequences experienced by the church after the fall of Ujamaa in Tanzania.
It emerged that when Tanganyika and Zanzibar had received their independence, the new African state authorities made rigorous changes so that their countries would reflect African identities. These efforts included an increase in the number of Africans in civil services (replacing Europeans and Indians), modification or changes of names of towns and cities, and the introduction of new policies. Named as Africanisation,³ this development had far reaching impacts on the establishment of the two countries. They merged to form the United Republic of Tanzania and then declared Ujamaa the state policy. Ujamaa, which derived its meaning from the Kiswahili word Jamaa (a family member within an extended family whose utu (humanity) became meaningful only through watu (the community)⁴ was the choice because it signified ‗Tanzanian extended family‘— mtu ni watu (I am because we are). President Nyerere urged every individual, institution, the church included, to work for and live up to the Ujamaa goals.⁵ At a conference with religious leaders at Tabora, for example, Nyerere challenged the leaders to review the European inherited ‗traditions‘ of their churches which, according to him, were in conflict with the Ujamaa which the state was trying to promote.⁶ Although there were some reservations,⁷ the Anglican missions which became the state church of the colonial regime after World War I were faced with two crucial challenges. First was a demand for reorientation of their loyalty from the colonial government to the new state authority and the goals of Ujamaa. The discussion in chapters two, three, four and five of this study focused on this demand. Second was the whole question of whether Ujamaa was compatible with the Anglicanism they were propagating. This question was fully discussed in chapter six of this study. This study showed that changes, especially the ones which touched spiritual aspects of the people, were not easily received and that was what had brought the challenges which the church experienced. This was clearly analysed in chapter seven and the concluding chapter. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/9230 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Mndolwa, William Fabian. |
| Contributors | Denis, Philippe. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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