Mapunda, Christopher Amon (2011) Julius K. Nyerere Overlooked some Rights of the Individual as he Learns Advocating the Common Good. A Critique of the Philosophy of Ujamaa. Undergraduate thesis, Arrupe College - University of Zimbabwe.
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Abstract
The notion of rights is entangled in a web of diversities of understanding and implications. Different schools of thought have attempted to define and analyze what rights are. Two of the schools are communitarianism and liberalism. Most African thinkers, including Julius Kambarage Nyerere, belong to a communitarian school of thought. For communitarian thinkers an individual is not an isolated entity because he or she is born into a family (Menkiti 171). A family is therefore a basic unit of socialization where an individual learns about his or her community before he or she is fully integrated into it. Primarily, the individual learns values of the community through the members of his or her family, and thus he or she is able to realize what his or her rights and potentials are as an individual in the context of the community. Ujamaa is a Kiswahili term which means family-hood. It was used as an alternative term for a kind of socialism to give a deeper understanding to Tanzanians with regards to community. It was a philosophical framework which sparked a sense of belonging to Tanzanians as members of one family with the aim of promoting the common good. This was to be done largely by organizing individuals’ inequalities to serve their equalities (Nyerere, Freedom and Socialism 30). Thus, nationalization of industries and commercial undertakings, promotion of cooperatives etc., were introduced as a means of promoting the common good and fighting competition as a pattern to seek individual gain (324). Unlike communitarian thinkers, the liberal school of thought focuses on the ability and rights of the individual to realize his or her potentials but not at the expense of the community. John Rawls is one of the prominent thinkers of the liberal school of thought. According to Rawls an individual has rights founded on justice which cannot be overridden by other persons or a community as a whole (Theory of Justice 3). For another liberal thinker, Amartya Sen, individuals are different because each individual has different abilities to be or do whatever he or she has reason to value as long as he or she is empowered by socio-economic and political opportunities (Sen 75). This paper aims at discussing and ultimately demonstrating that the philosophy of Ujamaa has to some extent overlooked rights of the individual. This is because the objective of Ujamaa was to promote the common good largely by organizing individuals’ inequality as a way of fostering equality (Nyerere 324). To demonstrate the aforementioned affirmation I have divided the paper into four chapters. The first chapter is an analysis of the philosophy of Ujamaa with regards to promoting the common good. The second chapter is an examination of Ujamaa’s conception of individual rights. The third chapter is an illustration of how Ujamaa to some extent overlooked rights of the individual. The fourth chapter identifies some possible criticisms that can be raised against the position that Ujamaa overlooked some rights of the individual.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Undergraduate) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | common good, ujamaa, Julius K. Nyerere, individual rights |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) |
| Divisions: | Africana |
| Depositing User: | Mr Christopher Mapunda |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Jul 2015 12:17 |
| Last Modified: | 08 Jul 2015 12:17 |
| URI: | http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/264 |
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