Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Photographs, Figures & Maps
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Glossary
- A Note on Nomenclature
- Introduction
- 1 Butiama: The Abandoned Place
- 2 Musoma & Tabora: Kambarage, Spirit of the Rain
- 3 Makerere: Becoming Julius
- 4 Return to Tabora: African Associations
- 5 Scotland: Great Conceptions
- 6 Edinburgh & Uhuru: Politics, Philosophy & Economics
- 7 Edinburgh & Ujamaa: History & Anthropology
- 8 London & Pugu: Teaching & Politics
- 9 The Early Years: Legacy & Reappraisal
- Select Biographies, Bibliography & Sources
- Notes
- Index
4 - Return to Tabora: African Associations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2023
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Photographs, Figures & Maps
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Glossary
- A Note on Nomenclature
- Introduction
- 1 Butiama: The Abandoned Place
- 2 Musoma & Tabora: Kambarage, Spirit of the Rain
- 3 Makerere: Becoming Julius
- 4 Return to Tabora: African Associations
- 5 Scotland: Great Conceptions
- 6 Edinburgh & Uhuru: Politics, Philosophy & Economics
- 7 Edinburgh & Ujamaa: History & Anthropology
- 8 London & Pugu: Teaching & Politics
- 9 The Early Years: Legacy & Reappraisal
- Select Biographies, Bibliography & Sources
- Notes
- Index
Summary
There was never a time in my youth, no matter how dark and discouraging the days might be, when one resolve did not continually remain with me, and that was a determination to secure an education at any cost.
Booker T. Washington, quoted by Nyerere in undated personal notes for a presentation at Makerere College
This chapter begins with Nyerere’s career as a teacher in Tabora. It outlines the circumstances leading to his favouring StMary’s, a Catholic school, over his almamater, a government institution. It tracks the intensification of his political activity with the African Association, and the recognition at the territorial level of his potential in politics. The chapter analyses explanations for the Zanaki custom of child marriage, and introduces Nyerere’s first wife, a figure who is almost entirely side-lined in accounts of his early life. It discusses his article on education that was published in a Makerere College magazine, continues to follow his debating in Tabora, and reveals his communication concerning social and political developments in Dar es Salaam. These documents discuss trusteeship, and the recurring issue of colonialism. The chapter then turns to Nyerere’s first meeting with Maria Waningu, and the slow progress of their relationship. It closes with Nyerere’s desire to continue his education, the apparent pull of local politics, his attraction towards studying overseas, and his engagement with Maria shortly before he left for the United Kingdom. The new sources in this chapter include a letter to Nyerere written by the political activist Hamza Mwapachu, analysis of a piece Nyerere authored on women’s freedom, and findings arising from a rare interview with Magori Watiha, his child bride.
Magori Watiha
On completion of his three-year teacher training course, the chief ’s son Julius Nyerere graduated from Makerere with a Teachers’ Diploma.2 In the same year, 1945, a territorial conference of Provincial Commissioners back home in Tanganyika noted that
there can be but little doubt that during the years immediately preceding the war a number of factors, amongst which may be included the growth of a semi-educated class and the illiteracy of many Native Authorities, has fostered in the minds of some members of the younger African generation a belief that they were at least the mental equals of some of the chiefs who ruled them and that they themselves were becoming entitled to a share in the general administration of their chiefdoms.
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- Information
- NyerereThe Early Years, pp. 78 - 99Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2014