Habari Gani? Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)!
Kwanzaa Day 4. Let's talk about Scientific Socialism.
What’s good y’all? I hope the last three days of the holiday has been the glass of water you were thirsting for. Today marks the halfway point of Kwanzaa and we do it with the principle of Ujamaa. Unlike the other general principles, Ujamaa has a specific poignant history that tracks with the timeline of Kwanzaa’s creation. That being said, today’s post is a lesson. If you’re in the midst of something, give yourself some good another good time to read this. It’ll be here waiting. :)
Ujamaa as African Communalism
Cooperative economics is a way to describe Ujamaa, but at its core it’s more clearly understood as African communalism. Communalism can be understood as an economic system that, as Walter Rodney explains it, rests on communities “living together, working together, and sharing the proceeds.” Sounds nice don’t it?
Side Note": I will be continually referencing Walter Rodney’s, Guyanese academic revolutionary, essay “Tanzanian Ujamaa and Scientific Socialism” from his book “Decolonial Marxism”.
The distinction between cooperative economics and communalism matters because communalism lives past an economic system. When we are able to see Ujamaa as a means for existing entirely in our communities, sharing, providing, receiving and being it becomes more expansive than economics.
Ujamaa in Tanzania
When Tanzania gained independence from Britain in 1961, they instituted a system they called Ujamaa Villages. It was a specifically instituted set of legislation that attempted to reconnect rural Tanzanian farmers with their own land and production. Before independence there was a foreign capitalist class that had control over a large portion of Tanzanian land. In post of independence, there was essentially an exodus of this overseeing class to give the indigenous land stewards control over the spaces in which they lived.
The system was not Utopian. It was nonetheless instituted and controlled by a petty bourgeoise political class and not by those working the land. Regardless, it was something tangible that worked to reconnect people with the land they had been refused during the colonial period.
Mind you, Kwanzaa was created by Maulana Karenga, an Africana studies professor in 1966. He most definitely would have been aware of these Ujamaa Villages when choosing the principle as one of the seven. Let us not disconnect the historical context with the process of creation. Inspiration does not spring out of thin air, it is an amalgamation of all things we experience.
Ujamaa and Marxism
Kwanzaa is political. Ujamaa’s essence becomes political because of the systems we live under. We cannot separate the politics of Kwanzaa’s principles from some idealized “motherland” concept. Let’s keep it real y’all.
Walter Rodney’s essay seeks to make a connection between Scientific Socialism (Marxism) and Ujamaa in a way that is different from other forms of African Socialism. That’s because it is. African Socialism has historically had a very loose moral code that is easily morphed to not disturb European colonial systems. Ujamaa on the other hand makes clear its goal to return the means of production to the ownership of the workers and peasants through cooperatives and their government. That is essentially Marxism.
There’s a lot to unpack with what Marxism means and how it can relate to Africa so I do really urge you to read Rodney’s essay!
Implementing Ujamaa
Right, so I’m not a government or a peasant farmer, how do I institute Ujamaa? Good question. That’s the fun in experiencing the world together, we can think of solutions collectively. I don’t have the answers, but I have a few ideas.
Don’t spend your money at big grocery stores if you don’t have to.
Do go to your local farmers market and get to know the people growing the food you’re eating.
Don’t give your money away to random charities that look to big billionaire donors to do non-existent community work.
Do research local mutual aid and bail funds and the people it seeks to provide for.
Don’t be afraid to receive help from mutual aid funds, food drives, or community resources.
Do confidently show up to ask for help because you know you’ll do the same in return when you are able.
Ujamaa is not about a transactional process, it is about helping, being helped, and seeing each other in our wholeness so we are more easily able to keep a thriving community.
Light that fourth candle, it should be the second red one. Give gratitude to all of the people that have worked through communalism to get you where you are and continue to do that for those around you.
- Carma
In case you missed it, here are the posts for the last three days of Kwanzaa. :)
