'Nation Building' Dominates College

Kivukoni College was founded at the time of Tanganyika's independence in 1961 to help train men moving into positions of leadership in the country at the local level. It stands across the harbor from Dar es Salaam, accessible only by ferry or five circuitous miles of dirt road. I crossed the ferry for the first time in June, 1964, a little bedraggled from a 24-hour bus trip from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam and very curious about what it would be like to teach there. A man in a Volkswagen, who turned out to be a West German trade unionist and Kivukoni's tutor of industrial relations, spotted me as the new tutor of sociology and gave me a lift to the college.

Kivukoni turned out to be a most exciting institution. The staff was an international mixture consisting of the principal, a Canadian who taught world affairs and cooperatives, a refugee from South Africa who taught economics, an Englishman who taught political science, and the West German.

The students were an equally interesting group. Most were politicians, trade unionists, government officials or leaders of the cooperative movements. They were all adults with practical experience who had not finished high school. Men who had shown enough ability and initiative to be trained for more important jobs.

The students take an eight month course in social sciences that concentrates on the practical problems of Tanzania and East Africa. Everything taught is judged according to its usefulness in "nation building." Development--economic, social, and political--is a pervasive concern in Tanzania, and Kivukoni students expect the college to give them the skills that will make them better nation builders.

In addition to lectures, seminars and tutorials, the students take trips to farms and factories around Dar es Salaam. In "workshops" they investigate local problems such as what the effect of including the local villages in the city limits might be, or what what might be done about beggars in Dar es Salaam.

For a college of nation building, "extra-curricular" activities are extremely important. Kivukoni does its best to reach beyond its fulltime students. Weekend seminars on nutrition or the implementation of the Five Year Plan were held for outsiders. On the college's weekly radio program, "Bwana Mpango" (Mr. Planner) discusses the Five Year Plan with housewives, school boys, farmers, or the unemployed. Mbionl (On the Move), the college's monthly paper, is another attempt to reach a wider circle of potential nation builders.

As tutor in sociology I had little to offer besides a framework of generalizations and some new vocabularly. I could talk about the difficulties of changing traditional beliefs, but the students could talk about trying to run an anti-bilharsia campaign. I could talk about urbanization, but the students could talk about what it is like to move into the city and live in the same house with people from different tribes and religions.

They were quick to point out exceptions to my generalizations, but they also enjoyed having new ways of organizing their ideas. They gained satisfaction from looking at a factory and seeing "division of labor" in operation.

Through the course of the year some of my generalizations were discarded. Those that remained were reinforced with facts and Tanzanian examples. I left in June, 1965, feeling that I was just beginning to teach a useful course, but I had enjoyed trying "to build the nation" and was grateful for the chance to see what my education was good for. When I arrived back at Harvard in the fall, I had the satisfaction of seeing some results of my teaching. In the course of the summer, some of my Kivukoni students had already run for, and been elected to parliament