An Intellectual Geography of the Dar es Salaam School

Abstract

Accounts of the evolution of radical geography and the revolutionary 1960s often sidestep the African continent. But in genealogies of critical thought from this period, the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania looms large. As Tanzania rolled out a new experiment in African Socialism, "Ujamaa," its central institution of higher learning, the University of Dar es Salaam, also played host to Marxist and Pan-African scholars from across the continent and the world. The most interesting among them hoped to advise and radicalize the emerging post-colonial governments and the remaining anti-colonial movements across Southern Africa. Political economy fundamentally shaped the terrain for their debates. How did Dar es Salaam influence these young thinkers? And what is left of their radical imaginations in our current moment? This presentation draws from archival work in personal papers and interviews with members of the “Dar School.”