From Collective Villages to Private Ownership

This article examines the long-term impact of Ujamaa villigization on peri-urban areas of Kinondoni District, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. President Julius K. Nyerere’s aim had been to initiate an agrarian social reformation, introducing modern technological innovations and social services to a predominantly rural population while tapping into existing perspectives congruent with his view of “traditional” African society. But the implementation of this policy in Dar es Salaam’s periphery resulted in outcomes that were in many ways opposite to Nyerere’s ideals and counterintuitively served as a catalyst for the expansion of the city into its peri-urban hinterland. The article also explores the concept of tamaa, or envy, which former villagers associate with attitudes and outlooks brought about by urban living. Tamaa is often invoked as a way of understanding the emergence of an informal land market that led to the transfer of land from Ujamaa villagers to urbanites of upcountry origins.