The Mwalimu Nyerere Biography (Titled: “Development as Rebellion: A Biography of Julius Nyerere”) is the product of the Mwalimu Nyerere Biography project of the Nyerere Resource Center (NRC). This project was established in 2014 as a semi-autonomous unit under the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH). The project was established as a social science research project to research on and write the first ever most comprehensive Biography of Mwalimu.
Soon after its establishment, RLS partnered with the project to organized a documentation room for storing resource materials generated by the Mwalimu Nyerere Biography project and making them accessible to researchers; to provide a forum for brainstorming and strategic thinking on fundamental issues of development through lectures, seminars, conversations, workshops, symposia and publications and organizing various courses on Research and Development and training methodologies and theoretical frameworks.
As a result of this partnership, the research work went concurrently with those other public activities, allowing the researchers to share the key findings of their research openly with the public and allowing the public to be part of the process through dialogues, conversations, trainings and those other activities supported by RLS as mentioned above.
The paperback, 1184-page Biography was written by three renowned researchers and academicians in Tanzania: Prof. Issa Shivji, Prof. Saida Yahya Othman and Dr. Ng’wanza Kamata. The Biography has already received lots of praise from different prominent African leaders, academicians and activists among others like Thabo Mbeki, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Mahmood Mamdani and Jenerali Ulimwengu. Prof. Majorie Mbilinyi writes about it as “A fascinating read, the biography provides a complex analysis of Mwalimu Nyerere: the philosopher, statesman, politician, writer, teacher, husband and father. The work explores the controversies surrounding Mwalimu’s public and personal life in a critical and sensitive way, drawing on a wealth of information from a variety of sources, including interviews, public archives and personal documents to provide gems, rare insights on contentious moments and events.”
Copies of the three-book Biography are available in a Soft Cover Set at http://www.mkukinanyota.com/product/development-as-rebellion-a-biography-of-julius-nyerere-soft-cover-set/.