In 1960, Julius Nyerere, then leader of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), engaged in a pivotal discussion with Eleanor Roosevelt on her program Prospects of Mankind. The topic: ‘Africa: A Revolution in Haste’. Nyerere, though among sympathetic voices, had to defend the readiness of Africans for self-governance. His response, delivered with both humor and firmness, resonated deeply: ‘If you come into my house and steal my jacket, don’t then ask me whether I am ready for my jacket. The jacket was mine, you had no right at all to take it from me…I may not look as smart in it as you look in it, but it’s mine.’ This simple yet powerful analogy dismantled arguments that decolonization was premature. While his defense was articulated in fluent English, the language Nyerere championed for his people was Swahili.
The United Nations recognized Swahili’s global importance in 2021, designating July 7th as World Kiswahili Language Day. It marked a significant moment, making Swahili the first African language to receive such an honor. The date commemorates TANU’s 1954 decision to adopt Swahili as the language of its independence movement. Founded by Nyerere just two days earlier, TANU spearheaded Tanganyika’s push for independence, achieving self-governance under the British Crown in 1961 and full republic status with Nyerere as president the following year. At his independence address, Nyerere acknowledged Queen Elizabeth II in English. However, he made it clear that the nation would be built with Swahili.
On the Road to Nationhood
Swahili’s central role in an independent Tanganyika was far from a given. For centuries, it was just one of over 120 languages in the region, primarily spoken along the Indian Ocean coast. The 19th century witnessed a transformation. The burgeoning demand for ivory and enslaved people integrated local trade routes into a global network centered around the Indian Ocean. Caravan routes facilitated the spread of Swahili from coastal ports to interior market towns, establishing it as an East African lingua franca.
The 19th century also brought changes to Swahili’s written form. Initially written using a modified Arabic script, European advocates began standardizing it using the Latin alphabet. From 1864, schools run by the Universities’ Mission to Central Africa in Zanzibar, which catered to formerly enslaved children, created handbooks that were later adopted by the British colonial regime as the basis for administrative Swahili. This laid the foundation for Standard Swahili, or Kiswahili Sanifu, which is taught in East Africa and worldwide.
Today, as recognized by the UN, Swahili is spoken by over 200 million people worldwide. It serves as a national or official language in Tanzania, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda. It’s also a working language of the African Union, the East African Community, and the Southern African Development Community. Its impact has been described as a ‘linguistic tsunami’ by linguist John Mugane, a force that has, in some cases, come at the expense of other East African languages.
Ujamaa and the Power of Language
After establishing TANU in 1954, Nyerere and fellow organizers traveled across Tanganyika, delivering speeches and urging people to join the movement. Nyerere later recalled only needing an interpreter on three occasions, primarily in areas where local languages like Sukuma were more prevalent. TANU made the language central to the fight for independence, and after, to Tanganyika nation-building. (Tanganyika became the Republic of Tanzania following its union with Zanzibar in 1964.)
Swahili was integral to Nyerere’s philosophy of ujamaa, a Swahili word meaning ‘familyhood’ or ‘African socialism.’ In his 1962 essay, ‘Ujamaa: The Basis of African Socialism’, Nyerere articulated the values inherent in the term: ‘We, in Africa, have no more need of being “converted” to socialism than we have of being “taught” democracy. Both are rooted in our own past.’ The principle of familial care was to be extended to the nation, the continent, and the world. His 1967 Arusha Declaration outlined a program rooted in self-reliance, egalitarianism, rural development, and Pan-Africanism. Swahili became more than a vehicle for disseminating ujamaa; it was a vital component. It fostered unity, minimized ethnic tensions, and facilitated collective nation-building efforts. One resident recalls: “It marked a turning point,” they said, “when Swahili started being used in schools and government—it felt like we were all finally speaking the same language.”
- Unifying Force: Swahili helped bridge ethnic and linguistic divides within Tanzania.
- National Identity: Promotion of Swahili fostered a shared Tanzanian identity.
- Pan-Africanism: Facilitated communication and cooperation with other African nations.
- Grassroots Mobilization: Used by TANU to connect with and mobilize the population.
The standardized Swahili taught in schools and during TANU-organized literacy campaigns had been slowly refined over the previous century. Tanzanians are known for speaking Kiswahili Sanifu (‘proper’ Swahili), unlike some dialects spoken in Kenya or the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although the nationalist movement under Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya also adopted Swahili, its role in Kenya’s postcolonial politics has been more nuanced. Tanganyika’s colonial status, as a League of Nations mandate and later a UN trust territory, pushed Britain to support Swahili in colonial administration. Kenya’s larger European settler population entrenched English, and the violent Mau Mau rebellion fostered postcolonial ethno-linguistic tensions.
Nyerere’s championing of Swahili as a cornerstone of nation-building created a strong link between the language and Tanzanian identity. In Kenya, a Swahili-infused vernacular called Sheng is widely spoken, blending Swahili, English, Arabic, and other Kenyan languages. Despite this, Swahili is vital in Kenyan society and politics. As author Binyavanga Wainaina observed, Nairobi’s streets reveal ‘three Kenyas’: ‘City people who work in English making their way home; the village and its produce and languages on the streets; and the crowds and crowds of people being gentle to each other in Kiswahili. Kiswahili is where we meet each other with brotherhood.’
‘Tanzaphilia’ and Beyond
By the late 1960s, Swahili was increasingly linked to Tanzania’s global standing. Ali Mazrui, a Kenyan-born scholar, wrote a 1967 article titled ‘Tanzaphilia’, satirizing the fascination of Western intellectuals with Tanzania and its president. Mazrui noted that it was ‘to the credit of Tanzania that she has managed to command the varied loyalties and affection of a wide range of external admirers’, from the US state department to ‘Western Marxists’.
Nyerere, however, never played the role of a complacent international figure. Despite Tanganyika’s largely peaceful path to independence, he recognized the necessity of using force against white supremacist regimes in southern Africa. At the Organization of African Unity (OAU) conference in Addis Ababa in 1963, Nyerere assured his fellow heads of state that ‘we [in Tanganyika] are prepared to die a little for the final removal of the humiliation of colonialism from the face of Africa’.
Tanzania became a firm backer of southern African liberation movements, providing land in Dodoma as a training camp for the ANC’s armed wing. Nyerere severed diplomatic ties with Britain in 1965 over Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence, and offered Dar es Salaam as headquarters for the African Liberation Committee, an OAU organ supporting independence movements across the continent. This resulted in thousands of people from southern Africa learning Swahili in Tanzania, and many more viewed the language as that of a trusted ally. People are on social media celebrating this. One user posted on X.com: “Swahili is more than a language, its a bridge #Kiswahili.” Another user said on Facebook “Learning Swahili connects me to my roots.” And instagram user said “Proud to see Swahili recognized globally! #WorldKiswahiliLanguageDay”
In 2018, South Africa introduced a new Swahili curriculum in its schools to ‘promote unity on the African continent’, illustrating Swahili’s history as what anthropologist Johannes Fabian called a ‘language on the road’. The journey of Swahili has encompassed 19th-century trade routes, 20th-century classrooms, Julius Nyerere’s political tours, and the forging of connections across the African continent. The program, it is hoped, will bring people together. As one official said, “This will help us form strong ties as we work to achieve our goals.”
Morgan J. Robinson is Associate Professor of History at Mississippi State University and author of A Language for the World: The Standardization of Swahili (Ohio University Press, 2022).
