A
Swahili word. One translation: "African Socialism", part of "ujamaa na kujitegemea" ("socialism and self-reliance"), a guiding idea for
Julius Nyerere as he tried to lead
Tanzania into nationhood. Not a big success, for a number of reasons; didn't
Marx insist that
capitalism was a necessary precursor to
socialism?
Africa had mainly been a
victim of capitalism, never
part of it.
Now adapted/enshrined in the nguzo saba, with a less-local meaning: "cooperative economics".