Nyerere saw African philosophy as recovering a pre-colonial socialist attitude

Evidence

To post-colonial African philosophers then, African philosophy is nothing more than a return to Africa proper, which means a return to traditional African thinking, values, attitudes and practices that existed before Africans came in contact with Europeans. At least that was Nyerere’s (1977, p.6) understanding of African philosophy when he wrote: “[O]ur first step … must be to re-educate ourselves, to regain our former attitude of mind”. There is a suggestion here that African attitudes were lost during Africa’s contact with the outside world. What was lost was the socialist attitude which, according to Nyerere, prevailed in Africa before the arrival of Europeans. Once the traditional practices and attitudes in the traditional family are gained, they can then be extended and applied not only to the newly established nation states but also to the whole society of humankind. Nyerere (1977, p.12) means to make precisely that point when he writes: “[O]ur recognition of the family to which we all belong must be extended yet further – beyond the tribe … the nation or even the continent – to embrace the whole society of mankind”. — Frans Dokman, Beyond Bantu Philosophy_…, 119

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies what ‘return to Africa proper’ meant for Nyerere: a re-education into pre-colonial socialist attitudes, then universalized beyond tribe and nation.