关键词: 达累斯萨拉姆大学文学系, 马克思主义转向, 教育自立政策, 国家服务危机

Abstract: This article focuses on the Department of Literature at the University of Dar es Salaam during the 1960s and 1970s, offering a systematic investigation into its academic transformation under the influence of Marxist thought and the far-reaching consequences of this shift. Since its establishment, the dissemination of Marxist ideas at the University of Dar es Salaam has been deeply intertwined with Tanzania’s broader socialist experiment. By tracing pivotal developments such as the National Service Crisis, the introduction of the policy of educational self-reliance, and the University of Dar es Salaam Conference in 1967, this study uncovers the social and institutional foundations that enabled Marxism to take root in the Department of Literature. During this period, the department not only served as a crucial site for ideological dissemination, but also actively engaged in in-depth debates on the construction of national literature and the imagination of community through literary polemics, criticism, translation, and writing. These practices significantly enriched the theoretical trajectories of African literature.

Key words: Department of Literature at the University of Dar es Salaam, the Marxist turn, education for self-reliance, National Service Crisis