For three days, the University of Dar es Salaam’s New Library became a space of reflection, debate, and imagination as scholars, policymakers, business leaders, students, and development practitioners gathered for the 17th Mwalimu Nyerere Professorial Chair in Pan-African Studies.
Held under the theme Geopolitics, Development and New Visions for Africa, the annual intellectual festival sought to grapple with some of the most pressing questions facing the continent today.
Named after Tanzania’s founding president, Julius Nyerere, the Professorial Chair continues a Pan-African tradition of asking difficult questions about Africa’s place in the world and the kind of future Africans wish to build.
This year’s theme was particularly timely. Across the globe, geopolitical alliances are shifting. Competition for critical minerals is intensifying. New economic and political partnerships are emerging.
Africa, home to a young population, vast natural resources, and growing markets, has become increasingly central to global conversations about trade, energy, technology, and development. The continent is no longer viewed as a peripheral player but as a strategic actor in a changing world order.
Who defines Africa?
As I listened to the discussions over the course of the event, I found myself returning to a different question: beyond geopolitics and development statistics, who gets to define Africa’s future? The conference explored this question from multiple angles.
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A roundtable discussion, Towards the Africa We Envision, brought together voices from government and the private sector, including Dr Blandina Kilama, Joel M. Laizer, and a representative from Tanzania’s Treasury Registrar.
Their discussions focused on innovation, economic transformation, governance, and the practical pathways needed to achieve Africa’s development aspirations.
These conversations were important because economic transformation remains one of the continent’s greatest priorities. Millions of Africans continue to seek opportunities for decent work, quality education, healthcare, and improved livelihoods. No vision for Africa can succeed without addressing these realities.
But among the sessions I attended, one panel stood out for challenging participants to think beyond economics and to ask deeper questions about knowledge, identity, and power.
The panel, Decolonizing Knowledge, Identity and African Dignity, explored issues that are often treated as secondary to development but are, in many ways, central to it.
In The Changing Geopolitical Landscape: A Blessing for Africa? Prof Humphrey Mushi examined the opportunities and risks emerging from shifting global power dynamics. As traditional powers compete with new actors for influence on the continent, Africa appears to have more room to negotiate and advance its interests.
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The discussion also carried an important warning: geopolitical attention alone will not guarantee development. Unless African countries approach these opportunities strategically, the continent risks remaining a space where global powers compete rather than a force shaping global agendas.
That observation struck me because it reflects a broader reality. Africa has often been discussed as an object of international interest rather than as a subject capable of defining its own priorities. The challenge today is not simply attracting partners but ensuring that partnerships serve African interests and aspirations.
Decolonising knowledge
The conversation then moved to education and knowledge production. In her presentation, Decolonising Knowledge, Reclaiming Futures: Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Youth Agency and Curriculum Transformation in Tanzania, Regina Fupi explored how education remains one of the most important sites of decolonisation.
She highlighted the need to recognise indigenous knowledge systems, strengthen youth agency, and rethink curricula so they better reflect African realities and experiences.
The discussion felt particularly relevant at a time when African countries are investing heavily in education whilst also confronting questions about what kind of knowledge is valued.
Across the continent, students often learn about global histories, theories, languages and models whilst indigenous knowledge systems receive far less attention. Yet local communities possess generations of expertise in environmental management, agriculture, conflict resolution, and social organisation.
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Recognising indigenous knowledge is not about rejecting science or global scholarship. It is about ensuring that African knowledge is not treated as an afterthought in African classrooms and institutions.
The third presentation offered perhaps the most provocative challenge of all. In Decolonising Development and Governance: Rethinking Anti-Corruption and Capitalism in a Multipolar Africa, Prof. Aghogho Akpome and Saul Mullard encouraged participants to examine dominant assumptions surrounding governance and development critically.
Their presentation raised important questions about whether development frameworks imported from elsewhere always align with African realities and whether African countries should be more confident in exploring alternative pathways.
Taken together, these discussions shared a common thread: the question of agency. Discussions about decolonising knowledge, identity, and dignity might be less urgent than tackling unemployment, poverty, industrialisation, or infrastructure deficits.
After all, roads, factories, and jobs are tangible whilst debates about knowledge systems can appear abstract. This can be a false statement.
Development does not happen independently of ideas. The education systems we design, the policies we adopt, and the institutions we build are all shaped by how we understand ourselves and the world around us. A continent that does not value its own knowledge systems risks limiting its capacity to generate solutions rooted in its realities.
Role of youth
This is why the youth dialogue on Tanzania’s Dira 2050 was equally significant. Whilst much of the conference reflected on Africa’s place in the world, the youth session focused on those who will ultimately inherit and shape that future.
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Africa is the youngest continent on earth. Any discussion about long-term development that excludes young people is not only incomplete but unsustainable. The dialogue demonstrated that young people are not merely recipients of development policies.
They are thinkers, innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers, and citizens whose perspectives deserve a central place in shaping national and continental visions.
Africa must strengthen its economies. It must negotiate better trade deals, attract investment, expand infrastructure, and position itself strategically in a changing world.
The discussions on decolonisation reminded me that development is also a struggle over ideas. It is about whose knowledge matters, whose history is remembered, whose voice is heard, and who gets to imagine the future.
For decades, Africa has been described by outsiders through development reports, geopolitical analyses, and international headlines. Increasingly, however, Africans are demanding the right to define themselves, their priorities, and their aspirations.
This raises a need to move beyond viewing development solely through economic indicators. We must invest just as seriously in intellectual independence, cultural confidence, and knowledge production.
The Africa we envision will certainly need stronger economies and greater geopolitical influence. But it will also need the confidence to define itself on its own terms.
Mariam Gichan is an archaeologist and journalist based in Dar es Salaam. She can be reached at mariamgichan@gmail.com or on +255 754 215 690. The opinions expressed here are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Chanzo. If you are interested in publishing in this space, please contact our editors at editor@thechanzo.com.
