UTAFITI NOTES 1
     In March 1979 a conference was held at the Motel Agip in Dar es Salaam
under the chairmanship of Dr. Maliyamkono which was devoted to the theme
"The impact of overseas training on development." This was a sequel to a conference
bearing the same title which was convened at the University of Dar es Salaam in
December 1977. The latter conference was held at a time when the proceedings
of the former were published under the title Overseas Training: its Impact on Deve
lopment, Arusha: Eastern African Publications, 1979.
     The two conferences were dedicated to the issue of development and its relation-
ship to high level manpower trained abroad. Since the end of World War II.
number of Africans have been given scholarships to study abroad, especially in
countries bordering the North Atlantic Basin. These countries constituted the centre
of the overseas colonial empire, and it was not accidental that the scholarship
system to enable the would-be successors to colonial administrators was embarked
upon. Scholarships were given to "promising" young people of the colonial empire
to undertake studies in metropolitan Universities so that they could return home
and assume the difficult task of administering their people and so on. Scholarships
were made available by such generous bodies as the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller
Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the British Council and indi-
vidual governments, it is also some of these bodies which have tinancea me enter-
prise of assessing "the impact of overseas training on development."
     Two notions seem to have dominated this enterprise: training and development.
Training is intended to produce people who, it is assumed, will contribute to develop-
 ment. Metropolitan economic development nas been explained in terms oi entre
duals, and that the more they are trained the greater the chances for rapid develop-
ment. Metroplitan economic development has been explained in terms of entre-
preneurship, political development has been analysed with the notion of the role
of elites in mind, the progress of Third World countries has been viewed in terms of
training. If this was formerly perceived from the standpoint of colonial entrepreneurs,
now it is from the vantage point of those who have been trained abroad, and hence
the need to assess the impact of overseas training. But rather than assess this impact,
it might have been of some use to look for the stimulus which induced the initiative
to undertake overseas training in the first instance.
      In the same month of March when the conference on "The impact of overseas
training on development" was staged, the Institute of Development Studies at the
University of Dar es Salaam convened another conference to observe the "United
Nations International Anti-Apartheid Year 1978/79". The conference was held in
 collaboration with the Departments of Political Science and Theatre Arts and
 Music. The focus of the conference was Southern Africa, particularly South Africa.
 The various papers which were tabled discussed such issues as the policy of apartheid
 in South*Africa, the role of multinational corporations in South Africa, the Anglo-
American initiatives and the liberation struggle in Southern Africa, the Organization
 of African Unity and the liberation of Southern Africa, and so on. Papers were
presented, by, among others, Mbwiliza, Mlahagwa, Kisanga, Moshi, and Mpangala.
The conference received wide coverage in the Tanzanian mass media.
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       A few months later. towards the end of June 1979. another conference followed:
the Southern African Universities Social Science Conference. This is an annual
academic affair which has succeeded the East' African Universities Social Science
Conference' that collapsed following the disintegration of the East African Com-
munity. Following this incident. the three Universities of East Africa. Dar es Salaam.
Makerere and Nairobi have decided either to hold conferences separately or to look
to and collaborate with other universities in the South. This is what. has happened
especially with Dar es Salaam. Indeed. contacts with Universities like Madagascar.
Maputo. Zambia, Bujumbura are on the verge of acquiring a more permanent form
when the necessary protocols have eventually gone through. Such relations will
not be restricted to annual academic jamborees like th~ Southern African Universities
Social SCienceConference. Rather they are intended to facilitate the exchange of
teaching staff and students. as well as all kinds of teachin~ materials.
       Many papers were read at the Conference. ~fhey ranged from HIstory to Econo-
mics, Theatre Arts to Political Science. Representatives from Southern African
liberation movements also attended the conference. Some participants from these
 organizations read papers pertaining to their own fields of specialization.
       The Conference had two important papers relating to women. namely Marjorie
 Mbilinyi"s "The social transformation of the Shambaa Kingdom and the changing
position of women. '" and Patricia McFadden's '"The proletarianization of women:
the South African working woman." Mbilinyi"s paper had been the subject for discus-
sion as a Department of History Seminar Paper during the third term of the academic
year 1978(79.There has been a sudden popularity of studies on the role of women
in society. What started in the West in the I960s following an intensified penetration
of the family by capital has found its way into the Third World. The argument here
 is that the position of women in society is not natural. Rather it is historically deter-
mined. and thus needs to be problematized. When 1975 was declared a women's
Year ih Tanzania the argument then was that women had contributed enough
td society and especially to;the nationalist struggle and that this contribution had
to be recognized. What these papers and many others are arguing is that at issue
is not this kind of contribution but oppression and exploitation. This poses a challenge
not only to liberal studies but also to the manner in which studies on the left have
so   far been conducted.
       The popularity of sexIst studies is on the ascendant at the University of Oar es
 Salaam in general and in the Department of History in particular. In 1975 one oi
 the BA dissertations was devoted to women. In the 1978/79 academic year. a number
 of postgraduate, discussions in the department were given to the "women question;
 Some three women students were inspired by this trend and so decided to write
 their term papers and dissertations on the "women question" in Tanzania. All of
 them have yeNo finish writing their dissertations. but the titles of their studies will
 appear in the departmental bulietin. Tanztlnia Zamani, by and hy. The "womer
 question'" also pnetrated the undergraduate syliabus which was reorganized ir
 the beginning of 1979. A special paper. "Women in Africa" will soon be offered
 in the department.
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