Godfrey Mwakikagile | |
|---|---|
| Born | 4 October 1949 Kigoma, Tanganyika Territory |
| Occupation | scholar, author and news reporter |
| Nationality | Tanzanian |
| Alma mater | Wayne State University (1975) |
| Genre | African studies |
| Notable works | Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era (2002) |
Godfrey Mwakikagile (born 4 October 1949 in Kigoma[1]) is a Tanzanian scholar and author specialising in African studies. He was also a news reporter for The Standard (later renamed the Daily News) — the oldest and largest English newspaper in Tanzania and one of the three largest in East Africa.[2] Mwakikagile wrote Nyerere and Africa: End of an Era — a biographical book on the life of former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere set in the backdrop of Africa's early post-colonial years and the liberation wars in the countries of southern Africa in which Nyerere played a major role.
Growing up in the 1950s, Mwakikagile experienced a form of apartheid and racial segregation in Tanganyika, what is now mainland Tanzania, and wrote about it in some of his works, as he did about the political climate of Tanganyika during the colonial era, in books such as Reflections on Race Relations: A Personal Odyssey, Life in Tanganyika in The Fifties and Life under British Colonial Rule.[1]