Issa G. Shivji

Issa G. Shivji, Professor of Law, University of Dar es Salaam.

"Issa G. Shivji is one of Africa's leading experts on law and development issues. Shivji has served as advocate of the high court and the Court of Appeal of Tanzania since 1977 and advocate of the high court in Zanzibar since 1989. He has taught and worked in universities all over the world, including the University of Zimbabwe, the University of Warwick, the University of Hong Kong and El Colegio De Mexico. He is a prolific writer and researcher, producing books, monographs and articles, as well as a weekly column printed in national newspapers. He most recently co-authored the book "Constitutional and Legal Systems of Tanzania" (2005)."

"For many people the end of their university years also marks the end of their activism. Not so with Issa Shivji. As a practising lawyer and academic he has taken up legal cases, acting pro bono on behalf of the poor, the vulnerable, and the disadvantaged; has taught literacy classes and assisted self-help, home-building schemes; has often rendered service as a consultant – for, among others, Oxfam, the UN Development Programme, the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania, as well as local government reform programmes. Then further roles – in the 1980s serving as Director of  the International Third World Legal Studies Association; chairing a presidential commission of inquiry into land matters in Tanzania in the early 1990s; President of the Media Council of Tanzania since 2006; for long playing a key role in CODESRIA – the Council for the Development of Social Science Research In Africa."


 * International Advisory Board, Amandla

Selected Publications

 * Where is Uhuru? Reflections on the Struggle for Democracy in Africa (Fahamu Books, Pambazuka Press) (2009)
 * Pan Africanism in Nyerere's Thoughts (Fahamu Books, Pambazuka Press) (2009)
 * Accumulation in an African Periphery: A Theoretical Framework (Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Tanzania, 2009).
 * Pan-Africanism or Pragmatism Pan-Africanism or Pragmatism: Lessons of the Tanganyika-Zanzibar Union (Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, 2008).
 * Silences in NGO Discourse: The role and future of NGOs in Africa (Fahamu Books, Pambazuka Press) (2007)
 * Let the People Speak: Tanzania Down the Road to Neo-Liberalism (CODESRIA, Senegal, 2006).
 * "Globalisation and Popular Resistance." Local Perspectives on Globalisation: The African Case. J Semboja et al, (eds.). 2002.
 * "The Life and Time of Babu: The Age of Revolution and Liberation." Law, Social Justice and Global Development. 2001.
 * Not Yet Democracy: Reforming Land Tenure in Tanzania. IIED, 1998.
 * Intellectuals at the Hill: Essays and Talks 1969-1993. Dar es Salaam University Press, 1993.
 * State and Constitutionalism: An African Debate on Democracy. Sapes Trust, 1991.
 * Edited The Concept of Human Rights in Africa. CODESRIA, 1989.
 * The State and the Working People in Tanzania. CODESRIA, 1986
 * Edited The Silent Class Struggle. Tanzania Publishing House, 1976

Related Sourcewatch

 * Brian Murphy