Joan Wicken: A lifelong Collaboration with Mwalimu Nyerere

A rare-glimpse interview with Joan Wicken, lifelong personal assistant, speechwriter, and confidant of Tanzania’s founding president Julius Nyerere, conducted by Aili Mari Tripp. Wicken played a crucial role in Nyerere’s life and the nation’s development. She reflects on her journey, sharing insights into Nyerere’s character, leadership, and the country’s post-independence years. With wit and dry humour, she reveals the man behind the title and her own remarkable story. Aili Mari Tripp is Vilas Research Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she teaches African politics and gender and politics. She lived in Tanzania from 1960 to 1974 and later carried out research in Tanzania, publishing among other works Changing the Rules: The Politics of Liberalization and the Urban Informal Economy in Tanzania (University of California Press, 1997 and 2021). A pocket-sized interview volume giving access to one of the most important behind-the-scenes figures of post-independence Tanzania.