Why I gave up African studies

Mots Pluriel ^ | December 2003 | Gavin Kitching

[jalisco555]

A long and sad piece about an apparently hopeless situation.

[Tax-chick]

Later

[DB]

Why is Africa declining?

No rule of law, Tribalism, Racism and Socialism.

And the writer of this article can't bring himself to the obvious answer in way too many words...

Next question.

[Cacique]

In 1995, he obtained a Soros Foundation Research Award (US$25,000)

I see he has a socialist paymaster.

[cooldog]

It seems to me that he quit the field when he noticed that reality failed to live up to his own expectations and ideas.

Yep, that is depressing!

[Rummyfan]

Bump for later...

[sarcasm]

ping

[TheGeezer]

Rather its most damaging legacy has been the psychological Siamese twins of endemic guilt on the European side and endemic psychological dependence on the African side, legacies which make truth telling hard and the adult taking of responsibility even harder.

Substitute "white" for "European" and "black" for "African", and one gains insight into the phenomenon of racial racketeering a la "Rev" Al Sharpton and "Rev" Jesse Jackson in the U.S.

Imperialism f----d up the heads of so many people whom it touched - both colonialists and colonized (Frantz Fanon was absolutely and deeply right about that) and until that - ultimately depressing - legacy of its existence is finally killed, neither Africa nor African studies will be able to make real progress.

The fashionable use of profanity heavily discounts the author's credibility, unfortunately.

[RaceBannon]

Bump for later reading

[centurion316]

This reflection only leads me - and rather flatly - to the conclusion that it must be the concatination of these domestic elite characteristics with the particularly weak global economic situation of sub-Saharan Africa which was the fatal two-sided recipe for developmental failure. And that may be true, but, as I say, I still have no certainty that it is or about how precisely to weight the relative importance of the list of usual suspects above.

Translation: Dysfunctional culture

[jalisco555]

The fashionable use of profanity heavily discounts the author's credibility, unfortunately.

That bothered me, too. Totally unnecessary and it detracted from the message.

Africa could potentially offer so much to the world. What a shame that we are basically having to write off an entire continent.

[pabianice]

Within the next 40 years pandemics, war, and general incompetence will depopulate Africa. By 2040 Africa will be a Muslim continent, repopulated from the Middle East.

[gaspar]

In the United States traditional African studies long ago gave way to the study of indigenous Afro-America. For the usual undergraduate, Africa is about as little-known as the Middle East.

[Bob]

Within the next 40 years pandemics, war, and general incompetence will depopulate Africa. By 2040 Africa will be a Muslim continent, repopulated from the Middle East.

Do you really think it's going to take that long? I'd be surprised if it took much more than 20.

[jalisco555]

By 2040 Africa will be a Muslim continent, repopulated from the Middle East.

It's my understanding that Christianity is the fastest growing religion in Africa, at least at the present time. I hope your scenario doesn't pan out, but it's never a good idea to assume good news when thinking about Africa.

[Proud Legions]

The military and the State Department are both very concerned about Africa, as should all Americans. We spend an increasing amount of time studying Africa in our Military Schools, especially our War Colleges for senior officers. Many of us believe it is the follow-on site to the Middle East for international problems and concerns. Right now it is a breeding ground for both disease (especially AIDS related), and anarchism.

So sad. But what can or should be done about it is a whole different question. In many cases it is a damned if you do and a damned if you don't equation. Are we uncaring? Or are we imperialists?

Those who fantasize about their African roots as they relate to the great culture of the continent are living in a fantasy land. But I understand wanting to connect with and intellectually defend one's ancestrial homeland--even if you didn't know any of these ancesters. It is natural to do so, and keeps our lives interesting, whether we are Scots, Germans, Koreans, Tutu, or some mix of the above and more.

But those who make fun of and ignore the issues surrounding Africa are living in even a greater, and more dangerous, fantasy. They are the same people who were totally surprised by the export of radical Islam and terrorism from the Saudi Penisula.

One man's thoughts anyway.

[observer5]

"No rule of law, Tribalism, Racism and Socialism."

Forgot ISLAM!

[DB]

I'd say that's the case mostly in Northern Africa.

[Proud Legions]

If they can't get control of their diseases and wars, the continent will depopulate.

I also have heard Christainity was growing faster than Islam on the continent. I wonder if anyone has some stats either way.

[ClearCase_guy]

like many young intellectual radicals of that period I was eager to see Nyerere's experiment in a 'Third Way' African socialism at first hand

I'm waiting for someone to write about 'Third Way' free-market capitalism. Why don't they? Perhaps because capitalism is capitalism and it is the First Way. And socialism is socialism, and it is the Second Way.

This whole Third Way socialism is like "new and improved Nazi genocide -- we've made it more palatable!!" It's not good, and fiddling with the name won't help.