Global Influence of Africa PDF

Global influence - To have Why study Africa? 1. To enhance & broaden our knowledge regarding the longtime spam and wide geographical area involved in African History. 2. To increase understanding of the great diversity of Africa’s past. 3. To make clear that both change and continuit...

Global influence - To have Why study Africa? 1. To enhance & broaden our knowledge regarding the longtime spam and wide geographical area involved in African History. 2. To increase understanding of the great diversity of Africa’s past. 3. To make clear that both change and continuity have been integral parts of the human experience in Africa. 4. To increase a heightened awareness that all events of history have more than one cause and that the interwoven happenings that produce a given outcome are the result of a complex chain of events. The 5th goal deals with the goal to sharpen our awareness of the role Africa has played in world history. To deal with today's global realities, a marriage between the past and the present is needed. One needs to be introduced to humanity's collective memory, a large part of which flows from Africa One needs to be sensitized to the current world. We just realize that what happens in Africa is linked to what happens to all of us here and vice versa. As was true hundreds of years ago, everyone on earth shares a common humanity as members of one race–the human race. And, while one a few of us were born in Africa, our destinies are still linked. Myth & Facts - the dark continent - Associated with the jungle, yet only 5% of Africa is jungle with 3/5th or 60% desert. - Wild animals - Savagery–coined to support slavery - Cannibalism– the name comes from the Caribbean & south pacific. Why link it to africa? Society does things to perpetuate myths. For instance, clean neighborhoods vs. dirty ones, Terrorist v. Freedom fighters, etc. Peoples of Africa Africa: an overview Africans people, who account for over 12% of the world's population, are distributed among 54 nations Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after asia.  It has over 54 sovereign countries—the most on any continent. Africa straddles the equator and stretches 5000 miles (8,050 km) from AI-Ghiram (Tunisia) in the north to Cape Agulhas (South Africa) in the south. Africa is connected to Asia by the Sinai Peninsula (from which it is separated by the Suez Canal). Africa is bounded by the mediterranean sea to the north, Africa has large rivers including the Nile and the Congo River Africa has large lakes including Victoria (second largest freshwater lake). West Africa has a lake called Shallow Lake Chad, shrinks during dry season Africa is a very diverse continent, with each country, or even each part of a country having its own unique culture. It is impossible to generalize Africa as a whole. 09/11/24 Culture, environment, desert, wild life, natural resources, significant landmarks, lack of resources, medical assistance, historical sights The chapter deals with images, perceptions, myths, and realities about africa What is a myth? It is a widely held but false belief or idea. Society does things to perpetuate myths. For instance, clean neighborhoods v. dirty ones, terrorism v. freedom fighters, etc. Myths (Cont.) The dark continent Association of africa with jungle, yet only 5% of africa is jungle with 60% or 3/5th desert Wild animals Savagery — coined to support slavery Cannibalism — the name comes from the caribbean & south pacific, why link it to africa? Africa: Other negatives 1. Africa— the one small “country” continent Africa is the world's second largest and most populous continent, after asia. It has 54 sovereign countries, the most on any continent. Africa straddles the equator and stretches 5,000 miles from Al-ghiran in Tunisia in the north to cape agulhas in the south in south africa. Africa is almost 4 times the size of the USA, yet people think it's one “country”. You are from Ghana, have you met my son in the peace corp in Kenya? The mercator projection which makes Greenland almost the size of africa–no wonder! 2. Africa – the uniform region Closely related to the image of Africa as one country is the image that Africa is a uniform region. Africa is a very diverse continent with each country, or even part of a country having its own unique culture. It is impossible to make a generalization of Africa as a whole. Some of the erroneous “uniformities” include, climate, culture, language, complexion, epidemics like HIV/AIDS, place of abject poverty, etc. 3. Africa – the epitome of poverty, backwardness, and the state of being a “third world”. Africa does not fare well on most of the following development indicators: GNI, per capita income, commercial energy consumption, rate of GNI growth, infant mortality, life expectancy, literacy rates, & import index GNI = gross national income GNI, the dollar value of the total goods & services produced by a country divided by the population is a faulty measure for the following reasons: a. It’s an average measure and an estimate and does not reflect the true picture of income distribution. GNI as a faulty measure (CONT.) b. It does not capture economic activities in the informal sector, which tend to be larger in africa. c. It does not take into account how much goods a dollar can buy in a given African country. d. The faulty assumption that the people of Africa live in the same lifestyles as people in developed economies do. There is poverty in parts of africa. However, for every celebrity concert staged in aid of africa there are millions of africans who go about their lives without proceeds of aid concerts. (Amoah p. 9) Unequal comparative analysis— skyscrapers in shanghai v. malnourished children in kenya. Africa is a big continent of extreme contrasts that cannot be truly portrayed by average statistics such as GNI. Lions in the backyard Must have studied outside Africa 4. Ethnocentrism & The role of early european visitors to africa– Ethnocentrism is the tendency of using one's own preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture as a yardstick to evaluate other cultures. In other words, it is the tendency to believe in the superiority of one's culture and state of affairs to those of other groups of people.  Africa is almost 4 times the size of the USA, yet people think it is one little country, The mercator project which makes greenland almost the size of africa – no wonder. 2 Africa — The Uniform Region Closely related to the image of Africa as one country is the image of Africa is a uniform region. 3. Africa – The Epitome of Poverty, Backwardness, and the State of being second. Other Faculty Measurements & Misconceptions Unequal comparative analysis – skyscraper in Shanghai v. malnourished children in Kenya. Ethnocentrism, Americanism, and Sinocentrism. These attitudes against Africa were further advanced by events such as the Atlantic Slave Trade… EXAMPLES: Other Centrism Ota Benga— Samuel Phillips Verner, an American missionary, explorer and trader of exotic wares and animals David Livingstone—bringing Christianity to the ‘pagans’ and open Africa to ‘civilization.’ Write ups by Stanley & Samuel Baker p.11 Amoah 5. The Nature of News and the Media Nothing is worth reporting unless it is tragic or catastrophic. Therefore, the only time people hear about Africa in the news is when there is a disaster such as famine and starving people, wars and refugees, victims of deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS, Ebola, etc. The Nature of Academic Research Enterprise Saturation Hypothesis Syndrome —- A situation where social scientists conduct research on topics relevant to foreign countries rather than Africa Extrapolation — Use of experiences and conversions established outside to guide research in Africa. The assumption is that what happened elsewhere SHOUKD appky to Africa. Wrong! Overgenerralization - the over extension of research resellers from a particular locale in Africa to the whole continent of a substantial region of the continent. 7. Nongovernmental Organizations (NGO) and the Aid Industy The aid industry perpetuates negatives images about Africa and is closely linked with the western media  It reinforces the notion that Africa cannot do anything for itself unless through the creation of a culture of aid-dependency in Africa. 8. The demonstration Effect of Post and Current behavior of vested interest groups in Africa Negatuve things continue to happen in Africa such as corrupt government, civil wars, etc. as long as we are able to interpret current events in terms of contemporary histories, it will be difficult for Africa to get rid of these negative images HOW DO WE DEAL WITH THIS? education Exchange programs New media Talk about the negatives and positives, intertwine them. Land/landmarks Maps/oceans Culture Animals/wildlife Natural resources Trade/commerce routes Countries/state it is a field of science devoted to the study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these, including the distribution of populations and resources, land use, and industries. Types of geography human geography Physical geography Environmental geography Cartography Modern applications of human geography can include mapping human migration, showing the movement of food resources and how they impact communities. And the impacts of climate change can have on humans living in vulnerable areas. Areas of human geo Cultural geography Economic geography Physical geography Deals with the study of natural characteristics of earth Covers both features that are on the earth's surface as well as those near it. Allows the charting of landmasses, but it is also being used to see what lies beneath the earth's ice caps and oceans. Some examples of disciplines studied in physical geo are: Geomorphology Climatology Hydrology Biogeography Environmental geography Known as integrated geography or human-environment geography Takes human and physical geographic issues and molds them together. Area of geography is useful for connecting humans and the impact they have on their natural environment Cartography Covers the mapping of things Focuses on ways in which the entire mapping procedure can be technologically advanced by creating maps that are generally of higher quality 1. Knowledge 2. Expanding 3. Cultural difference 4. Landscape 5. Humanity Colonial africa Colonization of exploitation political/social warfare Input the rest of the info… THE FRENCH the French colonial administrative system was the assimilation method sometimes referred to as the direct method  The French originally sought to ‘assimilate’ their colonial subjects into cultural French, regardless of skin color (Assimilation & Enculturation) and have legal and political rights of French citizenship including the right to send representatives to the French parliament in Paris. British —- indirect French — Direct : Acculturation, Encuturation and Assimilation Portuguese Belgian Once the wide scale colonization of Africa took place in the 19th century the French abandoned assimilation for all, but the citizens of the original Senegalese towns of Dakar, St. Louis, Goree, and Rufus que and a select few highly educated French speaking Africans. Although, the French continued to hold up potential assimilation as an ideal that all colonies strived for, the French authorities made the educational qualifications for African “assimilation” extremely difficult The rest of the tropical African French colonies were classified as subjets (Subjects) and were denied virtually any legal or political rights. For large pre-colonial states like Dahomey, Futa JaLon and Tukolor, the French broke them up and used African chiefs at lower levels for local government. District and village chiefs were appointed or dismissed at will by the provincial French administrator. These French appointed chiefs collected taxes, recruited labor, especially unpaid labor and suppressed rural African opposition. These chiefs had little or no traditional chiefly title. They became in effect French government officials, denied any independent religious or local authority. In principle, the French effectively destroyed African customary laws, tradition, culture, and even local languages. In North Africa, the French ruled the settler colony of Algeria as thought it was part of mainland France. In other North African places like Morocco the French ruled through sultans that they had nominated. Education was encouraged to the highest level based on the French system, but local languages, laws, traditions, and cultures were destroyed in favor of what was French. The Portuguese administrative system was similar to that of the french in principle. The Portuguese A tiny amount of selected individuals who had adopted the Portuguese language and culture were classified CIVILIZADO and later renamed ASSIMILADO /!: were excused The Civilisado lived in the towns and worked as clerks, teachers and petty traders, totally divorced in culture and outlook from their majority “Indigena” population. They were not allowed voting rights in local or central government enjoyed by assimilated french “citizens”. Education was limited to the few and was at the basic primary level. Appointment and use of chiefs in local government was fairly arbitrary, dependent on local circumstances and colonial administrative convenience. On the other hand where there still existed clearly defined pre colonial authority structure such as chieftainship msg as in Rwanda and Burundi, this was utilized in a form of controlled indirect rule Education above rudimentary primarily level was discouraged The Belgian administrative system was a mixture of the French and British systems for their colonies. The Belgians recognized the cultural assimilation of a tiny minority of mission educated Africans, known as “EVOLUES” but like their Portuguese counterparts, these were never allowed any participation in local politics. The winning of political independence also known as decolonization in Africa followed WW2 Three factors explain independence movement that swept across Africa in 1950s: the nature of colonialism, the rise of African nationalism, effects of the two world wars FDR and Winston Churchill's Atlantic charter in 1941 had a provision for autonomy of imperial colonies after WW2 By the 1930s the colonists had inadvertently cultivated small local elites who later led the call for independence. They included JOMO KENYATTA (KENYA), KWAME NKEIMAJ THE GOLD COAST NOW GHANA, JULIUS NYERERE TANGANYIKA NOW TANZANIA, LEOPOLD S. SENGHOR NOW SENEGAL, NNAMDI AZIKWE (NIGERIA) & FELIX HOUPHOUET BOIGNY (THE IVORY COAST NOW COTE DIVOIRE Strikes —- led to imprisonment of leaders, death, etc. Armed resistance— Robert Mugabe & Ian Smiths southern Rhodesia unilateral Declaration of Independence, the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya, etc. Boycott/International pressure—in apartheid South Africa The objective of most decolonized countries was to improve the living standards of their people Economic development came to the fore, but at the dawn of independence most African countries had to choose both ideology and development theories. Simply defined, ideology refers to the principles that guide the economic and political policies of a country. The two major ideologies were capitalism and socialism. On the other hand, development theory provides the framework for development. Simply defined, development covers the positive changes or improvements in the conditions of people. It can be classified into modernization theory and dependency theory, The former was more linked to the capitalist ideology while the latter was to the socialist ideology. CAPITALIST IDEOLOGY & MODERNIZATION THEORIES They are many and include these: The Big-Push Theory — no piece meal or bit by bit push, but overall government role in concurrent investment in social overhead capital such as infrastructure, education, and hospitals. (Rosenstein-Rodan) Theory of Balanced Growth — A large scale investment across all sectors of the economy. (nurkse) Theory of Unbalanced Growth — Targeting a few sectors of the economy that will do and provide trick-down economic effects. (Hirshman) The communist manifesto describes five stages of economic growth through which all human societies will pass through: 1. Traditional society, 2. The transitional society, 3. Capitalist society, 4. Socialist society, and 5. Communism dependency , according to the marxists, are factors identified as underdevelopment by capitalists. Structural adjustment program Structural adjustment programs, now known as SA policies, originated due to a series of global economic disasters during the 1970’s; the oil crisis, debt crisis, multiple economic depressions, and stagflation.  These fiscal disasters led Breton Woods policy members to decide that deeper intervention was necessary to improve a country's overall well being. While both IMF and World bank loan to depressed and developing countries, their loans are intended to address different problems. The international monetary fund mainly led to the countries that have balance of payment options (they cannot pay their international debts), While the world bank offers loans during…. Through conditionalities, structural adjustment programs generally implement free market programs and policy. These programs include internal & external changes. The policy changes are insured by a variety of loan distributions programs, and progress monitoring by the lender during the life of the loan Fiscal authority Privatization Trade liberalization (lifting import & export restrictions) Currency devaluation Abolition of marketing boards Retrenchment Deregulation These conditions have also been sometimes labeled as the washington consensus SAP Conditions – wb imf conditionalities Fiscal, Policy, Trading, FPT CARD There are multiple criticisms that focus on different elements of SAPs This negative view of SAps is not universal. Many claim that borrowing countries are running on borrowed time and will eventually have to make sure changes to balance their budgets or control inflation. If these conditionalities are not implemented, the countries can expect even bigger problems in the future. – In principle, conditionality is a tactic used not only to make sure loans are paid back, but able to ensure that they are used effectively. If there are no conditions on the loan, the country might not use the money to reduce poverty. – there have also been a few successful cases of economic and social improvement by countries that have undergone SAPs. Christianity Deism – the belief that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of god, accompanied with the rejection of revelation and authority as a source of religious knowledge. Henotheism – the belief and worship of a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities that may also be worshiped. → Terminology (cont.) → Pantheism is the belief that everything composes an all encompassing god or that the universe (or nature) is identical with divinity. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal or anthropomorphic god. → Mono/Polytheism Monotheism Son Father Ghost/Spirit → As of 2020, christians formed 49% of the continent's population, with muslims forming 42%. → In a relatively short time, Africa has gone from having a majority of followers of indigenous, traditional religions, to being predominantly a continent of christians and muslims. → Christianity was an agent of great change in africa. It destabilized the status quo, bringing new opportunities to some, and undermining the power of others. With the education missions came education, literacy and home for the disadvantaged No serious attempts by the historical or mainline churches understand african traditional spirituality and culture. They labeled everything non-western as “heathen” or superstition. The missionaries and colonialists shared the same worldview and a common racist perception of africa. Translation of the bible opened up more avenues for viewing polygamists like Abraham, David and Solomon did. Refusal of or slowness on the part of missionaries to relinquish church leadership to the indigenous people. Churches served as refuge for economic, political, and racial domination by whites and a source of resistance to racist government policies. Because of the varieties of factors that led to the emergence of the new african christian denominations, spiritualities on the african continent vary. The ethiopian-type churches broke away from the white dominated missionary churches and aligned themselves with the oppressed. The spirit-type churches or zionists emphasized the holy spirit and speaking of tongues. Promotion of democracy and upholding human rights Promotion of sobriety, ambition, and hard work Religious ideology that promoted capitalism (Judeo-Christian ethics) Literacy Xtianity in Africa Control — e.g, martyrdom Suffering Money as evil (The Camel passing through the eye of a needle; money the root of all evil) Justification of kingdoms Slavery Colonialism – The 3-C’s, civilize, christianize & commercialize White Supremacy – Blacklist, black market, jim crow–like laws and linguistics (e.g the ‘N’ word), like skin bleaching, etc. —- It is said that Colonialism in Africa began in 1885 when European voyagers and explorers established colonies in Africa. Portuguese-Sao Tome in Angola and Mozambique French-The Senegal River Valley, Saint Louis, Dakar and Rufisque, Algeria British-Sierra Leone, Gold Coast (now Ghana), Cape Town in South Africa THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA  The Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 (convenor was the German Chancellor Bismarck) led to the scramble for Africa resulting in Artificial boundaries Colonies which were political and economic subordinates to European needs. Regional differences in political and economic policies were determined by the nature of the exploitable resources. ARICAN DEVELOPMENT — Economies WOMEN THEORIES (PRACTICE) RELIGION THE IMPACT OF COLONIALISM (Continue) On departure, the colonial administrators left Africa with weak, mal-integrated, severely distorted economies. Contributed to the underdevelopment of Africa. Bequeathed authoritarian rule backed by police/military intimidation. Therefore, political power did not rest in legitimacy of public confidence and acceptance. At independence politics were influenced by influential societal circumstances either set in motion or amplified by colonial political decision THE IMPACT OF COLONIALISM (Continue) Growing inequalities between social classes because of the location of colonial administrations created opportunities for some and obstacles for others. The "Indirect Rule" strategy of the British, for instance heightened identification with and competition between ethnic groups. Thus tribalism, introduced by the British became prominent in pre and post independent African nations. DIFFERENTIATIONS DUE TO SAMIR AMIN Africa of the colonial trade economy, e.g. The Gold Coast (now Ghana), The Ivory Coast (now Cote d'Ivoire) Africa of the Labor Reserves, e.g., Nyasaland (now Malawi), and Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) Africa of the concession Companies, e.g., Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Belgian Congo (formerly Zaire, but now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Africa of the White Settlers-Kenya & Tanganyika (now Tanzania) THE BRITISH COLONIAL ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM The Theory of Colonial administration is the INDIRECT RULE. This theory was formulated by former Gov. of Nigeria, Frederick Lugard, in his book The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa published in 1922. Lugard described the system of government he used in the Sokoto emirate in Northern Nigeria and recommended its application in all British tropical Africa. THE BRITISH Cont. The Indirect Rule was believed by the British to be the cheapest and most efficient way of administering vast populations stretched over even vaster territories with the minimum of British personnel. However, Indirect Rule was far from being a clear-cut system since its application varied enormously from colony to colony. THE BRITISH Nonetheless, the British had no scruples about inventing new chieftaincies in former "stateless" societies like the Igbo of Nigeria and Kikuyu of Kenya where chiefs had previously not been known. THE BRITISH Cont. The whole colonial emphasis on the role of chiefs exaggerated the so-called "tribal" differences. The British emphasized differences in dialects, dress/outfits, housing, and religious practices in terms of rigid "tribal" differences. The British colonialists invented tribalism by insisting on the strength of "tribal" differences and rivalries thus making it difficult for Africans to unite in opposition and to improve/develop themselves. THE FRENCH The French colonial administrative system was the ASSIMILATION METHOD sometimes referred to as the Direct Method. The French originally sought to "assimilate" their colonial subjects into cultural French, regardless of skin color (Assimilation & Enculturation) and have legal and political rights of French citizenship including the right to send representatives to the French parliament in Paris.