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兀賵乇賵亘丕 賵丕賱鬲禺賱賮 賮賷 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕
賷鬲鬲亘賾毓 賵丕賱鬲乇 乇賵丿賳賷 賮賷 賴匕賴 丕賱丿乇丕爻丞 丕 <鬲毓賲賾賯丞 鬲丕乇賷禺 丕賱鬲賯丿賲 賮賷
兀賵乇賵亘丕 賵丕賱鬲禺賱賮 賮賷 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕 賲賳丕賯卮丕 丕賱毓賱丕賯丞 丕賱賵孬賷賯丞 賵丕 <鬲亘丕丿賱丞 亘 m
賴丕鬲 m 丕賱馗丕賴乇鬲 m. 賵賷馗賴乇 賰賷賮 兀賳 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕 X 賵賴賷 兀睾賳賶 丕賱賯丕乇丕鬲 賯丕胤亘丞
亘丕 <賵丕丿 丕賱胤亘賷毓賷丞 X 賯丿 丕亘鬲丿兀鬲 丕賱丌賳 賮賯胤 亘丕賱賳賴賵囟 X 賲賯丿賲丕賸 丨噩噩丕賸 賲賯賳毓丞
賵賲亘賷賳丕賸 賰賷賮 兀賳 鬲噩丕乇丞 丕賱乇賯賷賯 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷丞 賵賵氐賲丞 丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇 賰丕賳鬲丕 丕賱爻亘亘 m
丕賱兀爻丕爻賷 m 賵乇丕亍 鬲禺賱賮 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕 賵乇賰賵丿賴丕 丕賱鬲賯賳賷.
鬲亘丿兀 丕賱亘丨孬 亘胤乇丨 兀賰孬乇 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 廿賱丨丕丨丕 毓賳 胤亘賷毓丞 丕賱鬲胤賵乇 賵丕賱鬲禺賱賮.
賵亘丕鬲亘丕毓 丕 <賳賴噩 丕賱噩丿賱賷 賮賷 鬲賮爻賷乇 丕賱鬲丕乇賷禺 X 賷乇賶 丕 <丐賱賮 兀賳 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕 賱賲
鬲賳馗乇 亘噩丿賷丞 廿賱賶 鬲丕乇賷禺賴丕 丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇賷 X 賮賷 賲丨丕賵賱丞 賱賮賴賲 丨丕囟乇賴丕
丕賱丨乇噩 賮賷 丕賱鬲禺賱賮 賵丕賳鬲卮丕乇 丕賱賮賯乇. 賵亘丿賱丕賸 賲賳 賯亘賵賱 丕賱丕毓鬲賯丕丿 丕賱爻丕卅丿
丿賵 锟截� 賲賳丕賯卮丞 X 匕賱賰 丕賱丕毓鬲賯丕丿 丕賱匕賷 賷丿賾毓賷 亘兀賳 丕賱丿賵賱 丕 <鬲禺賱賮丞 禄鬲丿賵乇
賮賷 丿丕卅乇丞 丕賱賮賯乇 丕 <賮乇睾丞 芦 賮廿賳 丕 <丐賱賮 賷鬲爻丕亍賱 毓賲丕 廿匕丕 賰丕賳 毓丿丿 賰孬賷乇
賲賳 丕賱夭毓賲丕亍 丕賱兀賮丕乇賯丞 賷鬲匕賰乇賵賳 亘丕賳 丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇 賴賵 廿賱賶 丨丿 賰亘賷乇 锟截жㄘ�
賳馗丕賲 丕爻鬲孬賲丕乇丕鬲 禺丕乇噩賷丞 賱賱賯賵賶 丕 <鬲賯丿賲丞 賵丕賳 鬲賱賰 丕賱丕爻鬲孬賲丕乇丕鬲
丕賱禺丕乇噩賷丞 丕賱噩丕乇賷丞 賴賷-賵賱賵 亘卮賰賱 噩夭卅賷-丕賱爻亘亘 賵乇丕亍 丕賱鬲禺賱賮 X 賵賱賷爻鬲
丕賱丨賱 <卮丕賰賱賴 賮賷 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕.
賵鬲卮賰賱 賴匕賴 丕賱丿乇丕爻丞 賲賯丿賲丞 }鬲丕夭丞 賱賱胤丕賱亘 丕賱匕賷 賷乇睾亘 賮賷 賮賴賲
兀賮囟賱 賱丿賷賳丕賲賷賰賷丞 丕賱毓賱丕賯丞 亘 m 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕 丕賱丨丕賱賷丞 賵丕賱睾乇亘.
兀賵乇賵亘丕 賵丕賱鬲禺賱賮 賮賷 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕 賲賳丕賯卮丕 丕賱毓賱丕賯丞 丕賱賵孬賷賯丞 賵丕 <鬲亘丕丿賱丞 亘 m
賴丕鬲 m 丕賱馗丕賴乇鬲 m. 賵賷馗賴乇 賰賷賮 兀賳 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕 X 賵賴賷 兀睾賳賶 丕賱賯丕乇丕鬲 賯丕胤亘丞
亘丕 <賵丕丿 丕賱胤亘賷毓賷丞 X 賯丿 丕亘鬲丿兀鬲 丕賱丌賳 賮賯胤 亘丕賱賳賴賵囟 X 賲賯丿賲丕賸 丨噩噩丕賸 賲賯賳毓丞
賵賲亘賷賳丕賸 賰賷賮 兀賳 鬲噩丕乇丞 丕賱乇賯賷賯 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷丞 賵賵氐賲丞 丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇 賰丕賳鬲丕 丕賱爻亘亘 m
丕賱兀爻丕爻賷 m 賵乇丕亍 鬲禺賱賮 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕 賵乇賰賵丿賴丕 丕賱鬲賯賳賷.
鬲亘丿兀 丕賱亘丨孬 亘胤乇丨 兀賰孬乇 丕賱兀爻卅賱丞 廿賱丨丕丨丕 毓賳 胤亘賷毓丞 丕賱鬲胤賵乇 賵丕賱鬲禺賱賮.
賵亘丕鬲亘丕毓 丕 <賳賴噩 丕賱噩丿賱賷 賮賷 鬲賮爻賷乇 丕賱鬲丕乇賷禺 X 賷乇賶 丕 <丐賱賮 兀賳 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕 賱賲
鬲賳馗乇 亘噩丿賷丞 廿賱賶 鬲丕乇賷禺賴丕 丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇賷 X 賮賷 賲丨丕賵賱丞 賱賮賴賲 丨丕囟乇賴丕
丕賱丨乇噩 賮賷 丕賱鬲禺賱賮 賵丕賳鬲卮丕乇 丕賱賮賯乇. 賵亘丿賱丕賸 賲賳 賯亘賵賱 丕賱丕毓鬲賯丕丿 丕賱爻丕卅丿
丿賵 锟截� 賲賳丕賯卮丞 X 匕賱賰 丕賱丕毓鬲賯丕丿 丕賱匕賷 賷丿賾毓賷 亘兀賳 丕賱丿賵賱 丕 <鬲禺賱賮丞 禄鬲丿賵乇
賮賷 丿丕卅乇丞 丕賱賮賯乇 丕 <賮乇睾丞 芦 賮廿賳 丕 <丐賱賮 賷鬲爻丕亍賱 毓賲丕 廿匕丕 賰丕賳 毓丿丿 賰孬賷乇
賲賳 丕賱夭毓賲丕亍 丕賱兀賮丕乇賯丞 賷鬲匕賰乇賵賳 亘丕賳 丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇 賴賵 廿賱賶 丨丿 賰亘賷乇 锟截жㄘ�
賳馗丕賲 丕爻鬲孬賲丕乇丕鬲 禺丕乇噩賷丞 賱賱賯賵賶 丕 <鬲賯丿賲丞 賵丕賳 鬲賱賰 丕賱丕爻鬲孬賲丕乇丕鬲
丕賱禺丕乇噩賷丞 丕賱噩丕乇賷丞 賴賷-賵賱賵 亘卮賰賱 噩夭卅賷-丕賱爻亘亘 賵乇丕亍 丕賱鬲禺賱賮 X 賵賱賷爻鬲
丕賱丨賱 <卮丕賰賱賴 賮賷 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕.
賵鬲卮賰賱 賴匕賴 丕賱丿乇丕爻丞 賲賯丿賲丞 }鬲丕夭丞 賱賱胤丕賱亘 丕賱匕賷 賷乇睾亘 賮賷 賮賴賲
兀賮囟賱 賱丿賷賳丕賲賷賰賷丞 丕賱毓賱丕賯丞 亘 m 兀賮乇賷賯賷丕 丕賱丨丕賱賷丞 賵丕賱睾乇亘.
382 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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About the author
Walter Rodney
25听books523听followersIn his short life, the Guyanese intellectual Walter Rodney emerged as one of the leading thinkers and activists of the anticolonial revolution, leading movements in North America, the African continent, and the Caribbean. In each locale, Rodney found himself a lightning rod for working class Black Power. His deportation catalyzed twentieth-century Jamaica鈥檚 most significant rebellion, the 1968 Rodney riots, and his scholarship trained a generation how to think politics at an international scale. In 1980, shortly after founding of the Working People鈥檚 Alliance in Guyana, the 38-year-old Rodney was assassinated.
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March 18, 2008
Despite some na茂ve visions of the success of communism in the Soviet Union and China that might sound very silly to us (considering the book was written in 1972), this book still has some very persuasive points that explain African underdevelopment. The main theme of the book is that underdevelopment was made possible by positive feedback loops starting with the uneven development in earlier centuries enforced by European constant exploitation of raw materials and human labor from Africa. It traces the root of underdevelopment Africa back to the pre-colonial period. The 鈥渘atural鈥� path of development from communalism to feudalism and capitalism in Africa was messed up by the European slave trade. The trade in slave was facilitated by African rulers鈥� greed for luxury goods and European products. The effect of this trade was devastating in that it caused considerable dislocation and disruption in the local economy, caused internal conflict as a result of slave raiding and a huge loss of African labor. (Rodney ignored the Arab slave trade, which caused an equivalent loss of human beings, but over a longer period and at slower rate). This process did not enter the productive process and did not contribute to generating wealth in Africa. Africa started to be highly dependent on export of raw materials and lost its spirit of technological innovation.
The intrusion of European capitalists did not mean the transmission of technology, ideas or knowledge. During the colonial period, Europe further hindered Africa鈥檚 development by expatriating surplus from all production activities and cash crop farming. Africans were reduced to basic labor jobs which never stimulated technological advances or improved means of production. The claims made by Europeans colonialists to have 鈥渃ivilized鈥� and modernized the Africans was convincingly refuted by the notoriously modest amount of investment in social welfares in all colonies and the racial discrimination in access to these services between the whites and the natives. Many African "capitalists" were discouraged to own assets or were not allowed to emerge, so they did not have enough capital to invest. Industrialization was blocked by colonial governments and no modern skills or technical know-how were transmitted to the local people. Education was very limited and basically did not go beyond the primary level.
Walter Rodney challenges the concept of tribalism widely used in European journalism which means Africans have a basic loyalty to tribes rather than nations and retain fundamental hatred among themselves. He argues that the African states during the 19th century were multi-ethnic and no major wars due to ethnic differences occurred at that time (still true today). Europeans鈥� policies of divide and rule were the cause of the animosity among different peoples and blocked the evolution of national solidarity that happened elsewhere in Asia. the failure of Africa was mainly due to its political weakness and a low level of consciousness among the peoples of different tribes with no common social purpose (do most people have a COMMON social purpose at all? I doubt that).
Walter Rodney also points out some interesting effects of colonialism which I myself never thought of such as the detrimental impacts on the Africans as a physical species due to chronic hunger and malnutrition, starvation in villages because able-bodies males were taken to the plantations and the role of education in instilling a sense of racial inferiority and subordination among the African people.
The book could be much more convincing if it made comparisons between Africa and Asia/ Latin America. But bear in mind, this is 1972, where all the colonies were still embroiled in all sorts of conflicts, it was harder to predict the outcome of all that process in the following decades.
Often when i read this book, I reflected upon Guns Germs and Steel and think probably the combination of both is a pretty good explanation for Africa鈥檚 underdevelopment. However, that鈥檚 up to 1972. From then on, the question is still open to more investigation.
The intrusion of European capitalists did not mean the transmission of technology, ideas or knowledge. During the colonial period, Europe further hindered Africa鈥檚 development by expatriating surplus from all production activities and cash crop farming. Africans were reduced to basic labor jobs which never stimulated technological advances or improved means of production. The claims made by Europeans colonialists to have 鈥渃ivilized鈥� and modernized the Africans was convincingly refuted by the notoriously modest amount of investment in social welfares in all colonies and the racial discrimination in access to these services between the whites and the natives. Many African "capitalists" were discouraged to own assets or were not allowed to emerge, so they did not have enough capital to invest. Industrialization was blocked by colonial governments and no modern skills or technical know-how were transmitted to the local people. Education was very limited and basically did not go beyond the primary level.
Walter Rodney challenges the concept of tribalism widely used in European journalism which means Africans have a basic loyalty to tribes rather than nations and retain fundamental hatred among themselves. He argues that the African states during the 19th century were multi-ethnic and no major wars due to ethnic differences occurred at that time (still true today). Europeans鈥� policies of divide and rule were the cause of the animosity among different peoples and blocked the evolution of national solidarity that happened elsewhere in Asia. the failure of Africa was mainly due to its political weakness and a low level of consciousness among the peoples of different tribes with no common social purpose (do most people have a COMMON social purpose at all? I doubt that).
Walter Rodney also points out some interesting effects of colonialism which I myself never thought of such as the detrimental impacts on the Africans as a physical species due to chronic hunger and malnutrition, starvation in villages because able-bodies males were taken to the plantations and the role of education in instilling a sense of racial inferiority and subordination among the African people.
The book could be much more convincing if it made comparisons between Africa and Asia/ Latin America. But bear in mind, this is 1972, where all the colonies were still embroiled in all sorts of conflicts, it was harder to predict the outcome of all that process in the following decades.
Often when i read this book, I reflected upon Guns Germs and Steel and think probably the combination of both is a pretty good explanation for Africa鈥檚 underdevelopment. However, that鈥檚 up to 1972. From then on, the question is still open to more investigation.
January 5, 2020
The first three chapters, on development in general, and development in Africa before the arrival of Europeans, and development in Europe, were quite dull, though the second has many fascinating snippets of information, it was too brief a tour to give the subject the kind of attention that would make it enjoyable rather than necessary, and I wasn't convinced that measuring social conditions in the various African societies against a very Eurocentric model of so-called development was actually needed or even appropriate. Nonetheless, the book became much better, in my opinion, when it arrived at the main subject, the exploitation of Africa and Africans by Europeans.
The last three chapters cover the period of slavery, the period of colonialism, independence, and "the supposed benefits of colonialism for Africa". These chapters are full of excellent material that remains highly relevant given that Europeans continue to assert that colonialism was beneficial and to exploit African countries and other regions. Like many texts, this one makes clear how Europeans gained our wealth through plunder and exploitation.
Among the many things pointed out by Rodney that I hadn't known or realised the importance of before, or just found especially salient, were:
- The effect of depopulation by the European slave trade, which removed able-bodied adults from Africa. It seems obvious that this would cause economic problems for the preyed-on region, but I had never thought of this, because I had not grasped the sheer scale of that slave trade.
- The effect of European monopolies and trade rules on technology and innovation in Africa, and, relatedly, the huge benefits of trading internally and locally. Globalization of capitalism == neo-colonial exploitation, and to fight it, ditch oppressive trade treaties, support local industries, trade with your neighbours.
- "Throughout the colonial period the [difference between the prices of exported raw materials and imported manufactured goods] got worse [in Europe's favour]. In 1939, with the same quantity of primary goods colonies could buy only 60% of manufactured goods which they bough in the decade 1870-80 before colonial rule. By 1960, the amount of European manufactured goods purchasable by the same quantity of African raw materials had fallen still further. There was no objective economic law which determined that primary produce should be worth so little. Indeed, the developed countries sold certain raw materials like timber and wheat at much higher prices than a colony could command. The explanation is that the unequal exchange was forced upon Africa by the political and military supremacy of the colonizers, just as in the sphere of international relations unequal treaties were forced on small states in the dependencies, like those in Latin America"
- Colonies were taxed. Africans paid for "the upkeep of the governors and police who oppressed them and served as watchdogs for private capitalists... taxes and customs duties were levied in the nineteeth century with the aim of allowing the colonial powers to recover the costs of the armed forces which they dispatched to conquer Africa. In effect, therefore, the colonial governments never put a penny into the colonies."
- "Finally, when all else failed, colonial powers resorted widely to the physical coercion of labor - backed up of course by legal sanctions, since anything which the colonial government chose to do was 'legal.' [...] the simplest form of forced labour was that which colonial governments exacted to carry out "public works." Labor for a given number of days per year had to be given free for these "public works" - building castles for governors, prisons for Africans, barracks for troops, and bungalows for colonial officials. A great deal of this forced labor went into the construction of roads, railways and ports to provide the infrastructure for private capitalist investment and to facilitate the export of cash crops. Taking only one example from the British colony of Sierra Leone, one finds that the railway which started at the end of the nineteenth century required forced labour from thousands of peasants driven from the villages. The hard work and appalling conditions led to the death of a large number of those engaged in work on the railway. In British territories, this kind of forced labor (including juvenile labor) was widespread enough to call forth in 1923 a "Native Authority Ordinance" restricting the use of compulsory labor for porterage, railway and road building. More often than not, means were found of circumventing this legislation. An international Forced Labor Convention was signed by all colonial powers in 1930, but again it was flouted in practice."
In the last chapter, Rodney dismisses the still popular argument that colonialism somehow benefited the colonies. "The argument suggests that, on one hand, there was exploitation and oppression, but on the other hand, colonial governments did much for the benefit of Africans and they developed Africa. It is our contention that this is completely false. Colonialism had only one hand - it was a one-armed bandit. What did colonial governments do in the interest of Africans? Supposedly, they built railroads, schools, hospitals and the like. The sum total of these services was amazingly small."
First, he points out the paltriness of the total expenditure on social services in the colonies, then he shows how the vast majority of these services were provided for white settlers and expatriates:
"it is well known that whites created an infrastructure to afford themselves leisured and enjoyable lives"
"Ibadan, one of the most heavily populated cities in Africa, had only about 50 Europeans before the last war. For those chosen few, the British colonial government maintained a segregated hospital service of 11 beds in well-furnished surroundings. There were 34 beds for the half-million blacks [...] altogether the 4,000 Europeans in the country in the 1930s had 12 modern hospitals, while the African population of at least 40 million had 52 hospitals."
Rodney goes on to discuss how exploited workers in unhealthy industries, such as miners, had no access to health care, and rural areas which produced cash crops had no social services at all. Social services to which Africans did have access were provided solely to facilitate exploitation.
"[Roads and railways] had a clear geographical distribution according to which particular regions needed to be opened up to import-export activities. Where exports were not available, roads and railways had no place. The only slight exception is that certain roads and railways were built to move troops and make conquest and oppression easier"
"Apologists for colonialism are quick to say that the money for schools, hospitals, and such services in Africa was provided by the British, French or Belgian taxpayer [...] It defies logic to admit that the profits from a given colony in a given year totalled several million dollars and to affirm nevertheless that the few thousand dollars allocated to social services in that colony was the money of European taxpayers!"
I will leave out huge swathes of material on areas like banking, agriculture (the disastrous creation of monocultures, for example) and industry, and discussion of the negative economic, political and social effects of colonialism in this chapter, including on the status of women. Colonialism created the conditions for neo-colonial exploitation and dependence. But the one thing I found most interesting and impressive about Rodney's work is his discussion of education.
Pre-colonial education in Africa was outstandingly relevant, he explains, in contrast to colonial education, the main purpose of which "was to train Africans to help man the local administration at the lowest ranks and staff the private capitalist firms staffed by Europeans. In effect, that meant selecting a few Africans to participate in the domination and exploitation of the continent as a whole [...] it sought to instill a sense of deference towards all that was European and capitalist. Education in Europe was dominated by the capitalist class. The same class bias was automatically transferred to Africa; and to make matters worse the racism and cultural boastfulness harboured by capitalism were also included in the package of colonial education. Colonial schooling was education for subordination, exploitation, the creation of mental confusion, and the development of underdevelopment."
Rodney quotes statistics showing the small number of school places. The levels of secondary education were low, and higher education almost non-existent. What education there was included generous doses of propaganda. The more education a person received, the more alienated and separated from their culture they became. Abdou Moumini is quoted: "colonial education corrupted the thinking and sensibilities of the African and filled him with abnormal complexes". The church played its part: "[its] role was primarily to preserve the social relations of colonialism [...] therefore, [it] stressed humility, docility, and acceptance."
Despite this (and this is the exciting part), Africans struggled hard to gain education, and the fruit of that struggle, ultimately, in combination with other aspects of liberation struggle, was independence.
"The educated played a role in African independence struggles far out of proportion to their numbers, because they took it upon themselves and were called upon to articulate the interests of all Africans."
"If there is anything glorious about the history of African colonial education, it lies not in the crumbs which were dropped by European exploiters, but in the tremendous vigor displayed by Africans in mastering the principles of the system that had mastered them. In most colonies, there was an initial period of indifference towards school education, but once it was understood that schooling represented one of the few avenues of advance within colonial society, it became a question of African clamoring and pushing the colonialists much further than they intended to go."
Africans everywhere put their money (often savings were hard won through self-denial) into building schools, and put pressure on colonial institutions to provide schooling. Administrations were unwilling to comply. The Beecher report on education in Kenya:
"it was not really necessary to get the idea of freedom from a European book. What the educated African extracted from European schooling was a particular formation of the concept of political freedom. But, it did not take much to elicit a response from their own instinctive tendency for freedom [...] that universal tendency to seek freedom manifested itself among Africans even when the most careful steps were taken to extinguish it [...] Teachers were supposed to have been steeped in the culture of domination [...] but in the end, many of them stood in the vanguard of national liberation movements."
The chapter ends by emphasising that the mass of the people were involved in winning independence, but a detail account of the process would require a long text for each state, so it is not given. The post-independence (or postcolonial) situation and neo-colonial exploitation is left for other books to address.
The last three chapters cover the period of slavery, the period of colonialism, independence, and "the supposed benefits of colonialism for Africa". These chapters are full of excellent material that remains highly relevant given that Europeans continue to assert that colonialism was beneficial and to exploit African countries and other regions. Like many texts, this one makes clear how Europeans gained our wealth through plunder and exploitation.
Among the many things pointed out by Rodney that I hadn't known or realised the importance of before, or just found especially salient, were:
- The effect of depopulation by the European slave trade, which removed able-bodied adults from Africa. It seems obvious that this would cause economic problems for the preyed-on region, but I had never thought of this, because I had not grasped the sheer scale of that slave trade.
- The effect of European monopolies and trade rules on technology and innovation in Africa, and, relatedly, the huge benefits of trading internally and locally. Globalization of capitalism == neo-colonial exploitation, and to fight it, ditch oppressive trade treaties, support local industries, trade with your neighbours.
- "Throughout the colonial period the [difference between the prices of exported raw materials and imported manufactured goods] got worse [in Europe's favour]. In 1939, with the same quantity of primary goods colonies could buy only 60% of manufactured goods which they bough in the decade 1870-80 before colonial rule. By 1960, the amount of European manufactured goods purchasable by the same quantity of African raw materials had fallen still further. There was no objective economic law which determined that primary produce should be worth so little. Indeed, the developed countries sold certain raw materials like timber and wheat at much higher prices than a colony could command. The explanation is that the unequal exchange was forced upon Africa by the political and military supremacy of the colonizers, just as in the sphere of international relations unequal treaties were forced on small states in the dependencies, like those in Latin America"
- Colonies were taxed. Africans paid for "the upkeep of the governors and police who oppressed them and served as watchdogs for private capitalists... taxes and customs duties were levied in the nineteeth century with the aim of allowing the colonial powers to recover the costs of the armed forces which they dispatched to conquer Africa. In effect, therefore, the colonial governments never put a penny into the colonies."
- "Finally, when all else failed, colonial powers resorted widely to the physical coercion of labor - backed up of course by legal sanctions, since anything which the colonial government chose to do was 'legal.' [...] the simplest form of forced labour was that which colonial governments exacted to carry out "public works." Labor for a given number of days per year had to be given free for these "public works" - building castles for governors, prisons for Africans, barracks for troops, and bungalows for colonial officials. A great deal of this forced labor went into the construction of roads, railways and ports to provide the infrastructure for private capitalist investment and to facilitate the export of cash crops. Taking only one example from the British colony of Sierra Leone, one finds that the railway which started at the end of the nineteenth century required forced labour from thousands of peasants driven from the villages. The hard work and appalling conditions led to the death of a large number of those engaged in work on the railway. In British territories, this kind of forced labor (including juvenile labor) was widespread enough to call forth in 1923 a "Native Authority Ordinance" restricting the use of compulsory labor for porterage, railway and road building. More often than not, means were found of circumventing this legislation. An international Forced Labor Convention was signed by all colonial powers in 1930, but again it was flouted in practice."
In the last chapter, Rodney dismisses the still popular argument that colonialism somehow benefited the colonies. "The argument suggests that, on one hand, there was exploitation and oppression, but on the other hand, colonial governments did much for the benefit of Africans and they developed Africa. It is our contention that this is completely false. Colonialism had only one hand - it was a one-armed bandit. What did colonial governments do in the interest of Africans? Supposedly, they built railroads, schools, hospitals and the like. The sum total of these services was amazingly small."
First, he points out the paltriness of the total expenditure on social services in the colonies, then he shows how the vast majority of these services were provided for white settlers and expatriates:
"it is well known that whites created an infrastructure to afford themselves leisured and enjoyable lives"
"Ibadan, one of the most heavily populated cities in Africa, had only about 50 Europeans before the last war. For those chosen few, the British colonial government maintained a segregated hospital service of 11 beds in well-furnished surroundings. There were 34 beds for the half-million blacks [...] altogether the 4,000 Europeans in the country in the 1930s had 12 modern hospitals, while the African population of at least 40 million had 52 hospitals."
Rodney goes on to discuss how exploited workers in unhealthy industries, such as miners, had no access to health care, and rural areas which produced cash crops had no social services at all. Social services to which Africans did have access were provided solely to facilitate exploitation.
"[Roads and railways] had a clear geographical distribution according to which particular regions needed to be opened up to import-export activities. Where exports were not available, roads and railways had no place. The only slight exception is that certain roads and railways were built to move troops and make conquest and oppression easier"
"Apologists for colonialism are quick to say that the money for schools, hospitals, and such services in Africa was provided by the British, French or Belgian taxpayer [...] It defies logic to admit that the profits from a given colony in a given year totalled several million dollars and to affirm nevertheless that the few thousand dollars allocated to social services in that colony was the money of European taxpayers!"
I will leave out huge swathes of material on areas like banking, agriculture (the disastrous creation of monocultures, for example) and industry, and discussion of the negative economic, political and social effects of colonialism in this chapter, including on the status of women. Colonialism created the conditions for neo-colonial exploitation and dependence. But the one thing I found most interesting and impressive about Rodney's work is his discussion of education.
Pre-colonial education in Africa was outstandingly relevant, he explains, in contrast to colonial education, the main purpose of which "was to train Africans to help man the local administration at the lowest ranks and staff the private capitalist firms staffed by Europeans. In effect, that meant selecting a few Africans to participate in the domination and exploitation of the continent as a whole [...] it sought to instill a sense of deference towards all that was European and capitalist. Education in Europe was dominated by the capitalist class. The same class bias was automatically transferred to Africa; and to make matters worse the racism and cultural boastfulness harboured by capitalism were also included in the package of colonial education. Colonial schooling was education for subordination, exploitation, the creation of mental confusion, and the development of underdevelopment."
Rodney quotes statistics showing the small number of school places. The levels of secondary education were low, and higher education almost non-existent. What education there was included generous doses of propaganda. The more education a person received, the more alienated and separated from their culture they became. Abdou Moumini is quoted: "colonial education corrupted the thinking and sensibilities of the African and filled him with abnormal complexes". The church played its part: "[its] role was primarily to preserve the social relations of colonialism [...] therefore, [it] stressed humility, docility, and acceptance."
Despite this (and this is the exciting part), Africans struggled hard to gain education, and the fruit of that struggle, ultimately, in combination with other aspects of liberation struggle, was independence.
"The educated played a role in African independence struggles far out of proportion to their numbers, because they took it upon themselves and were called upon to articulate the interests of all Africans."
"If there is anything glorious about the history of African colonial education, it lies not in the crumbs which were dropped by European exploiters, but in the tremendous vigor displayed by Africans in mastering the principles of the system that had mastered them. In most colonies, there was an initial period of indifference towards school education, but once it was understood that schooling represented one of the few avenues of advance within colonial society, it became a question of African clamoring and pushing the colonialists much further than they intended to go."
Africans everywhere put their money (often savings were hard won through self-denial) into building schools, and put pressure on colonial institutions to provide schooling. Administrations were unwilling to comply. The Beecher report on education in Kenya:
Illiterates with the right attitude to manual employment are preferable to products of the schools who are not readily disposed to enter manual employmentKenya had two independent school associations (as mentioned by , although I forget in which book), which were immediately closed when the Mau Mau war for liberation broke out.
"it was not really necessary to get the idea of freedom from a European book. What the educated African extracted from European schooling was a particular formation of the concept of political freedom. But, it did not take much to elicit a response from their own instinctive tendency for freedom [...] that universal tendency to seek freedom manifested itself among Africans even when the most careful steps were taken to extinguish it [...] Teachers were supposed to have been steeped in the culture of domination [...] but in the end, many of them stood in the vanguard of national liberation movements."
The chapter ends by emphasising that the mass of the people were involved in winning independence, but a detail account of the process would require a long text for each state, so it is not given. The post-independence (or postcolonial) situation and neo-colonial exploitation is left for other books to address.
May 17, 2012
Why does Africa seem to be lagging behind general global development? I believe that it is not only the current and aftereffects of European domination,but the mindset of Africans themselves.
The same type of destruction of traditional culture took place on other continents by Europeans, but Africa seems to have borne the brunt of it all.
There is a self-evident intolerance within the Caucasian psyche for African features and values, and thus there has been a continuous process of assimilation.
I am Black, and am totally enamoured by jet-black skin and exaggerated buttocks on black women. I say 'exaggerated', but this is only in context of comparison with Caucasians.
Africans are more attached to their traditional cultural values than any other groups of people that I have seen. Modern life seeks to do away with tradition, for a more scientific approach. But the paternalism plainly evident to Africans with open minds, is revealed in the type of 'scientific' approach namely Western.
African science has been totally removed from the equation, because Western eyes fail to recognize the nature of it.
Thus many Africans are pursuing a fleeting illusion in their quest to assimilate western culture as promulgated in the education system they are exposed to.
My feeling is that Africa will always lag behind until Africans rediscover their full self-worth and totally immerse themselves into their own science and education system, which exists in a parallel paradigm to Western belief systems.
The same type of destruction of traditional culture took place on other continents by Europeans, but Africa seems to have borne the brunt of it all.
There is a self-evident intolerance within the Caucasian psyche for African features and values, and thus there has been a continuous process of assimilation.
I am Black, and am totally enamoured by jet-black skin and exaggerated buttocks on black women. I say 'exaggerated', but this is only in context of comparison with Caucasians.
Africans are more attached to their traditional cultural values than any other groups of people that I have seen. Modern life seeks to do away with tradition, for a more scientific approach. But the paternalism plainly evident to Africans with open minds, is revealed in the type of 'scientific' approach namely Western.
African science has been totally removed from the equation, because Western eyes fail to recognize the nature of it.
Thus many Africans are pursuing a fleeting illusion in their quest to assimilate western culture as promulgated in the education system they are exposed to.
My feeling is that Africa will always lag behind until Africans rediscover their full self-worth and totally immerse themselves into their own science and education system, which exists in a parallel paradigm to Western belief systems.
December 27, 2019
Africa, under communalism, had no classes and had equality in distribution. Carthage flourished from 1200 to 200 B.C. By 732 A.D, Europe stopped the Muslim advance, when African forces were already deep into France. Imagine white teachers telling their students that while non-whites were happily enjoying baths in Maghreb (later Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia), white people in Oxford, England considered that washing oneself was 鈥渁 dangerous act鈥�. Few whites understand that trans-Saharan trade 鈥渨as as great an achievement as crossing the ocean.鈥� It brought in trade and literate Islamic culture, however iron tools came to Africa later than they came to Europe, so, technology and skills were more limited. When Cecil Rhodes went in Zimbabwe and saw its ruins, they assumed they had to have been built by white people. Slavery was not a 鈥渕ode of production鈥� until the whites came. Europeans arriving in Africa were often impressed by what they saw: clean straight streets some 120 feet wide, pillars encased in copper, palaces, and galleries. Communalist Africa meets the fledgling capitalist nations of Europe. Africa gets tapped for slaves when the indigenous of the Americas prove either unwilling to slave for the white invaders, or too susceptible to smallpox. The English currency, the guinea, was once made from gold taken from Guinea. Queen Elizabeth I enjoyed the slave trade and gave a ship strangely named Jesus to go to Africa to steal more slaves. When Elizabeth gave John Hawkins a knighthood for stealing blacks from Africa at gunpoint, John made his own coat of arms from an image of blacks in chains. Barclays Bank was set up by two slavers needing a place to put their tainted profits. James Watt got his steam engine financing from slavers. In the 18th century, France was getting 20% of its income from theft and slavery. 鈥淚n the 1830鈥檚 slave-grown cotton accounted for about half the value of all the exports from the United States.鈥� Slavery does not allow for industrial development which is why the U.S. North developed industry while the South did not.
When France prattled on about 鈥淟iberty, Equality, Fraternity鈥� you can be sure they were not discussing their enslaved blacks around the world. Rational Americans were upset to learn about My Lai in Vietnam, but few connected the violent dots to past U.S. slavery and brutal settler-colonialism against the Native Americans. Trade at the time was in the interest of European Capitalism and nothing else. Funny how Europeans had no religious problem seeing the theft of human beings 鈥渢hrough warfare, trickery, banditry and kidnapping鈥� as 鈥渢rade鈥�. Did anyone of us get taught in school that 15 to 20% of all slaves died on the journey across the Atlantic? Or of the countless slave deaths after capture before they arrived bound at the African coast? Do whites think about how many blacks also died in those pointless African wars for yet more captives? How many were killed or injured in those wars to produce the captives? Such an outflow of society could only claw at the remaining African social fabric. During this time, raiding other people鈥檚 captives had become more lucrative than gold mining. How do you develop your country through harnessing or working with nature under such circumstances? How do you even grow your food, let alone develop industry?
Did you know the British forced Africans to sing: Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves, Britons never never shall be slaves鈥�? How developed would Britons be now, if they were forced instead to be some else鈥檚 slaves for centuries? Then there were all the shitty consumer goods Europe dumped on Africa, intentionally undercutting African industry and products. As a result, 鈥減eople forgot even the simple techniques of the forefathers鈥�. Basic technological regression. No one mentions that Italians should be grateful to China for spaghetti after Marco Polo introduced them to the noodle. But many mention that Africans should be grateful to Europe for the corn and the cassava. Japan was the only non-white country to be spared. Look how England destroyed India鈥檚 vibrant cloth industry but not that of Japan. Walter tells us 鈥渋t would not have been in the interest of capitalism to develop Africa鈥� which is why state-capitalist countries of the 60鈥檚 and 70鈥檚 instead stepped in to work with Africa like China, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union. During the slave trade, one horse brought to Africa was worth 15 captives. The Portuguese basically were restricted to along the coast where their cannons were effective. Slave trading for Africans had an extra cost because whites didn鈥檛 always show up each year to buy them, due to their own wars and revolutions. African leaders were reduced to being 鈥渕iddlemen for European trade鈥� during the colonial period. For Walter, 鈥渕odern imperialism is inseparable from capitalism.鈥� Arabs only exploited African labor in a 鈥渇eudal context鈥�. Liberia became a de facto colony for the U.S. because of the rubber. Firestone鈥檚 profits through buying one million acres of land at six cents an acre there, made Firestone. In fact, Firestone took 160 million dollars of rubber out of Liberia, while the Liberian government received only 8 million dollars in return.
Colonel Grogan says of the Kikuyu, 鈥淲e have stolen his land. Now we must steal his limbs. Compulsory labor is the corollary of our occupation of the country.鈥� The French banned the Mandja people from hunting because it interfered with cotton cultivation for export. Europeans bought African resources like palm oil and ground nuts at crazy prices far below market value. Cadbury鈥檚 job was exploiting African cocoa workers. Lobbyists like Cadbury controlled their own government as well 鈥� a nice trick. Think Africa has always been poor? In 1952, Guinea 鈥渆arned France about 5.6 million dollars (bauxite, coffee, bananas) in foreign exchange.鈥� The U.S. got its uranium for its first atomic bomb from the Belgian Congo. Africa had plenty of Manganese, Chrome, Columbite and Copper taken also to keep western capitalism going. Soap companies like Lever began making margarine because they required the same materials: oils and fats. Donald Trump probably has enough oils and fats in him to create a whole vat of I Can鈥檛 Believe it鈥檚 not Butter.
All roads and railways created by colonists, not surprisingly, led down to the sea. These were built at great human cost 鈥� no payment, just lashes. No cranes, no earth movers, just black humans forced at gunpoint by whites. How civilized. Europe鈥檚 capital accumulation comes from overseas 鈥� now we can see better how moral that was. As Walter says, Africans came into colonization with a hoe, and left with a hoe. See Africa forced to become have destructive monocultures instead of food security 鈥� Sudan & Uganda = cotton, Tanzania = sisal, Senegal & Gambia = groundnuts, Liberia = rubber, Dahomey and Nigeria = palm oil, and 鈥渢wo African colonies were told to grow nothing but peanuts.鈥� When Oxfam says, save the starving children of Africa, they won鈥檛 tell you those kids are starving because of the effects of colonialism and capitalism. Kenyans didn鈥檛 have tooth decay until they were forced to adopt a western diet. Throughout Africa, the church taught the colonized the 鈥渧alue鈥� of docility, humility and acceptance 鈥� the church preserved 鈥渢he social relations of colonialism鈥�. When the Mau Mau Rebellion broke out in Kenya, Britain leapt into action 鈥� they closed all the schools, because they could no longer control Kenyan minds. Think of Africa as three centuries of slavery with a chaser of one century of colonialism. 鈥淔oreign investment is the cause, not a solution to our economic backwardness. What is colonialism if it is not a system of 鈥榝oreign investment鈥�?鈥� In terms of lack of development, think of Africans as needing more protein, doctors, engineers, agriculturalists, lawyers, administrators and even welders. For Africa importing experts is very expensive. Also, note that socialist countries had no part in the theft of Africa. In 1980, this book鈥檚 author Walter is assassinated by a car bomb; some clearly did not like what he had to say on behalf of the people of Africa. An amazing important book I鈥檓 super glad I finally read.
When France prattled on about 鈥淟iberty, Equality, Fraternity鈥� you can be sure they were not discussing their enslaved blacks around the world. Rational Americans were upset to learn about My Lai in Vietnam, but few connected the violent dots to past U.S. slavery and brutal settler-colonialism against the Native Americans. Trade at the time was in the interest of European Capitalism and nothing else. Funny how Europeans had no religious problem seeing the theft of human beings 鈥渢hrough warfare, trickery, banditry and kidnapping鈥� as 鈥渢rade鈥�. Did anyone of us get taught in school that 15 to 20% of all slaves died on the journey across the Atlantic? Or of the countless slave deaths after capture before they arrived bound at the African coast? Do whites think about how many blacks also died in those pointless African wars for yet more captives? How many were killed or injured in those wars to produce the captives? Such an outflow of society could only claw at the remaining African social fabric. During this time, raiding other people鈥檚 captives had become more lucrative than gold mining. How do you develop your country through harnessing or working with nature under such circumstances? How do you even grow your food, let alone develop industry?
Did you know the British forced Africans to sing: Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves, Britons never never shall be slaves鈥�? How developed would Britons be now, if they were forced instead to be some else鈥檚 slaves for centuries? Then there were all the shitty consumer goods Europe dumped on Africa, intentionally undercutting African industry and products. As a result, 鈥減eople forgot even the simple techniques of the forefathers鈥�. Basic technological regression. No one mentions that Italians should be grateful to China for spaghetti after Marco Polo introduced them to the noodle. But many mention that Africans should be grateful to Europe for the corn and the cassava. Japan was the only non-white country to be spared. Look how England destroyed India鈥檚 vibrant cloth industry but not that of Japan. Walter tells us 鈥渋t would not have been in the interest of capitalism to develop Africa鈥� which is why state-capitalist countries of the 60鈥檚 and 70鈥檚 instead stepped in to work with Africa like China, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union. During the slave trade, one horse brought to Africa was worth 15 captives. The Portuguese basically were restricted to along the coast where their cannons were effective. Slave trading for Africans had an extra cost because whites didn鈥檛 always show up each year to buy them, due to their own wars and revolutions. African leaders were reduced to being 鈥渕iddlemen for European trade鈥� during the colonial period. For Walter, 鈥渕odern imperialism is inseparable from capitalism.鈥� Arabs only exploited African labor in a 鈥渇eudal context鈥�. Liberia became a de facto colony for the U.S. because of the rubber. Firestone鈥檚 profits through buying one million acres of land at six cents an acre there, made Firestone. In fact, Firestone took 160 million dollars of rubber out of Liberia, while the Liberian government received only 8 million dollars in return.
Colonel Grogan says of the Kikuyu, 鈥淲e have stolen his land. Now we must steal his limbs. Compulsory labor is the corollary of our occupation of the country.鈥� The French banned the Mandja people from hunting because it interfered with cotton cultivation for export. Europeans bought African resources like palm oil and ground nuts at crazy prices far below market value. Cadbury鈥檚 job was exploiting African cocoa workers. Lobbyists like Cadbury controlled their own government as well 鈥� a nice trick. Think Africa has always been poor? In 1952, Guinea 鈥渆arned France about 5.6 million dollars (bauxite, coffee, bananas) in foreign exchange.鈥� The U.S. got its uranium for its first atomic bomb from the Belgian Congo. Africa had plenty of Manganese, Chrome, Columbite and Copper taken also to keep western capitalism going. Soap companies like Lever began making margarine because they required the same materials: oils and fats. Donald Trump probably has enough oils and fats in him to create a whole vat of I Can鈥檛 Believe it鈥檚 not Butter.
All roads and railways created by colonists, not surprisingly, led down to the sea. These were built at great human cost 鈥� no payment, just lashes. No cranes, no earth movers, just black humans forced at gunpoint by whites. How civilized. Europe鈥檚 capital accumulation comes from overseas 鈥� now we can see better how moral that was. As Walter says, Africans came into colonization with a hoe, and left with a hoe. See Africa forced to become have destructive monocultures instead of food security 鈥� Sudan & Uganda = cotton, Tanzania = sisal, Senegal & Gambia = groundnuts, Liberia = rubber, Dahomey and Nigeria = palm oil, and 鈥渢wo African colonies were told to grow nothing but peanuts.鈥� When Oxfam says, save the starving children of Africa, they won鈥檛 tell you those kids are starving because of the effects of colonialism and capitalism. Kenyans didn鈥檛 have tooth decay until they were forced to adopt a western diet. Throughout Africa, the church taught the colonized the 鈥渧alue鈥� of docility, humility and acceptance 鈥� the church preserved 鈥渢he social relations of colonialism鈥�. When the Mau Mau Rebellion broke out in Kenya, Britain leapt into action 鈥� they closed all the schools, because they could no longer control Kenyan minds. Think of Africa as three centuries of slavery with a chaser of one century of colonialism. 鈥淔oreign investment is the cause, not a solution to our economic backwardness. What is colonialism if it is not a system of 鈥榝oreign investment鈥�?鈥� In terms of lack of development, think of Africans as needing more protein, doctors, engineers, agriculturalists, lawyers, administrators and even welders. For Africa importing experts is very expensive. Also, note that socialist countries had no part in the theft of Africa. In 1980, this book鈥檚 author Walter is assassinated by a car bomb; some clearly did not like what he had to say on behalf of the people of Africa. An amazing important book I鈥檓 super glad I finally read.
August 25, 2024
This is what I call required reading!
It took awhile for me to get into reading this very robust book but I am really happy I did. It is true what they say, this book is very dense and a lot of things may go over your head so I recommend taking at least a month or two to read it so everything can sink in.
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is what I call required reading because it shows us how colonialism continues to impact a lot of Africa to this day. We see how a lot of the practices and things done to countries in Africa impacted the people, culture and changed the course of their history. We also see how Europe continues to benefit from colonialism to this day.
I loved how Rodney unequivocally shut down the argument about 鈥渢here were some benefits to colonialism鈥� or 鈥渢he continent did benefit from Europe鈥�. We hear this off handed remarks a lot and I enjoyed the research that went behind showcasing how wrong that is.
In a world where we are told to forget the pass and move on, this book shows us how there are institutions in place that makes it hard. I highly recommend reading this.
It took awhile for me to get into reading this very robust book but I am really happy I did. It is true what they say, this book is very dense and a lot of things may go over your head so I recommend taking at least a month or two to read it so everything can sink in.
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is what I call required reading because it shows us how colonialism continues to impact a lot of Africa to this day. We see how a lot of the practices and things done to countries in Africa impacted the people, culture and changed the course of their history. We also see how Europe continues to benefit from colonialism to this day.
I loved how Rodney unequivocally shut down the argument about 鈥渢here were some benefits to colonialism鈥� or 鈥渢he continent did benefit from Europe鈥�. We hear this off handed remarks a lot and I enjoyed the research that went behind showcasing how wrong that is.
In a world where we are told to forget the pass and move on, this book shows us how there are institutions in place that makes it hard. I highly recommend reading this.
April 24, 2024
Picked this up as some wider reading for one of my history modules at University. It felt wrong to say that I was "looking forward to" reading this, as of course it engages with a very dark part of history that continues to this day, but I think it is incredibly important to know about.
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa systematically examines how Europe exploited Africa on a political, social and economic stage. To do this, it gives a very light establishment of Africa pre-European influence, and takes us through the last five centuries. Of course, there is not enough time in this to go in depth into case studies, but it really is a horrifying overview of the broad impacts European influence has had across the entirety of the continent, and places a key focus on making clear this relationship of exploitation still exists today.
Whilst this is scattered with specialist terminology especially in regards to economic policies, Walter Rodney establishes what these terms mean and provides examples so that even if you had no prior knowledge of this terminology at all, you will still be able to follow the analysis and the picture that unfolds.
As I said, this is a dark read that is horrifying throughout, but it was highly educational in a way that teaches you a lot, but does not overwhelm you. Walter Rodney provides a wide picture that means it is accessible to those who have a deep knowledge of the topics covered, as well as those who know nothing other than the title.
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa systematically examines how Europe exploited Africa on a political, social and economic stage. To do this, it gives a very light establishment of Africa pre-European influence, and takes us through the last five centuries. Of course, there is not enough time in this to go in depth into case studies, but it really is a horrifying overview of the broad impacts European influence has had across the entirety of the continent, and places a key focus on making clear this relationship of exploitation still exists today.
Whilst this is scattered with specialist terminology especially in regards to economic policies, Walter Rodney establishes what these terms mean and provides examples so that even if you had no prior knowledge of this terminology at all, you will still be able to follow the analysis and the picture that unfolds.
As I said, this is a dark read that is horrifying throughout, but it was highly educational in a way that teaches you a lot, but does not overwhelm you. Walter Rodney provides a wide picture that means it is accessible to those who have a deep knowledge of the topics covered, as well as those who know nothing other than the title.
July 11, 2020
Every single person needs to read this !!!!!!!!! Especially colonized peoples in the fight for liberation and colonizers who must be obligated to learn about the full extent of their oppressive histories
October 6, 2019
I'm struggling to choose a rating for this book. When it was written in 1972, the author undoubtedly drew on cutting edge historical research, but the book seems pretty out of date now. Ditto for his romanticization of life in China, Russia, and Korea under socialism. At the time it was written, these countries portrayed a rosy portrait to the rest of the world, which modern scholars now know was bogus. In 1972, it seemed as though socialism made citizens' lives uniformly better, while capitalism made people's lives worse. Today, we have a more nuanced picture. Socialism and capitalism are both sometimes forces for evil, sometimes for good.
I definitely don't blame to author for writing a book that became out of date almost fifty years later. However, I'm puzzled by the modern scholars who seem to revere this book for its wisdom and insight, as though we haven't learned so much more about the world since it was written.
I definitely don't blame to author for writing a book that became out of date almost fifty years later. However, I'm puzzled by the modern scholars who seem to revere this book for its wisdom and insight, as though we haven't learned so much more about the world since it was written.
January 22, 2021
Brilliantly straightforward. Rodney managed to contextualize a broad array of African histories, rebut the various racisms and imperialist chauvinisms - that are still with us today - and collate all this within a clear theory of historical patterns/trends towards African independence. Maybe my favorite choice is each chapter concluding not with a tsunami of end notes to cross check, but with further reading suggestions. It's here you see the populist spirit of the work itself. Despite being nearly half a century old at this point it's staying power is a testament to this spirit, Rodney's unpampering style, and, tragically, to how his generation's most radical were successfully suppressed by neo-colonial/neo-liberal forces (Rodney himself was killed by a car bomb 8 years after publication, in 1980).
I've often seen this book paired with Eduardo Galleano's in being a primer for its respective continent. I would recommend it if you haven't read it, though expect a very different style from Rodney's.
I'm still trying to educate myself on African history and politics, so I can't recommend much there. This from the Vijay Prashad's Progressive International marking the 60th anniversary of Patrice Lumumba's assassination (the 17th) was incredibly informative for me though and I would recommend it.
I've often seen this book paired with Eduardo Galleano's in being a primer for its respective continent. I would recommend it if you haven't read it, though expect a very different style from Rodney's.
I'm still trying to educate myself on African history and politics, so I can't recommend much there. This from the Vijay Prashad's Progressive International marking the 60th anniversary of Patrice Lumumba's assassination (the 17th) was incredibly informative for me though and I would recommend it.
December 25, 2019
I have no clue why this has above a 3.0 rating. This book and the underlying logic are nonsensical. There is certainly some interesting history of African cultures, but the heart of the book is a harsh critique of capitalism (which the author conflates with colonialism) and socialism (which the author conflates with perfection).
The fact that the author lauds North Korea should be enough to demonstrate how ideologically committed he was. This is the ravings of a zealot more than a study of Europes underdevelopment of Africa.
Unfortunately, the obvious knowledge and understanding of the continent and it's people is there, but the conclusions are so heavily weighted by the Marxist paradigm that everything becomes an oversimplification of factors to good (socialism) v evil (capitalism).
My only thought is people are appreciating this as a period piece that captures a sentiment. But if you want that, read Fannon. Fannon is far more honest and raw emotion rather than vapid fake facts and historical contortions. Perhaps that's the biggest issue with this book, if you want to believe it, then all of the rants become truth. If you dont, it's all dumb. If you fact check or have a grasp of African history, you spend half the book wondering if this is satire!
The fact that the author lauds North Korea should be enough to demonstrate how ideologically committed he was. This is the ravings of a zealot more than a study of Europes underdevelopment of Africa.
Unfortunately, the obvious knowledge and understanding of the continent and it's people is there, but the conclusions are so heavily weighted by the Marxist paradigm that everything becomes an oversimplification of factors to good (socialism) v evil (capitalism).
My only thought is people are appreciating this as a period piece that captures a sentiment. But if you want that, read Fannon. Fannon is far more honest and raw emotion rather than vapid fake facts and historical contortions. Perhaps that's the biggest issue with this book, if you want to believe it, then all of the rants become truth. If you dont, it's all dumb. If you fact check or have a grasp of African history, you spend half the book wondering if this is satire!
August 15, 2024
(hi guys it's good to be back!)
colonized populations like african countries were often self-sufficient and judiciously developing before colonizers like european imperialists plundered their economy under the guise of 'civilizing' these 'lesser people'鈥攂ut colonization didn't help develop africa; it stole from africans the exponential margins of potential financial, educational and social success that was theirs to rightfully gain. walter rodney was assassinated, but he left behind a piece of work that is a truly seminal piece of de-colonial work that i think anyone looking to educate themselves should read. this was originally written in the late 1900s so some of the factual information is no longer relevant (like the interspersed commentary on the soviet union), but otherwise, this was a truly eye-opening read.
colonized populations like african countries were often self-sufficient and judiciously developing before colonizers like european imperialists plundered their economy under the guise of 'civilizing' these 'lesser people'鈥攂ut colonization didn't help develop africa; it stole from africans the exponential margins of potential financial, educational and social success that was theirs to rightfully gain. walter rodney was assassinated, but he left behind a piece of work that is a truly seminal piece of de-colonial work that i think anyone looking to educate themselves should read. this was originally written in the late 1900s so some of the factual information is no longer relevant (like the interspersed commentary on the soviet union), but otherwise, this was a truly eye-opening read.
March 26, 2008
Amazing! Incredible! Eye-opening, ground-breaking, gripping, exciting, wonderful!
I love this book and I wished I had read it years ago. Not only does it throw open the colonial exploitation of Africa, but it brings pre-Colonial and pre-European-Slave-Trade Africa to life. Rodney puts together a biting criticism of Europe's interaction with Africa starting in the 15th century with trading, both the slave trade and the trade in goods. This essentially killed inter-Africa trade, forcing African civilizations to only trade with European and other western economies. This also changed the economies of African civilizations to suit what the traders wanted, whether human beings, cotton, or minerals. When European powers grew as a result of the profits from trade, they then carved Africa into its current state and entered the continent to force more and more production of things that would increase profit for the western markets. Banks, industries, and nations prospered by the use of underpaid, sometimes forced African labor. Meanwhile, civilizations fell apart and education came to a stand-still. This book left me further convinced in the concept of reparations, not just for slavery, but for the destruction of an entire continent and all the people that came from there in the last 500 years.
I usually reserve five stars for books that I consider feminist as well as good. This book, written in the late 1960's, is not feminist because the author frequently refers to all of society as "man". However, at the same time, he points out that the western world "has yet to emancipate women" [paraphrase there] and includes other observations that I consider admirable for a pre-second-wave male writer to make.
I am hungry to read an update of this book about the events in Africa in the last 40 years, with a focus on the Bahutu and Batutsi issues in Rwanda and Brundi, the independence of the white-ruled states of Namibia and Botswana, the breakdown of Somoli governance, and of course, the lifting of Apartheid in South Africa. I'd like to know about the status of manufacturing on the continent and any kind of efforts to move away from monocrop economies to more diversified and healthy economies. How is the discovery of oil in Nigeria and Angola affecting those nations from this viewpoint?
I love this book and I wished I had read it years ago. Not only does it throw open the colonial exploitation of Africa, but it brings pre-Colonial and pre-European-Slave-Trade Africa to life. Rodney puts together a biting criticism of Europe's interaction with Africa starting in the 15th century with trading, both the slave trade and the trade in goods. This essentially killed inter-Africa trade, forcing African civilizations to only trade with European and other western economies. This also changed the economies of African civilizations to suit what the traders wanted, whether human beings, cotton, or minerals. When European powers grew as a result of the profits from trade, they then carved Africa into its current state and entered the continent to force more and more production of things that would increase profit for the western markets. Banks, industries, and nations prospered by the use of underpaid, sometimes forced African labor. Meanwhile, civilizations fell apart and education came to a stand-still. This book left me further convinced in the concept of reparations, not just for slavery, but for the destruction of an entire continent and all the people that came from there in the last 500 years.
I usually reserve five stars for books that I consider feminist as well as good. This book, written in the late 1960's, is not feminist because the author frequently refers to all of society as "man". However, at the same time, he points out that the western world "has yet to emancipate women" [paraphrase there] and includes other observations that I consider admirable for a pre-second-wave male writer to make.
I am hungry to read an update of this book about the events in Africa in the last 40 years, with a focus on the Bahutu and Batutsi issues in Rwanda and Brundi, the independence of the white-ruled states of Namibia and Botswana, the breakdown of Somoli governance, and of course, the lifting of Apartheid in South Africa. I'd like to know about the status of manufacturing on the continent and any kind of efforts to move away from monocrop economies to more diversified and healthy economies. How is the discovery of oil in Nigeria and Angola affecting those nations from this viewpoint?
Read
March 31, 2022It's such a shame to me that too many postcolonial ideas at the present moment are hopelessly romantic and boil everything down to ahistorical notions of a West full of BAD THINGS and a Global South full of INDIGENOUS WISDOM, without considering the complexity and economic conditions that undergird it all 鈥� little more than melanin theory with an academic pedigree. If you want to know what honest postcolonial thinking looks like 鈥� rooted in Marxist dialectic, showing how the processes of imperialism and colonialism occur within the capitalist order, and how it is the cruel logic of markets, based on a gentleman's agreement between colonial militaries, multinational enterprises, and local compradors that dictates the exploitation of the poorest people. Granted, Rodney was writing in the '70s, and he suffers a bit from an excessive faith in the Leninist project, but that's my only major reservation. The rest is straightforward and devastating.
July 2, 2022
What's there to say about this classic of post-colonial theory except that it should be mandatory reading for everyone? Although the first two chapters of the book (which counts 6) were a bit *tedious* to get through, they do the necessary job to set the scene for the range of diverse modes of life pre-triangular trade and pre-colonial capitalist exploitation in Africa. Europe and the USA didn't fill their coffers by picking up money from trees; the riches that were appropriated were done on African soil by exploited African labour under brutal conditions. Rodney does the necessary task to thoroughly outline the trajectories taken by colonial projects in Africa and how they manifested themselves over many centuries to both contribute to the capitalist system in Europe and the USA as well as its expansion as a system of oppression and extraction in Africa. Rodney also has a somewhat biting tone at times, which was very 脿 propos (he made fun of Portugal so much that if I was the country I'd just hide in shame lmao). MANDATORY READING!
December 30, 2023
DNF 12% Excruciatingly of another era. Starts from false premises, does not question that man must dominate nature and that progress follows a single inexorable path from hunting communalism to slave-owning states to feudalism to capitalism to socialism. Permanent growth and producing for an anonymous market remain the aim while the summit of development is when the state accumulates the surplus. Among alarming postulations:
However morally indefensible slavery may have been, it did serve for a while to open up the mines and agricultural plantations in large parts of Europe and notably within the Roman Empire.
June 19, 2022
I have been trying to finish this book for 3 years. I'd pick it up get angry amd have to step away.
The inhumanity and intentionality is infuriating.
This book should be required reading. It should have been on my syllabus at school. But it wasn't and you want to know why? Because i live in a European colony (let's call a spade a spade) and they would rather teach us about nos anc锚tres les gaulois instead of exposing their dirty deeds. Walter Rodney went deep and exposed not only how these empires were built but also how they intentionally tanked any development in Africa.
Any discussion of reparations is immediately ostracized but that is the only discussion that should be happening. From the slave trade to the pillaging of Africa was solely for ecomic gain and reparations is the only way forward. Apologies without restitution is futile.
猸愶笍猸愶笍猸愶笍猸愶笍猸愶笍
#欧宝娱乐readingchallenge
39/12
#bookreview
#bookstagram #sxmbibliophile #islandgirlreads
The inhumanity and intentionality is infuriating.
This book should be required reading. It should have been on my syllabus at school. But it wasn't and you want to know why? Because i live in a European colony (let's call a spade a spade) and they would rather teach us about nos anc锚tres les gaulois instead of exposing their dirty deeds. Walter Rodney went deep and exposed not only how these empires were built but also how they intentionally tanked any development in Africa.
Any discussion of reparations is immediately ostracized but that is the only discussion that should be happening. From the slave trade to the pillaging of Africa was solely for ecomic gain and reparations is the only way forward. Apologies without restitution is futile.
猸愶笍猸愶笍猸愶笍猸愶笍猸愶笍
#欧宝娱乐readingchallenge
39/12
#bookreview
#bookstagram #sxmbibliophile #islandgirlreads
February 7, 2009
Just read this for class. It is a political/economic commentary on capitalism from the perspective of a socialist. If you care or wonder about the socioeconomic conditions of African nations and why it is the way it is read this book- a little bit at a time.
January 16, 2016
賮賷 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 丕賱賯賷賲 賷乇賵賷 賲丐賱賮賴 賵丕賱鬲乇 乇賵丿賳賷 賯氐丞 鬲禺賱賮 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 毓賳 乇賰亘 丕賱鬲賯丿賲 賵賲爻丕賴賲丞 兀賵乇賵亘丕 丕賱賮丕毓賱丞 賵丕賱賰亘賷乇丞 賮賷 賴匕賴 丕賱賳鬲賷噩丞 丕賱鬲賷 亘丕鬲鬲 馗丕賴乇丞 賱賱毓賷丕賳 賵賷乇賷丿 賵丕賱鬲乇 賲賳 賵乇丕亍 爻乇丿 賯氐丞 丿賵乇 兀賵乇賵亘丕 賮賷 鬲禺賱賮 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 兀賳 賷卮乇丨 丿賵乇 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 賮賷 丕賱卮丐賵賳 丕賱丿賵賱賷丞 賵匕賱賰 毓賳 胤乇賷賯 丕賱乇噩賵毓 賱賲丕囟賷賴丕 賲賳匕 兀賵賱 賲賲賱賰丞 丨鬲賶 賵氐賱賳丕 廿賱賶 丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇 丕賱睾乇亘賷 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷 賵賷乇賷丿 丕賱賲丐賱賮 兀賳 賷乇亘胤 亘賷賳 賴匕丕 丕賱鬲丕乇賷禺 賵賴匕丕 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賵賲丕 賷噩乇賷 丕賱賷賵賲 賮賷 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 賵丨丕賱鬲賴丕 毓賱賶 丕賱氐毓賷丿 丕賱丿賵賱賷 睾賷乇 兀賳賴 賱丕 亘丿 賲賳 丕賱鬲賳賵賷賴 廿賱賶 兀賳 丕賱賲賳賴噩賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 賷賵馗賮賴丕 賵丕賱鬲乇 鬲賳胤賱賯 賲賳 賵噩賴丞 賳馗乇 丕卮鬲乇丕賰賷丞 賰丕賳鬲 爻丕卅丿丞 賮賷 賲賳丕胤賯 賰孬賷乇丞 賲賳 丕賱毓丕賱賲 廿亘丕賳 氐丿賵乇 賰鬲丕亘賴 廿匕賳 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賱賲 賷禺乇噩 毓賳 爻賷丕賯 丕賱賳馗乇丞 丕賱丕卮鬲乇丕賰賷丞 賮賷 丕賱鬲胤賵乇 賵丕賱鬲賳賲賷丞 賮丕賱賲丐賱賮 賳丕丿賶 亘卮賰賱 賵丕囟丨 賲賳匕 亘丿丕賷丞 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 亘賮賰乇丞 兀賳 鬲賳賲賷丞 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 賵鬲胤賵乇賴丕 賲乇賴賵賳丞 亘丕賱丕賳賮賰丕賰 賲賳 丕賱賳馗丕賲 丕賱乇兀爻賲丕賱賷 丕賱丿賵賱賷 丕賱匕賷 賰丕賳 丕賱爻亘亘 丕賱乇卅賷爻 賱鬲禺賱賮 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 賱賯乇賵賳 禺賲爻丞 賲鬲賵丕氐賱丞 賵兀賰孬乇 賲賳 匕賱賰 賰賲丕 賷亘賷賳 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賮賷 賲賯丿賲鬲賴 賵賰丕賳 賷兀賲賱 賵丕賱鬲乇 乇賵丿賳賷 兀賳 賷氐賱 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 廿賱賶 兀賷丕丿賷 丕賱兀賮丕乇賯丞 禺丕氐丞 丕賱匕賷賳 賷乇賷丿賵賳 鬲賮丨氐 胤亘賷毓丞 丕賱丕爻鬲睾賱丕賱 丕賱鬲賷 賲賵乇爻鬲 囟丿賴賲 賵囟丿 兀噩丿丕丿賴賲 賵賴賵 賷毓乇賮 亘卮賰賱 賲胤賵賱 賲賮賴賵賲 丕賱鬲禺賱賮 丕賱匕賷 賷卮賰賱 丨噩夭 丕賱夭丕賵賷丞 賱賮賴賲 亘賯賷丞 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賵賷鬲賲賷夭 賲賮賴賵賲 丕賱鬲禺賱賮 亘毓丿丿 賲賳 丕賱氐賮丕鬲: 賴賳丕 賷乇賰夭 乇賵丿賳賷 毓賱賶 賳賵毓 賲賳 丕賱賲賯丕乇賳丞 賱賮賴賲 賲賮賴賵賲 丕賱鬲賳賲賷丞 賮賲賳丕胤賯 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 賵丌爻賷丕 賵兀賲乇賷賰丕 丕賱賱丕鬲賷賳賷丞 賲鬲禺賱賮丞 賯賷丕爻丕 亘兀賵乇賵亘丕 賵卮賲丕賱 兀賲乇賷賰丕 賵毓丿丿 賯賱賷賱 賲賳 丕賱丿賵賱 丕賱氐賳丕毓賷丞 賮賷 丕賱毓丕賱賲 孬丕賳賷丕 賷鬲囟賲賳 賲賮賴賵賲 丕賱鬲禺賱賮 賱賷爻 賮賯胤 毓丿賲 丕賱賲爻丕賵丕丞 丕賱丕賯鬲氐丕丿賷丞 丕賱賳爻亘賷 亘賷賳 毓丿丿 賲賳 丕賱丿賵賱 賵丕賱賯丕乇丕鬲 賵廿賳賲丕 賷鬲囟賲賳 廿囟丕賮丞 廿賱賶 匕賱賰 賲爻兀賱丞 賮賷 睾丕賷丞 丕賱兀賴賲賷丞 賵賴賷 毓賱丕賯丕鬲 丕賱丕爻鬲睾賱丕賱 丕賱丕賯鬲氐丕丿賷 亘賷賳 丿賵賱鬲賷賳 兀賵 兀賰孬乇 賵 賮賷 賴匕賴 丕賱丨丕賱丞 賷氐亘丨 丕賱賲爻鬲睾賱 (亘賰爻乇 丕賱睾賷賳) 賲鬲胤賵乇丕 賵賳丕賲賷丕 賮锟斤拷 丨賷賳 賷賰賵賳 賮賷賴 丕賱賲爻鬲睾賱 (亘賮鬲丨 丕賱睾賷賳) 賲鬲禺賱賮丕 賵賴賳丕 賷卮賷乇 賵丕賱鬲乇 廿賱賶 兀賳 丕賱鬲禺賱賮 賮賷 丿賵賱 賯丕乇丞 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 賵丌爻賷丕 賵兀賲乇賷賰丕 丕賱賱丕鬲賷賳賷丞 賵丕囟丨 賲賳 禺賱丕賱 毓丿丿 賲賳 丕賱賲丐卮乇丕鬲 賲賳 囟賲賳賴丕: 賰賲賷丞 丕賱賮賵賱丕匕 丕賱賲爻鬲禺丿賲丞 (賵賴賵 賲丐卮乇 賱賲爻鬲賵賶 丕賱鬲氐賳賷毓 賵丕賱氐賳丕毓丞) 丕賱廿賳鬲丕噩 丕賱夭乇丕毓賷貙 賲毓丿賱 丕賱賵賮賷丕鬲 亘賷賳 丕賱兀胤賮丕賱貙 爻賵亍 丕賱鬲睾匕賷丞貙 賵噩賵丿 丕賱兀賲乇丕囟 丕賱鬲賷 賮賷 丕賱睾丕賱亘 賱丕 鬲賵噩丿 賮賷 丕賱丿賵賱 丕賱賲鬲胤賵乇丞 氐賳丕毓賷丕 賵丕賳鬲卮丕乇 丕賱兀賲賷丞 賵賷賯賵賱 賵丕賱鬲乇 廿賳 賲賳 囟賲賳 氐賮丕鬲 丕賱鬲禺賱賮 丕賱兀禺乇賶 賲丕 賷賲賰賳 丕毓鬲亘丕乇賴 毓丿賲 丕賱賯丿乇丞 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲乇賰賷夭 毓賱賶 賯胤丕毓丕鬲 賲賳 丕賱丕賯鬲氐丕丿 丕賱鬲賷 賷賲賰賳 賱賴丕 兀賳 鬲丨賯賯 賳爻亘 賳賲賵 毓丕賱賷丞 賰賲丕 兀賳 丕賱毓賱丕賯丕鬲 亘賷賳 賲禺鬲賱賮 丕賱賯胤丕毓丕鬲 丕賱丕賯鬲氐丕丿賷丞 賴賷 廿賲丕 睾賷乇 賲賵噩賵丿丞 賵廿賲丕 锟斤拷賵噩賵丿丞 賱賰賳賴丕 囟毓賷賮丞貙 賵乇丕賮賯 匕賱賰 鬲賱丕卮 賱賱鬲賵賮賷乇 丕賱賲鬲乇丕賰賲 亘毓丿 賴匕丕 丕賱鬲賯丿賷賲 丕賱賲賮丕賴賷賲賷 賱賲氐胤賱丨 丕賱鬲禺賱賮 賷賳鬲賯賱 賵丕賱鬲乇 賱鬲賯丿賷賲 賳馗乇丞 毓丕賲丞 賱賲丕 賰丕賳 毓賱賷賴 丨丕賱 丕賱賲噩鬲賲毓 丕賱廿賮乇賷賯賷 丕賱賳賯賷 賵丕賱賲噩鬲賲毓丕鬲 丕賱廿賮乇賷賯賷丞 丕賱賲毓賯丿丞 丕賱鬲賷 賰丕賳鬲 賲賵噩賵丿丞 賯亘賱 賯丿賵賲 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷賷賳 亘卮賰賱 毓丕賲 賷賰賲賳 丕賱賯賵賱 廿賳 丕賱毓丕卅賱丞 賵乇丕亘胤丞 丕賱丿賲 賵丕賱賯乇丕亘丞 賴賷 丕賱毓賵丕賲賱 丕賱賲丨丿丿丞 賱賲賱賰賷丞 丕賱兀乇囟 賵賮賷 丕爻鬲噩賱丕亘 丕賱毓賲丕賱 賱賱毓賲賱 賮賷 丕賱兀乇囟 賵賮賷 鬲賵夭賷毓 賲禺乇噩丕鬲 丕賱毓賲賱 賵賴匕丕 賱丕 賷鬲胤丕亘賯 毓賱賶 丕賱廿胤賱丕賯 賵賳馗丕賲 丕賱廿賯胤丕毓 兀賵 丕賱乇兀爻賲丕賱賷 丕賱匕賷 賷毓賲賱 賮賷賴 毓亘賷丿 丕賱兀乇囟 兀賵 丕賱毓賲丕賱 丕賱賲兀噩賵乇賵賳 賵賴賲 賮賷 丕賱毓丕丿丞 賲賳 禺丕乇噩 毓丕卅賱丞 爻賷丿 丕賱兀乇囟 兀賵 氐丕丨亘 丕賱賲氐賳毓 賰賲丕 賷卮賷乇 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賮賷 賮氐賱賴 丕賱孬丕賳賷 廿賱賶 賲馗丕賴乇 兀禺乇賶 賮賷 丕賱孬賯丕賮丞 丕賱廿賮乇賷賯賷丞 賯亘賱 毓丕賲 1445 賵賴賷 丕賱賲賵爻賷賯賶 賵丕賱乇賯氐 賵丕賱賮賳 賵丕賱丿賷賳 孬賲 丕賱丿賷賳 賴賳丕 丕賳鬲卮乇 賮賷 丕賱丨賷丕丞 丕賱廿賮乇賷賯賷丞 賰賲丕 賴賵 丕賱丨丕賱 賮賷 賲噩鬲賲毓丕鬲 賲丕 賯亘賱 丕賱廿賯胤丕毓 丕賱兀禺乇賶 賲孬賱 兀爻鬲乇丕賱賷丕 賵兀賮睾丕賳爻鬲丕賳 賵賲孬賱 丕賱賮丕賷賰賵賳噩 賮賷 丕賱丿賵賱 丕賱廿爻賰賳丿賳丕賮賷丞 賵賷賯賵賱 賵丕賱鬲乇 廿賳賴 賵毓賱賶 丕賱乇睾賲 賲賳 兀賳 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 兀馗賴乇鬲 賯丿乇丕 賰亘賷乇丕 賲賳 丕賱鬲卮賰賷賱丕鬲 丕賱丕噩鬲賲丕毓賷丞 (賲孬賱 噩賲丕毓丕鬲 丕賱氐賷丿 賵丕賱廿賯胤丕毓 賵丕賱賲卮丕毓賷丞) 睾賷乇 兀賳 兀睾賱亘賷丞 丕賱賲噩鬲賲毓丕鬲 丕賱廿賮乇賷賯賷丞 賯亘賱 賯丿賵賲 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷賷賳 賰丕賳鬲 賮賷 賲乇丨賱丞 丕賳鬲賯丕賱賷丞 賲賳 賲賲丕乇爻丞 丕賱夭乇丕毓丞 賵丕賱氐賷丿 賵丕賱乇毓賷 賮賷 賲噩鬲賲毓丕鬲 丕賱毓丕卅賱丞 廿賱賶 賲賲丕乇爻丞 丕賱兀賳卮胤丞 賳賮爻賴丕 賮賷 賳胤丕賯 丿賵賱 賵賲噩鬲賲毓丕鬲 賲卮丕亘賴丞 賱賱廿賯胤丕毓 賵賴賳丕 賷賯丿賲 賵丕賱鬲乇 毓丿丿丕 賲賳 丕賱兀賲孬賱丞 賱賷賵囟丨 賴匕賴 丕賱賳賯胤丞 毓賱賶 賵噩賴 丕賱鬲丨丿賷丿 賲孬賱 丕賱賯丿賲丕亍 丕賱賲氐乇賷賷賳 賵兀賲孬賱丞 兀禺乇賶 賵賱賲 賷鬲乇丿丿 賵丕賱鬲乇 賮賷 鬲賵噩賷賴 丕賱賳賯丿 賱賲丕 賵氐賮賴 亘兀禺胤丕亍 丕賱亘丕丨孬賷賳 丕賱鬲賯賱賷丿賷賷賳 丕賱鬲賷 賰丕賳鬲 鬲氐賮 亘乇賵夭 丕賱丨囟丕乇丞 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷丞 丕賱丨丿賷孬丞 賰卮賷亍 丨賯賯賴 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷賵賳 亘兀賳賮爻賴賲 賲賳賮乇丿賷賳 丿賵賳 丕賱丕毓鬲賲丕丿 毓賱賶 兀丨丿 賵亘丿賱丕 賲賳 匕賱賰 賷噩丕丿賱 賵丕賱鬲乇 賮賷 兀賳 丕賱鬲噩丕乇丞 賲毓 丕賱兀賲賲 睾賷乇 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷丞 賰丕賳鬲 丕賱賲賮鬲丕丨 丕賱乇卅賷爻 賱鬲丨賯賷賯 丕賱賴賷賲賳丞 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷丞 賮賯丿 丕賳禺乇胤鬲 兀賵乇賵亘丕 賮賷 鬲噩丕乇丞 丕賱乇賯賷賯 賵丕賱毓亘賷丿 賲賳匕 丕賱賯乇賳 丕賱禺丕賲爻 毓卮乇 賵氐丕毓丿丕 賵賰丕賳 賱匕賱賰 兀孬乇 賰亘賷乇 賮賷 氐毓賵丿 丕賱丨囟丕乇丞 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷丞 賮賯丿 鬲賲 鬲賵馗賷賮 丕賱毓亘賷丿 賮賷 賲賳丕噩賲 丕賱匕賴亘 賵丕賱賮囟丞 賮賷 丕賱賵賱丕賷丕鬲 丕賱賲鬲丨丿丞 賵廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 賵丕賱匕賴亘 賵丕賱賮囟丞 賰丕賳丕 賮賷 睾丕賷丞 丕賱兀賴賲賷丞 賱氐賳丕毓丞 丕賱賳賯丿 賮賷 丕賱丕賯鬲氐丕丿 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷 丕賱賲鬲賳丕賲賷 賵賰丕賳 賱賴匕賴 丕賱賮乇氐 丕賱噩丿賷丿丞 兀孬乇 賰亘賷乇 兀賷囟丕 賮賷 賮乇氐 丕賱丕爻鬲賰卮丕賮 賵鬲乇丕賰賲 丕賱孬乇賵丞 賮丕賱賰孬賷乇 賲賳 賲賳丕丨賷 丕賱賲噩鬲賲毓 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷 賵丕賱丕賯鬲氐丕丿 賰丕賳 賲鬲兀孬乇丕 亘鬲噩丕乇丞 丕賱毓亘賷丿 賵賴賳丕 賳卮賷乇 廿賱賶 氐賳丕毓丞 丕賱爻賮賳 賵丕賱鬲兀賲賷賳 賵廿賯丕賲丞 丕賱卮乇賰丕鬲 賵丕賱夭乇丕毓丞 丕賱乇兀爻賲丕賱賷丞 賵丕賱鬲賰賳賵賱賵噩賷丕 賵廿賳鬲丕噩 丕賱丌賱丕鬲 賵廿賯丕賲丞 丕賱毓賱丕賯丕鬲 丕賱鬲噩丕乇賷丞 賮賷 兀賵乇賵亘丕 賵賳鬲賷噩丞 賱賴匕丕 丕賱賳賵毓 賲賳 丕賱鬲噩丕乇丞 賮賯丿 賳卮兀鬲 賲丿賳 賲賵丕賳卅 賲孬賱 賱賷賮乇亘賵賱 賮賷 廿賳噩賱鬲乇丕 賵廿卮亘賷賱賷丞 賮賷 廿爻亘丕賳賷丕 賵賴賷 賲丿賳 兀賯賷賲鬲 賳鬲賷噩丞 賱鬲噩丕乇丞 丕賱毓亘賷丿 賵丕乇鬲亘胤鬲 賴匕賴 丕賱賲丿賳 賱丕丨賯丕 亘毓囟賴丕 亘亘毓囟 賵氐丕丿賮 匕賱賰 亘乇賵夭 賲乇丕賰夭 丕賱鬲氐賳賷毓 賵亘丿丕賷丞 丕賱孬賵乇丞 丕賱氐賳丕毓賷丞 賮賷 亘乇賷胤丕賳賷丕 賵賷乇賶 賵丕賱鬲乇 兀賳 廿丨丿賶 丕賱賳鬲丕卅噩 丕賱爻賱亘賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 氐丕丨亘鬲 鬲噩丕乇丞 丕賱毓亘賷丿 賴賷 賳賲賵 丕賱毓賳氐乇賷丞 丕賱亘賷囟丕亍 鬲噩丕賴 丕賱兀賮丕乇賯丞 賵噩丕亍 匕賱賰 亘卮賰賱 賰亘賷乇 賰胤乇賷賯丞 賱毓賯賱賳丞 丕爻鬲睾賱丕賱 毓賲賱 丕賱毓亘賷丿 丕賱鬲賷 丕毓鬲賲丿鬲 毓賱賷賴 兀賵乇賵亘丕 亘卮賰賱 賲鬲夭丕賷丿 賵亘丕賱鬲丕賱賷 噩丕亍鬲 賮鬲乇丞 丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇 丕賱鬲賷 丿賮毓鬲 賮賷賴丕 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 兀賷囟丕 孬賲賳丕 亘丕賴馗丕 賵賱毓亘鬲 賮賷賴 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 丿賵乇丕 賰亘賷乇丕 賮賷 鬲賳賲賷丞 賵鬲胤賵賷乇 兀賵乇賵亘丕 賵丕賱賳馗丕賲 丕賱乇兀爻賲丕賱賷 丕賱丿賵賱賷 賵禺賱丕賱 賴匕賴 丕賱賮鬲乇丞 丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇賷丞 鬲賵乇胤 丕賱賰孬賷乇 賲賳 丕賱賯胤丕毓丕鬲 丕賱丕賯鬲氐丕丿賷丞 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷丞 賮賷 丕爻鬲睾賱丕賱 丕賱賲賵丕乇丿 賵丕賱賲氐丕丿乇 丕賱廿賮乇賷賯賷丞 賵賲賳 囟賲賳賴丕 禺丿賲丕鬲 丕賱爻賮賳 賵丕賱賳賯賱 賵丕賱亘賳賵賰 賵爻賲丨 丕賱賳馗丕賲 丕賱賰賵賱賵賳賷丕賱賷 兀賷囟丕 亘賳賲賵 爻乇賷毓 賱賱鬲賰賳賵賱賵噩賷丕 賵丕賱賲賴丕乇丕鬲 賮賷 丕賱賯胤丕毓丕鬲 丕賱乇卅賷爻丞 丕賱丕賯鬲氐丕丿賷丞 賮賷 賲乇丕賰夭 丕賱廿賲亘乇賷丕賱賷丕鬲 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷丞 賵丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇 賲賳丨 丕賱乇兀爻賲丕賱賷丞 毓賲乇丕 兀胤賵賱 賵亘賯丕亍 兀胤賵賱 賮賷 兀賵乇賵亘丕 丕賱睾乇亘賷丞 賵賲孬丕賱丕 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲胤賵乇丕鬲 丕賱鬲賰賳賵賱賵噩賷丞 賷賲賰賳 丕賱廿卮丕乇丞 廿賱賶 丕賱鬲胤賵乇丕鬲 賮賷 丕賱賲毓丿丕鬲 丕賱丨乇亘賷丞 賱兀賳 丕賱鬲賳丕賮爻 毓賱賶 丕賱賲爻鬲毓賲乇丕鬲 卮噩毓 賳賵毓丕 賲賳 丕賱胤乇賯 丕賱噩丿賷丿丞 賱卮賳 丕賱丨乇賵亘 (丕賱賲丿賲乇丕鬲 賵丕賱睾賵丕氐丕鬲) 賵賮賷 丕賱亘丨孬 丕賱毓賱賲賷 賵賮賷 丕賱卮丨賳 (丕賱孬賱丕噩丕鬲 賵丨丕賲賱丕鬲 丕賱賳賮胤 賵兀賳賵丕毓 噩丿賷丿丞 賲賳 丕賱鬲噩賴賷夭丕鬲 丕賱禺丕氐丞 亘丕賱賲賵丕賳卅) 賵賳鬲賷噩丞 賱賰賱 匕賱賰 賰丕賳 賴賳丕賰 鬲賯丕爻賲 賮賷 丕賱毓賲賱 毓賱賶 丕賱賲爻鬲賵賶 丕賱丿賵賱賷 廿匕 丕賯鬲氐乇 毓賲賱 丕賱兀賮丕乇賯丞 賮賷 丕賱賲賳丕噩賲 賲丕 賷毓賳賷 囟賲丕賳 丕賱賳賲賵 賵丕賱鬲賵馗賷賮 賵丕賱賲賴丕乇丕鬲 賮賷 丕賱兀賲賲 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷丞 賵賴賳丕賰 賮賵丕卅丿 兀禺乇賶 賱賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇 鬲噩賱鬲 賮賷 丕賱丨氐賵賱 毓賱賶 丕賱賮賳 丕賱廿賮乇賷賯賷 丕賱賯賷賲 賵丕爻鬲禺丿丕賲 丕賱噩賳賵丿 丕賱兀賮丕乇賯丞 賱賱丨乇亘 賳賷丕亘丞 毓賳 丕賱卮毓亘 丕賱兀亘賷囟 毓賱賶 兀乇囟 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 賵賮賷 賲賵丕賯毓 兀禺乇賶 賲賳 丕賱毓丕賱賲 賵賰丕賳 賱賱爻賱賵賰 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷 鬲噩丕賴 丕賱兀賮丕乇賯丞 兀孬乇 賰亘賷乇 賮賷 鬲胤賵乇 亘賱 賱賳賯賱 鬲禺賱賮 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 亘卮賰賱 毓丕賲 賮丕賱兀孬乇 丕賱賲亘丕卮乇 賱鬲噩丕乇丞 丕賱毓亘賷丿 賰丕賳鬲 毓賳丿賲丕 賰丕賳賵丕 賷乇爻賱賵賳 毓亘乇 丕賱賲丨賷胤 丕賱兀胤賱爻賷 賲丕 兀丿賶 廿賱賶 鬲乇丕噩毓 賮賷 丕賱賲賵丕賱賷丿 賵賳賲賵 丕賱爻賰丕賳 賵賴匕丕 亘丿賵乇賴 兀孬乇 賮賷 鬲賵丕賮乇 丕賱毓賲賱 賵丕賱毓賲丕賱 賮賷 丕賱兀爻賵丕賯 丕賱廿賮乇賷賯賷丞 兀賲丕 賲丕 鬲亘賯賶 賲賳 兀賮丕乇賯丞 賮賯丿 賰丕賳 丕賱賰孬賷乇 賲賳賴賲 賲賳賴賲賰丕 賮賷 丕氐胤賷丕丿 丕賱毓亘賷丿 賵丕賱丨氐賵賱 毓賱賶 亘囟丕卅毓 賰丕賳 賷乇睾亘 賮賷賴丕 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷賵賳 賵賴賵 丕賱兀賲乇 丕賱匕賷 兀丿賶 廿賱賶 廿賴賲丕賱 丕賱氐賳丕毓丕鬲 丕賱賲丨賱賷丞 爻賵丕亍 丕賱夭乇丕毓賷丞 兀賵 丕賱鬲賰賳賵賱賵噩賷丞 賰賲丕 賷噩亘 兀賳 賳賳賵賴 廿賱賶 兀賳 卮乇丕亍 丕賱鬲賰賳賵賱賵噩賷丕 丕賱匕賷 賷毓鬲亘乇 胤乇賷賯丞 兀禺乇賶 賱廿丨丿丕孬 丕賱賳賲賵 賮賷 丕賱賲噩鬲賲毓 賰丕賳 睾丕卅亘丕 賮賷 賴匕賴 丕賱賮鬲乇丞 亘爻亘亘 胤亘賷毓丞 丕賱丕鬲氐丕賱 亘賷賳 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷賷賳 賵丕賱兀賮丕乇賯丞 賵賴賷 胤乇賷賯丞 賱賲 鬲賰賳 鬲爻丕毓丿 毓賱賶 賳卮乇 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 丕賱廿賷噩丕亘賷丞 賵丕賱鬲賰賳賵賱賵噩賷丕 賲賳 兀賵乇賵亘丕 丕賱賲鬲丨囟乇丞 廿賱賶 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 丕賱賲鬲禺賱賮丞 賵 睾賷乇 兀賳 兀丨丿 兀賴賲 丕賱丌孬丕乇 賱賱鬲賵爻毓 賮賷 鬲噩丕乇丞 丕賱乇賯賷賯 賴賵 鬲丿賲賷乇 丕賱乇賵丕亘胤 丕賱丿丕禺賱賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 兀賯賷賲鬲 賮賷 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 賯亘賱 兀賳 鬲丿賴賲賴賲 鬲噩丕乇丞 丕賱乇賯賷賯 賵賷卮賷乇 賵丕賱鬲乇 賴賳丕 廿賱賶 兀賳賴 賯亘賱 賯丿賵賲 丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇 賰丕賳 丕賱兀賮丕乇賯丞 賷氐賳毓賵賳 鬲丕乇賷禺賴賲 賵鬲胤賵乇賴賲 亘卮賰賱 賲賳丕爻亘 賵賷賲賰賳 鬲賮爻賷乇 匕賱賰 亘兀賳 丕賱鬲兀孬賷乇 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷 亘賯賷 賲丨氐賵乇丕 賮賷 丕賱賲賳丕胤賯 丕賱爻丕丨賱賷丞 賵亘丕賱鬲丕賱賷 鬲兀孬乇鬲 丕賱賲賳馗賵賲丞 丕賱兀賷丿賷賵賱賵噩賷丞 賵丕賱爻賷丕爻賷丞 賵丕賱毓爻賰乇賷丞 亘卮賰賱 賯賱賷賱 賵賷毓胤賷 兀賲孬賱丞 賰孬賷乇丞 毓賱賶 賲噩鬲賲毓丕鬲 亘賯賷鬲 鬲賳賲賵 亘卮賰賱 賲爻鬲賯賱 賲孬賱 乇賵丕賳丿丕 賮賰孬賷乇 賲賳 賴匕賴 丕賱賲噩鬲賲毓丕鬲 兀孬亘鬲鬲 兀賳賴丕 賯賵賷丞 賵賷丨爻亘 賱賴丕 丨爻丕亘 睾賷乇 兀賳賴 禺賱丕賱 賮鬲乇丞 丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇 賰丕賳鬲 丕賱丌賱賷丞 丕賱兀爻丕爻賷丞 賱毓丿賲 鬲胤賵乇 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 賴賷 賲氐丕丿乇丞 丕賱賮丕卅囟 丕賱賲賳鬲噩 賲賳 賯亘賱 丕賱毓丕賲賱 丕賱廿賮乇賷賯賷 賵賰匕賱賰 丕賱賲賵丕乇丿 丕賱胤亘賷毓賷丞 賵廿囟丕賮丞 廿賱賶 匕賱賰 賮廿賳 丕賱丕爻鬲毓賲丕乇 賰丕賳 賷毓賳賷 丕賱廿夭丕賱丞 丕賱丕賮鬲乇丕囟賷丞 賱賱賯賵丞 丕賱爻賷丕爻賷丞 丕賱廿賮乇賷賯賷丞 賵廿毓丕賯丞 賲夭賷丿 賲賳 丕賱鬲胤賵乇 賵丕賱鬲囟丕賲賳 丕賱賵胤賳賷 賵廿賴賲丕賱 丕賱氐賳丕毓丕鬲 丕賱賲丨賱賷丞 賵毓丿賲 賰賮丕賷丞 丕賱賲乇丕賮賯 丕賱氐丨賷丞 賵丕賱賮乇氐 丕賱鬲毓賱賷賲賷丞 賵賰賱 賴匕賴 丕賱兀賲賵乇 亘毓囟賴丕 賲毓 亘毓囟 鬲爻賴賲 賵兀爻賴賲鬲 賮賷 丕賱鬲禺賱賮 亘丕禺鬲氐丕乇 賱賯丿 丨賯賯 乇賵丿賳賷 賵丕賱鬲乇 賲亘鬲睾丕賴 賮賷 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 毓賳丿賲丕 兀孬亘鬲 兀賳 丕賱鬲丿禺賱 丕賱兀賵乇賵亘賷 兀爻賴賲 亘卮賰賱 賰亘賷乇 賮賷賲丕 賵氐賱鬲 廿賱賷賴 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 丕賱賷賵賲 賮賲丕 賲賳 兀賲丞 兀賵乇賵亘賷丞 丿禺賱鬲 賮賷 廿賮乇賷賯賷丕 廿賱丕 賵鬲匕賵賯鬲 胤毓賲 丕賱乇亘丨 賵丕賱乇禺丕亍 賵賱賰賳 丕賱賲卮賰賱丞 丕賱乇卅賷爻丞 賮賷 賲賯丕乇亘丞 乇賵丿賳賷 賵丕賱鬲乇 賴賷 鬲兀賰賷丿賴 丕賱夭丕卅丿 毓賱賶 丕賱丨丿 丕賱賲賳馗賵乇 丕賱丕卮鬲乇丕賰賷 亘禺丕氐丞 亘毓丿 兀賳 乇賰夭 毓賱賶 丕賱賳噩丕丨丕鬲 丕賱爻賵賮賷丕鬲賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲亘丿賵 丕賱丌賳 囟乇亘丕 賲賳 丕賱賲丕囟賷 賵賲爻鬲睾乇亘丕 賰賲丕 賯賱賱 賲賳 卮兀賳 毓賵丕賲賱 丕賱鬲禺賱賮 丕賱丿丕禺賱賷丞 丕賱鬲賷 鬲爻鬲賳丿 廿賱賶 丕賱胤乇賷賯丞 丕賱鬲賷 賷賳馗賲 亘賴丕 丕賱賲噩鬲賲毓 賳賮爻賴 賵賲毓 匕賱賰 賳賯賵賱 廿賳 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賲賲鬲丕夭 賵賰鬲亘 亘胤乇賷賯丞 爻賴賱丞 丕賱賯乇丕亍丞 賵賲爻丕賴賲丞 賲賴賲丞 賮賷 賮賴賲 賰賷賮 丌賱鬲 丕賱兀賵囟丕毓 賮賷 丕賮乇賷賯賷丕 賵賰賷賮 賰丕賳 賱賱毓丕賲賱 丕賱禺丕乇噩賷 兀孬乇 賰亘賷乇 賮賷 賴匕賴 丕賱丿賷賳丕賲賷丞 丕賱鬲丕乇賷禺賷丞
October 1, 2022
3.5 stars. Everyone with a Western-centric education should consider reading this book. Yes it is dated and flawed in numerous ways, however it meticulously conveys a truth that is unfortunately still often ignored even 50 years later: The riches of the Enlightenment in Europe did not come for free, and they certainly don鈥檛 prove any intrinsic superiority of the West. Instead, they were built on the exploitation of a continent (and beyond), both through slavery and colonialism.
Rodney argues (using a Marxist analysis) that Europe was able to exploit Africa because there were slight differences that put Europe in a capitalist phase while Africa was not, so that Africa was not equipped to compete and the differences blew up until the gap was unbridgeable. He is thorough in his analysis and I learned a lot about everything from the internal slave trade within different regions in Africa, up to European soap monopolies that were built on African resources.
It isn鈥檛 an easy read. In addition to being dense and technical, the prose is often long-winded and repetitive. Some maps and illustrations would really help (hopefully those will be included in the new edition coming out in October 2018, which will also include an introduction by Angela Davis). I found it useful to refer to Marx and Fanon for context.
The book has numerous flaws. For all its long in-depth analyses, there were also plenty of one sentence asserted comments that seemed very overblown, unsupported, outside Rodney鈥檚 scope of knowledge, and/or just generally problematic. To give just a few examples: He erases Native Americans, claims to explain the cause of the Holocaust in terms of colonialism, and gives a one line economic explanation for the Civil War. He also describes the Americas as as having barely emerged from the hunting stage (no mention of e.g. the Mayans or the Aztecs) right after a long chapter combating misconceptions and clarifying the extent of state formation in Africa before colonialism. The list goes on.
As other reviewers have noted, possibly the biggest flaw is Rodney鈥檚 uncritical praise of the Soviet Union and communism. I wonder if perhaps information about the atrocities committed by Stalin had not reached him at this time and place.
Despite the flaws, the book has really deepened the way I think about colonialist exploitation and I look forward to the new edition next fall.
Rodney argues (using a Marxist analysis) that Europe was able to exploit Africa because there were slight differences that put Europe in a capitalist phase while Africa was not, so that Africa was not equipped to compete and the differences blew up until the gap was unbridgeable. He is thorough in his analysis and I learned a lot about everything from the internal slave trade within different regions in Africa, up to European soap monopolies that were built on African resources.
It isn鈥檛 an easy read. In addition to being dense and technical, the prose is often long-winded and repetitive. Some maps and illustrations would really help (hopefully those will be included in the new edition coming out in October 2018, which will also include an introduction by Angela Davis). I found it useful to refer to Marx and Fanon for context.
The book has numerous flaws. For all its long in-depth analyses, there were also plenty of one sentence asserted comments that seemed very overblown, unsupported, outside Rodney鈥檚 scope of knowledge, and/or just generally problematic. To give just a few examples: He erases Native Americans, claims to explain the cause of the Holocaust in terms of colonialism, and gives a one line economic explanation for the Civil War. He also describes the Americas as as having barely emerged from the hunting stage (no mention of e.g. the Mayans or the Aztecs) right after a long chapter combating misconceptions and clarifying the extent of state formation in Africa before colonialism. The list goes on.
As other reviewers have noted, possibly the biggest flaw is Rodney鈥檚 uncritical praise of the Soviet Union and communism. I wonder if perhaps information about the atrocities committed by Stalin had not reached him at this time and place.
Despite the flaws, the book has really deepened the way I think about colonialist exploitation and I look forward to the new edition next fall.
April 18, 2022
The next time I hear someone wonder why we haven't been visited by advanced alien civilisations I'm just going to stare into their eyes and slowly hand them this book without saying anything.
Brilliantly structured and detailed, Rodney paints a vivid picture of pre-colonial Africa from a cultural, political and economic perspective, with an emphasis on the pre-capitalist economic structures that existed, followed by the arrival of Europeans and the absolute horror than ensued. If you're interested in anti-racist literature, this will give you some much needed context for how the world works and why it got that way.
Brilliantly structured and detailed, Rodney paints a vivid picture of pre-colonial Africa from a cultural, political and economic perspective, with an emphasis on the pre-capitalist economic structures that existed, followed by the arrival of Europeans and the absolute horror than ensued. If you're interested in anti-racist literature, this will give you some much needed context for how the world works and why it got that way.
November 20, 2021
Such a shame that this book is edited so poorly. Please do not buy the Verso print edition of this classic ...
February 12, 2024
Note: I read this book as part of my home library system鈥檚 . Challenge Prompt: Read a title that has been on your TBR for the longest.
Hmm...
I'm so sorry to this man, who is an incredible person important to so many academics (or people trained in the academy) trying to chart a path of action that does not betray their values. Unfortunately, my reading of Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, felt very similar to my experience with bell hooks' All About Love. Again, it's not at all a bad thing that Walter Rodney's work has been critical for so many people's political formations!! It just creates a scenario where many of the ideas in these books have been reproduced in countless Twitter threads and sound bites, to the point where I felt that I'd already encountered this book's main points without ever reading it. I long for the days when I could read foundational texts and be appropriately awed by them, but at least for me, these instances are few and far between--I have been too ruined by the internet, I fear.
Unfortunately, my reading experience was even more hampered by my general disinterest in anthropology. Rodney's analysis of the historical achievements of pre-colonial African societies made me think of one of my favorite quotes from Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place, which may be the last "essential reading" book that I actually found to be essential. On Page 41, she says that "As for what we were like before we met you [the colonizer], I no longer care. No periods of time over which my ancestors hold sway, no documentation of complex civilizations, is any comfort to me. Even if I really came from people who were living like monkeys in trees, it was better to be that than what happened to me, what I became after I met you."
Reader, I COULD NOT agree more. At this point in my life, no one ever has to sell me on the validity of pre-colonial African culture OR enslaved African-American culture, because there is no part of either culture that feels shameful to me anymore. Unfortunately, this book spent a lot of time trying to "make the case" in a way that felt very monotonous to me.
I don't mean to suggest that I didn't learn things while reading this book, because I certainly did! Rodney explains how trade and coordination between Europe advanced particularly due to the slave trade, and that really made something click in my head. Like colonization was really their continental bonding strategy!!! This book also helped me understand the particular periods of Europe's colonization of Africa as distinct epochs with renewed or revised strategies of domination, versus a uniform imperial practice that was pretty much the same from the start of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to the point of African independence.
I learned how exploitation of the African colonies took the edge off the internal contradictions and recurring crises of capitalism, because the Europeans could outsource their issues to the colonies. In the worst times (like the Great Depression), there was even more brutal treatment of and lower wages for African workers. In the best times, surplus in Africa was how the capitalist 鈥渕etropoles鈥� gave crumbs to their workers back home鈥攊ncreased wages, more commodities, social safety net benefits, etc. This made even unionized/radical workers in Europe directly complicit in the colonial exploitation of workers, something that Rodney astutely calls out as a very intentional Faustian deal.
I had the biggest "OMG WHAT DID I JUST LEARN" moment when understanding just how Europe underdeveloped the food systems of its African colonies. Basically, the famines these colonies experienced (and still experience) were greatly exacerbated by the imposition of banana republics. By being forced to put the bulk of their efforts into mass-producing a small number of profitable crops, African peoples' agricultural systems became significantly less resilient in cases where one crop failed. Basically, European's profit motives made all famines even worse because African workers couldn鈥檛 grow non-profitable crops to offset any downturns in the harvest of profitable crops. Rodney even talks about research that showed that the new colonial diets fucked people鈥檚 teeth up, and as someone who had to get thousands of dollars worth of dental work last year, that specifically enraged me!!!
I felt this book picking up by the end, which probably speaks to my greater interest in 20th century history than any earlier time period, TBH. (Yes, rears its head once more!) Even with my slightly increased enjoyment, I spent way too much of this audiobook counting down the minutes until it was over. I don鈥檛 like that feeling, even when it's an obviously important book. Because of its political importance, I can't say I wouldn't recommend this one, but I also will not judge anyone who leaves it on the shelf.
Reflection + Application Corner
Okay so this is the section tied to one of my goals in 2024, which is to more deeply reflect on the actions I can take in response to the nonfiction/issue-based books I read.
One topic that seemed to immediately lend itself to more application was Rodney's points about how the lack of investment in certain parts of the African colonies was directly tied to their agricultural--which is to say financial--potential. In several different chapters, he specifically calls out South Sudan as an example of this sort of disinvested, less profitable region. I immediately found myself wondering how that impacted the conditions that led to South Sudan's independence in 2011, along with the current war between the RSF and SAF, and resulting dire humanitarian crisis. (For more info,
links to a really helpful visual explanation from creator lizar_tistry, along with a full talk that I am planning to watch over the weekend.) As of early February 2024, it seems that Sudan is now also experiencing a telecomms blackout. I was there would be ways to donate eSIMS to help with this, similar to the excellent campaign Mirna El Helbawi has organized to do so in Gaza. Unfortunately, this seems to not work since the eSIMs rely on local cellular networks and towers. I'm getting to the edge of my scientific/technological understanding here, but if anyone has heard about efforts to connect Sudanese people with internet access during this time, I'd greatly appreciate any resources.
Speaking of tech, the end of this book also made me think a lot about the current realities of child slavery and violent exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where people are forced to risk their lives to mine cobalt for our iPhones, electronic vehicles, and military weapons. The afterword in this book focuses on how the suffering of the Congolese people (and other neocolonial subjects) is rooted in African governments' continued ambitions of serving the needs of the world market, before serving the needs of its own people. As someone whose ancestors were sold on that world market, but now has the buying power to contribute to other peoples' oppression on that same market, it's important to learn how to do something different. I am trying to learn how to maintain my existing electronic devices, so that I can refrain from purchasing new ones (if anyone has book recommendations for this, I'm all ears.) Beyond changing my purchases, I also am interested in learning about in-person actions I can take related to this issue. Right now, the path towards this feels less clear, though no less important, than with some other causes. In the absence of direct organizations in my area, I'll be trying to more closely follow the work of anti-imperialist organizations like Black Alliance for Peace /, which seems to have a particular presence in the DMV. Again, if people know more organizations working around these issues in Raleigh/Durham, I would be very thankful for any leads.
Hmm...
I'm so sorry to this man, who is an incredible person important to so many academics (or people trained in the academy) trying to chart a path of action that does not betray their values. Unfortunately, my reading of Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, felt very similar to my experience with bell hooks' All About Love. Again, it's not at all a bad thing that Walter Rodney's work has been critical for so many people's political formations!! It just creates a scenario where many of the ideas in these books have been reproduced in countless Twitter threads and sound bites, to the point where I felt that I'd already encountered this book's main points without ever reading it. I long for the days when I could read foundational texts and be appropriately awed by them, but at least for me, these instances are few and far between--I have been too ruined by the internet, I fear.
Unfortunately, my reading experience was even more hampered by my general disinterest in anthropology. Rodney's analysis of the historical achievements of pre-colonial African societies made me think of one of my favorite quotes from Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place, which may be the last "essential reading" book that I actually found to be essential. On Page 41, she says that "As for what we were like before we met you [the colonizer], I no longer care. No periods of time over which my ancestors hold sway, no documentation of complex civilizations, is any comfort to me. Even if I really came from people who were living like monkeys in trees, it was better to be that than what happened to me, what I became after I met you."
Reader, I COULD NOT agree more. At this point in my life, no one ever has to sell me on the validity of pre-colonial African culture OR enslaved African-American culture, because there is no part of either culture that feels shameful to me anymore. Unfortunately, this book spent a lot of time trying to "make the case" in a way that felt very monotonous to me.
I don't mean to suggest that I didn't learn things while reading this book, because I certainly did! Rodney explains how trade and coordination between Europe advanced particularly due to the slave trade, and that really made something click in my head. Like colonization was really their continental bonding strategy!!! This book also helped me understand the particular periods of Europe's colonization of Africa as distinct epochs with renewed or revised strategies of domination, versus a uniform imperial practice that was pretty much the same from the start of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to the point of African independence.
I learned how exploitation of the African colonies took the edge off the internal contradictions and recurring crises of capitalism, because the Europeans could outsource their issues to the colonies. In the worst times (like the Great Depression), there was even more brutal treatment of and lower wages for African workers. In the best times, surplus in Africa was how the capitalist 鈥渕etropoles鈥� gave crumbs to their workers back home鈥攊ncreased wages, more commodities, social safety net benefits, etc. This made even unionized/radical workers in Europe directly complicit in the colonial exploitation of workers, something that Rodney astutely calls out as a very intentional Faustian deal.
I had the biggest "OMG WHAT DID I JUST LEARN" moment when understanding just how Europe underdeveloped the food systems of its African colonies. Basically, the famines these colonies experienced (and still experience) were greatly exacerbated by the imposition of banana republics. By being forced to put the bulk of their efforts into mass-producing a small number of profitable crops, African peoples' agricultural systems became significantly less resilient in cases where one crop failed. Basically, European's profit motives made all famines even worse because African workers couldn鈥檛 grow non-profitable crops to offset any downturns in the harvest of profitable crops. Rodney even talks about research that showed that the new colonial diets fucked people鈥檚 teeth up, and as someone who had to get thousands of dollars worth of dental work last year, that specifically enraged me!!!
I felt this book picking up by the end, which probably speaks to my greater interest in 20th century history than any earlier time period, TBH. (Yes, rears its head once more!) Even with my slightly increased enjoyment, I spent way too much of this audiobook counting down the minutes until it was over. I don鈥檛 like that feeling, even when it's an obviously important book. Because of its political importance, I can't say I wouldn't recommend this one, but I also will not judge anyone who leaves it on the shelf.
Reflection + Application Corner
Okay so this is the section tied to one of my goals in 2024, which is to more deeply reflect on the actions I can take in response to the nonfiction/issue-based books I read.
One topic that seemed to immediately lend itself to more application was Rodney's points about how the lack of investment in certain parts of the African colonies was directly tied to their agricultural--which is to say financial--potential. In several different chapters, he specifically calls out South Sudan as an example of this sort of disinvested, less profitable region. I immediately found myself wondering how that impacted the conditions that led to South Sudan's independence in 2011, along with the current war between the RSF and SAF, and resulting dire humanitarian crisis. (For more info,
links to a really helpful visual explanation from creator lizar_tistry, along with a full talk that I am planning to watch over the weekend.) As of early February 2024, it seems that Sudan is now also experiencing a telecomms blackout. I was there would be ways to donate eSIMS to help with this, similar to the excellent campaign Mirna El Helbawi has organized to do so in Gaza. Unfortunately, this seems to not work since the eSIMs rely on local cellular networks and towers. I'm getting to the edge of my scientific/technological understanding here, but if anyone has heard about efforts to connect Sudanese people with internet access during this time, I'd greatly appreciate any resources.
Speaking of tech, the end of this book also made me think a lot about the current realities of child slavery and violent exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where people are forced to risk their lives to mine cobalt for our iPhones, electronic vehicles, and military weapons. The afterword in this book focuses on how the suffering of the Congolese people (and other neocolonial subjects) is rooted in African governments' continued ambitions of serving the needs of the world market, before serving the needs of its own people. As someone whose ancestors were sold on that world market, but now has the buying power to contribute to other peoples' oppression on that same market, it's important to learn how to do something different. I am trying to learn how to maintain my existing electronic devices, so that I can refrain from purchasing new ones (if anyone has book recommendations for this, I'm all ears.) Beyond changing my purchases, I also am interested in learning about in-person actions I can take related to this issue. Right now, the path towards this feels less clear, though no less important, than with some other causes. In the absence of direct organizations in my area, I'll be trying to more closely follow the work of anti-imperialist organizations like Black Alliance for Peace /, which seems to have a particular presence in the DMV. Again, if people know more organizations working around these issues in Raleigh/Durham, I would be very thankful for any leads.
August 20, 2019
The book is invaluable as it is written from a black African's viewpoint without too much resentment. The arguments are well presented and I found them difficult to deny. The only real issue for me the socialist leaning of the author, he seemed to value social systems a lot more than history has demonstrated.
We know that the Nazis were fascists and treated all non-Aryan races with deep contempt, therefore very rightly blamed by history, but why have the European nations gotten off Scot free for their ill treatment of the black African race? Is it because maybe they haven't lost like the Nazis? After all history is written and controlled by the victors, which if true means that the model of subjugation started by enslaving the Africans will continue indefinitely, because if Europe has benefited and developed by following a policy of exploiting poor African states, than why should they change their winning strategy? Unfortunately the opposite is true as well. How can the long suffering African nations break out of this Stockholm syndrome without firstly the accused being penalized followed by long sessions of psychiatric sessions.
We know that the Nazis were fascists and treated all non-Aryan races with deep contempt, therefore very rightly blamed by history, but why have the European nations gotten off Scot free for their ill treatment of the black African race? Is it because maybe they haven't lost like the Nazis? After all history is written and controlled by the victors, which if true means that the model of subjugation started by enslaving the Africans will continue indefinitely, because if Europe has benefited and developed by following a policy of exploiting poor African states, than why should they change their winning strategy? Unfortunately the opposite is true as well. How can the long suffering African nations break out of this Stockholm syndrome without firstly the accused being penalized followed by long sessions of psychiatric sessions.
July 4, 2013
First I had bought and read this book as a teenager, then I had to read it in college. Now - I found it and wanted to read it again just for myself. Changed my thinking. I am going to re-read the mis-education of the negro.
![Profile Image for laurel [the suspected bibliophile].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1645808644i%2F7494844._UX200_CR0%2C6%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
February 10, 2023
A must-read, although parts of it have aged (this book was written 50 years ago), some has still very much (depressingly) remained the same.
February 28, 2021
This is rightfully considered a classic.
Walter Rodney's examination of African underdevelopment, and the resultant development of Europe, is extremely well-done and very convincing. Crucially, he explores the fact that Africa was on a developmental trajectory of its own, both prior to the period of the slave trade and to colonization. This is a radical argument in itself, considering the vast attempts colonialists went to in order to paint Africa as "the dark continent" where history did not take place. He also expertly refutes some of the, sadly still extant, arguments that apologists for imperialism sometimes make.
There were times when I wished that Rodney had included footnotes and more quotations considering how impactful it was when he would refer to government reports and quotes, especially in the last chapter. I also felt that the book could maybe have been broken up into more chapters, as it clocks in at 6 chapters for about 350 pages.
At the same time, however, when I look back at the book I'm astonished at just how much ground Rodney covers. The economic, cultural, political, and intellectual aspects of underdevelopment are all explored in great detail and Rodney's examination of the looting of Africa is multi-faceted. I also have to say I was really impressed at how simply and effectively he communicates concepts like the means of production, superstructures, Lenin's theory of imperialism, class stratification, etc. I'm hard pressed to think about where I've seen historical materialism done this well, too. It really is impressive being able to communicate sophisticated arguments like that, and I expect the accessibility of the text is part of why it is so famous.
I do also have to note that the Verso Books Edition that I read was completely littered with errors and it became really distracting (and kind of frustrating), especially in the middle of the book. There were spelling mistakes, missing periods, nonsensical comma placement, etc. and I checked it against other copies of the book which didn't have those problems.
In sum, a great book. Despite the gravity of the crimes perpetrated against Africa both before and after formal colonization, Rodney manages to end on an optimistic note. When the peoples of Africa came together to win their independence, they had once more stepped onto the stage of history. Despite neo-colonialism and the continued deprivations on the continent, this presented a significant step forward and, he argues, is the prelude to making a new future.
Walter Rodney's examination of African underdevelopment, and the resultant development of Europe, is extremely well-done and very convincing. Crucially, he explores the fact that Africa was on a developmental trajectory of its own, both prior to the period of the slave trade and to colonization. This is a radical argument in itself, considering the vast attempts colonialists went to in order to paint Africa as "the dark continent" where history did not take place. He also expertly refutes some of the, sadly still extant, arguments that apologists for imperialism sometimes make.
There were times when I wished that Rodney had included footnotes and more quotations considering how impactful it was when he would refer to government reports and quotes, especially in the last chapter. I also felt that the book could maybe have been broken up into more chapters, as it clocks in at 6 chapters for about 350 pages.
At the same time, however, when I look back at the book I'm astonished at just how much ground Rodney covers. The economic, cultural, political, and intellectual aspects of underdevelopment are all explored in great detail and Rodney's examination of the looting of Africa is multi-faceted. I also have to say I was really impressed at how simply and effectively he communicates concepts like the means of production, superstructures, Lenin's theory of imperialism, class stratification, etc. I'm hard pressed to think about where I've seen historical materialism done this well, too. It really is impressive being able to communicate sophisticated arguments like that, and I expect the accessibility of the text is part of why it is so famous.
I do also have to note that the Verso Books Edition that I read was completely littered with errors and it became really distracting (and kind of frustrating), especially in the middle of the book. There were spelling mistakes, missing periods, nonsensical comma placement, etc. and I checked it against other copies of the book which didn't have those problems.
In sum, a great book. Despite the gravity of the crimes perpetrated against Africa both before and after formal colonization, Rodney manages to end on an optimistic note. When the peoples of Africa came together to win their independence, they had once more stepped onto the stage of history. Despite neo-colonialism and the continued deprivations on the continent, this presented a significant step forward and, he argues, is the prelude to making a new future.
January 3, 2024
I feel like it鈥檚 impossible to give a book with this much depth, detail, and rigor anything less than 5 stars, however I definitely struggle to read dense theory and this was definitely that. Evan gave me the good advice that you should focus on getting what you can out of books of this nature and that really helped me a lot.
This book is about the history and present manifestations of how Europe, enabled by imperialism, colonialism, and racism, underdeveloped Africa by (not exhaustively) controlling means of labor, flows of manufacturing, education, and exploiting means of production in human capital and of the land (via slavery, persistent subjugation, and the force production of so called cash crops/materials). The sheer depth of examples that are provided in this book are mind boggling - Rodney challenges us to rethink the necessity of a 鈥渨orld economy鈥� and reevaluate what governance and individual responsibility for determination would look like if we abandon those ties, especially given how explicitly and brutally they were designed to serve the western world. He challenges the permanence of the capitalist system as it is by detailing the ludicrous assumptions that gave rise to it and the blatant suffering it has caused. Especially given the time at which this was published and the uniqueness of this work it is truly amazing.
This book is about the history and present manifestations of how Europe, enabled by imperialism, colonialism, and racism, underdeveloped Africa by (not exhaustively) controlling means of labor, flows of manufacturing, education, and exploiting means of production in human capital and of the land (via slavery, persistent subjugation, and the force production of so called cash crops/materials). The sheer depth of examples that are provided in this book are mind boggling - Rodney challenges us to rethink the necessity of a 鈥渨orld economy鈥� and reevaluate what governance and individual responsibility for determination would look like if we abandon those ties, especially given how explicitly and brutally they were designed to serve the western world. He challenges the permanence of the capitalist system as it is by detailing the ludicrous assumptions that gave rise to it and the blatant suffering it has caused. Especially given the time at which this was published and the uniqueness of this work it is truly amazing.
July 23, 2013
A historiographical approach to the detriment of African plight and continued exploitation Very relevant today and good for anyone searching for suppressed historical truths A Book for all who seek to know the truth about African nations oppression and subjugation by the Secret government behind the Western powers Europe and other developed nations of the Western world are handgloves through which the globalist operate to keep nations impoverished and in debt Africa was the experiment and now the same power is now turning around to under develop the rest of the civilized world so as to usher in the One World government
February 13, 2020
This book is a masterpiece, marked by Walter Rodney's surgical manner of defining and detailing complex socioeconomic and political concepts and historical periods. Rodney summarizes Karl Marx's historical materialist analysis of the various stages of development, in an effort to demonstrate how Africa's underdevelopment is inextricably tied to Europe's development. In the process of his analysis, Rodney makes clear why capitalism must be dismantled (i.e. because it's social relations are outmoded).
Rodney's basic thesis is that the development of distinct societies is uneven, and that within the capitalist stage of development, underdeveloped nations owe their status to the privileged position of the developed capitalist nations. Indeed, the developed capitalist nations owe their privileged position to the deliberate exploitation and extraction of and from underdeveloped nations. This exemplifies the relationship between Europe and Africa, the subjects of the book.
Rodney details how the process of developing the underdeveloped nations requires equalizing the material conditions between the capitalist nations and the underdeveloped third-world. Rodney also goes to great lengths to detail the various developmental stages of African regions, states, and communities pre-European contact. This is a fascinating part of the book, as it dispenses with the notion that Africa had no development prior to European contact. Rodney's main point in this section is that pre-colonial Africa was much more than a collection of "tribes" (a term he does not like using). Rather, there was highly sophisticated state-building and development.
Specifically with regard to African development pre-European contact, Rodney uses Marx's historical materialism and traces the history of African development, noting that most African societies were essentially "communalist" up until the 15th Century. He notes that while there were many examples of forced and unfree labor, Africa's communalist societies did not have slave labor as a defining feature, and Africa had not transitioned into feudalism (landlord-serf) the way Europe had by that time. Rodney also posits that at the time when Europe and Africa began to make prolonged contact with each other, Europe was on the verge of overthrowing feudalism and transitioning into capitalism and imperialism (global capitalism), while Africa was still engaged in communalism.
Rodney's depiction of how Western Europe initially used African enslavement to simultaneously propel European development and initiate African underdevelopment is chilling. The differences of development at the time between Europe (early capitalism) and Africa (late communalism) gave Europe technological and productive advantages that allowed them to engage in economic warfare in Africa. This warfare consisted of European nations successfully isolating the more developed African Kingdoms that refused to capitulate to the slave trade, while enticing weaker African states to join the cause by getting them hooked and dependent on European goods in exchange for African captives (slaves). Rodney definitively states that Western European capitalism drove the European trade of African slaves, and that this slave trade propelled capitalism and Europe's overall development. This played out, initially, through Europe's obsession with gold and silver mining (as well as sugar production) in the Americas, as the destruction of the American Indigenous population required a new unfree labor force (Africans) to maximize European profits in the "New World."
While Rodney acknowledged the role that African Kingdoms played in the slave trade of African captives, he makes a point to assail individuals who place the blame of African slavery on these African rules. Rodney details how the small size of African states and the pervasive ethnic and political divisions that existed pre-European contact, and were intensified post-contact, prevented African states and Kingdoms from being able to mount a comprehensive resistance to the slave trade.
Rodney exerts great effort in demonstrating how the slave trade is the underlying reason for Africa's initial underdevelopment, as slavery plundered the labor force and prevented prime-age workers from applying the productive capacity towards Africa's rich resources and plentiful lands. Rodney considers the ability to harness what nature offers as the basis of development, and Africa was prevented from doing this for 400 years due to enslavement. While this enslavement developed Europe by allowing them to engage in "primitive capital accumulation," it ultimately began to contribute to the stagnation of Europe's economic development. Accordingly, the European nations cynically pursued an "anti-slavery" movement that actually served to empower its imperialist and colonial agenda. This movement eventually culminated in the infamous "Scramble for Africa."
Rodney describes "imperialism" as the spread of capitalism abroad, and notes that Europe's development and Africa's underdevelopment both flowed from European imperialism. Rodney also details, with regard to the Scramble for Africa, how "colonialism" is a form of imperialism that resulted in Europe taking direct political and social control over African nation-states (by overthrowing rulers and directly seizing land and raw materials). This marked the next stage of Africa's underdevelopment and Europe's development. Rodney explains how Europe's partitioning of African regions and states (via the Scramble) was driven by the transition from chattel enslavement of Africans to direct colonization of Africans, and facilitated by the racist ideas that justified both systems (i.e., ideas regarding Africans inability to self-govern). African enslavement laid the groundwork for direct European colonialism by delaying and prevented the solidification of African nation-states. This was done by strengthening ethnic and political divisions among Africans, and by using African people as agents for European interests.
Rodney spends a lot of time detailing how private monopolies within the major colonial powers carved up Africa and expatriated African wealth derived from forced African labor and stolen African resources and land. Further, the colonial governments themselves used unfree African labor in their "public works" projects on African land, which were nothing more than infrastructure projects designed to facilitate the colonial economy. In other words, the colonial period in Africa resulted in nothing short of re-enslavement.
This summary fails to even scratch the surface of Rodney's meticulous retelling of this history. This is truly a classic piece of work.
Rodney's basic thesis is that the development of distinct societies is uneven, and that within the capitalist stage of development, underdeveloped nations owe their status to the privileged position of the developed capitalist nations. Indeed, the developed capitalist nations owe their privileged position to the deliberate exploitation and extraction of and from underdeveloped nations. This exemplifies the relationship between Europe and Africa, the subjects of the book.
Rodney details how the process of developing the underdeveloped nations requires equalizing the material conditions between the capitalist nations and the underdeveloped third-world. Rodney also goes to great lengths to detail the various developmental stages of African regions, states, and communities pre-European contact. This is a fascinating part of the book, as it dispenses with the notion that Africa had no development prior to European contact. Rodney's main point in this section is that pre-colonial Africa was much more than a collection of "tribes" (a term he does not like using). Rather, there was highly sophisticated state-building and development.
Specifically with regard to African development pre-European contact, Rodney uses Marx's historical materialism and traces the history of African development, noting that most African societies were essentially "communalist" up until the 15th Century. He notes that while there were many examples of forced and unfree labor, Africa's communalist societies did not have slave labor as a defining feature, and Africa had not transitioned into feudalism (landlord-serf) the way Europe had by that time. Rodney also posits that at the time when Europe and Africa began to make prolonged contact with each other, Europe was on the verge of overthrowing feudalism and transitioning into capitalism and imperialism (global capitalism), while Africa was still engaged in communalism.
Rodney's depiction of how Western Europe initially used African enslavement to simultaneously propel European development and initiate African underdevelopment is chilling. The differences of development at the time between Europe (early capitalism) and Africa (late communalism) gave Europe technological and productive advantages that allowed them to engage in economic warfare in Africa. This warfare consisted of European nations successfully isolating the more developed African Kingdoms that refused to capitulate to the slave trade, while enticing weaker African states to join the cause by getting them hooked and dependent on European goods in exchange for African captives (slaves). Rodney definitively states that Western European capitalism drove the European trade of African slaves, and that this slave trade propelled capitalism and Europe's overall development. This played out, initially, through Europe's obsession with gold and silver mining (as well as sugar production) in the Americas, as the destruction of the American Indigenous population required a new unfree labor force (Africans) to maximize European profits in the "New World."
While Rodney acknowledged the role that African Kingdoms played in the slave trade of African captives, he makes a point to assail individuals who place the blame of African slavery on these African rules. Rodney details how the small size of African states and the pervasive ethnic and political divisions that existed pre-European contact, and were intensified post-contact, prevented African states and Kingdoms from being able to mount a comprehensive resistance to the slave trade.
Rodney exerts great effort in demonstrating how the slave trade is the underlying reason for Africa's initial underdevelopment, as slavery plundered the labor force and prevented prime-age workers from applying the productive capacity towards Africa's rich resources and plentiful lands. Rodney considers the ability to harness what nature offers as the basis of development, and Africa was prevented from doing this for 400 years due to enslavement. While this enslavement developed Europe by allowing them to engage in "primitive capital accumulation," it ultimately began to contribute to the stagnation of Europe's economic development. Accordingly, the European nations cynically pursued an "anti-slavery" movement that actually served to empower its imperialist and colonial agenda. This movement eventually culminated in the infamous "Scramble for Africa."
Rodney describes "imperialism" as the spread of capitalism abroad, and notes that Europe's development and Africa's underdevelopment both flowed from European imperialism. Rodney also details, with regard to the Scramble for Africa, how "colonialism" is a form of imperialism that resulted in Europe taking direct political and social control over African nation-states (by overthrowing rulers and directly seizing land and raw materials). This marked the next stage of Africa's underdevelopment and Europe's development. Rodney explains how Europe's partitioning of African regions and states (via the Scramble) was driven by the transition from chattel enslavement of Africans to direct colonization of Africans, and facilitated by the racist ideas that justified both systems (i.e., ideas regarding Africans inability to self-govern). African enslavement laid the groundwork for direct European colonialism by delaying and prevented the solidification of African nation-states. This was done by strengthening ethnic and political divisions among Africans, and by using African people as agents for European interests.
Rodney spends a lot of time detailing how private monopolies within the major colonial powers carved up Africa and expatriated African wealth derived from forced African labor and stolen African resources and land. Further, the colonial governments themselves used unfree African labor in their "public works" projects on African land, which were nothing more than infrastructure projects designed to facilitate the colonial economy. In other words, the colonial period in Africa resulted in nothing short of re-enslavement.
This summary fails to even scratch the surface of Rodney's meticulous retelling of this history. This is truly a classic piece of work.
February 7, 2021
I mean it was written in the 1970s shortly after the wave of decolonization and except for changes in the cold war between core rich countries and the rise of China and its investment in Africa not much of the relation between the rich core countries and the periphery (again excluding China) hasn't changed much in Africa except again the Aids crisis and the Debt crisis which has only worked to deteriorate the situation since the shoots of optimism appeared in the decolonization era. The problems described by African underdevelopment and capitalist predatory behavior in Africa remains unchecked and has gotten worse. 40 odd years ago this book was challenging but had optimism the problems are still there but now some rich countries are not so optimistic either. I dunno. We know what needs to be done at least those of us who don't buy the party line of capital do but how to effectively challenge that party line move ahead hasn't gone anywhere for now.
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