04/12/23 1

What is Development? And Background on the geographical imaginaries of Africa

Today’s schedule

Map Quiz Africa News Presentation, Caitlin

Alexander What is Development? Africa’s Map Worldviews of Africa

04/12/23 2

04/12/23 3

What is Development? Marxist roots Rostow’s “Stages of Economic

Growth”: Modernization Rodney: “Underdevelopment” and

development and dependency Post Modern Development Social Development New categories of Development:

MDG and human rights

04/12/23 4

W.W. Rostow: Stages of Economic Growth Capitalist modernist answer to

Marxist stages of development Marxist Development(the tribal

form->-primitive communism->-feudal or estate property->capitalism->socialism->Communism): http://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/marxism/modules/marxstages.html

04/12/23 5

W.W. Rostow: Stages of Economic Growth

Rostow’s stages Traditional Society Preconditions for Take-Off Take off Drive to Maturity The Age of High Mass Consumption

(1950s Suburbia)

W.W. Rostow: Stages of Economic Growth Traditional Society

Resembles early stages of Marx Rooted in the past Food production most dominant

economic and labor activity Little societal change or social

mobility Power resides with small “feudal

landowners”

04/12/23 6

W.W. Rostow: Stages of Economic Growth Preconditions for Take-Off

04/12/23 7

•Build up of social overhead capital most important being transport•Agricultural techno revolution•Expansion of imports financed by more efficient production and marketing expansion in imports where possible capital imports (foreign exchange)

W.W. Rostow: Stages of Economic Growth Take off

Rapid growth in specific sector where modern industrial techniques applied

Great Britain (19th century)• textiles

USA, Canada, Russia• Railroads

How does this apply to development in Africa?

04/12/23 8

W.W. Rostow: Stages of Economic Growth

Drive to MaturityFull range of modern

technology applied to bulk of resources

Different countries at different times

04/12/23 9

W.W. Rostow: Stages of Economic Growth The Age of High Mass

Consumption (1950s Suburbia) More leisure among most people Characterized by high per capita

income “modernist utopia”

04/12/23 10

04/12/23 11

Rostow’s Optimism Spurs African Development Global South including newly

independent Africa advised to follow this model

Africa advised to move toward “take off” Coupled with Marshal Plan Success in

Europe, newly independent African states “invaded” by the “Peace Corp” and others in ’60s

But why didn’t Africa develop on this model?

04/12/23 12

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa: Walter Rodney “What is underdevelopment?” as

opposed to development Africa was on the path to development

(Feudal Societies, developing surplus, concentrating wealth, and class development)

European directed slave trade under-develops Africa

European colonialism further underdeveloped Africa

But Rodney still follows “Development Model”.

04/12/23 13

Rodney: Slave Trade under-develops Africa Labor needed for further development

stolen from continent Local industries destroyed by cheap

imports from slave trade Trade develops markets “Out of Africa”

instead developing markets across Africa Development destroyed through “slave

raiding” conflicts spurring destruction rather than development

All profit (Capital) from slave trade reinvested in European metropoles for the Development of Europe and labor develops “Out of Africa” not in Africa

04/12/23 14

Rodney: Colonialism as a system for underdeveloping Africa Africans restricted from certain industries by

colonialism and forced to work as labor in primary extraction industries

Profits from colonialism reinvested in Europe Colonial educational process fosters

underdevelopment of Africa’s intellectual resources and indoctrinated Africans to work for European development at the expense of local development

Labor taken away from African development to be wasted on European extraction of wealth from continent

Colonial enterprises destroy local industries

04/12/23 15

Rodney: continued Advocates socialist/Marxist development

as remedy as Africa already part of capitalist economy (“Dependency theory”)

But still works in linear mode of “development” and

Compares Africa’s past development achievements to European development paths

Remains in realm of macro-theory What about culture?

04/12/23 16

Yapa: Development socially constructing scarcity Different answers to what causes hunger and ill-

health than what causes poverty? Critique of Economism- “people are poor because

they do not have enough money to command a market basket of goods, a situation that can be corrected through investment growth, job creation, and education.” limiting model that marginalizes other options

04/12/23 17

Yapa: continuted

Critique on concepts of scarcity- defining poverty as economic problem, as a lack of problem, fails to take into account other solutions

Critique of development as solution to “underdevelopment”

Non-poor/poor, non-problem/problem orientation of development

Nexus of relations and seeds example

04/12/23 18

Redefining Development in new millennium Millennium Development Goals (MDG)

(ICON SITE) and Human Rights approaches to development

What progress is Africa making in meeting the MDGs?

Are the MDGs the right goals? An urban bias? Other critiques?

What Suggestions are there to meeting the MDGs?

Have we seen this before?

04/12/23 19

Human Development Index from other indicators

No universal accepted measure of development Most widely used Gross National Income (GNI) Comprehensive Human Development Index

(HDI)annually Life expectancy Education Per capita income

But national aggregate measures perpetuate vision of development from bounded borders, neglect women’s work, and reflect Western cultural and economic bias

Participatory Development

Meant to reverse old development power dynamics by insisting that development be directed from local level with local communities making decisions

Past development often done by “outsiders” making decisions without local knowledge or concern for local community

In community development the question of who decides in that community remains: the rich or poor, men or women.

Questions of Human Rights arise04/12/23 20

04/12/23 21

Human Rights Approach to Development

Promotion of economic/social and 3rd generation development rights under taken by Care Int’l and Oxfam

Traditional Human Rights NGOS like AI take on economic social and development rights 2001

2000 UNDP included HR in human development report Using ICCPR and ICESCR to inform and evaluate

allocation of development resources for NGOs, http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/ccpr.htm http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_cescr.htm

Collaboration between rights and relief (world vision-conflict diamonds, Sierra Club-Ken Sara-Wiva)

Right to water in face of privatization Role of Geography: Human->econ->environmental impact

04/12/23 22

Map of Africa

Western/American ignorance toward the continent

A Southern continent appears small on Mercator projection

“Carved up” Fragmented political Geography ie Gambia

Spatially uneven Development p20, 23

Landlocked states p21

04/12/23 23

Map of Africa Political Groupings (24-25)

All part of AU formerly OAU All but Morocco

ECOWAS-econ community of west Africa

SADC –southern Africa East African Union

Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, And now Rwanda and Burundi

Map of Africa

Post/neo Colonial Groupings Commonwealth of Nations (British) La Francophonie Lusophone Africa

Shared language but not a formal political grouping

04/12/23 24

04/12/23 25

Regional Groupings

West Africa Sahel Horn East Africa Southern Africa West Central Africa

04/12/23 26

African Orientatlism: Unlearning Europe’s Geographical imagination

Orientalism European “Explorers” Your exposure to Africa White Man’s burden Africa and Hollywood Tragic Press coverage

04/12/23 27

Orientalism

Edward Said Images of exotic, inferior, mysterious

deviant and often dangerous Sense of superiority instrumental to

colonizing project Solely from the perspective of western

scholars, travelers and officials about the “orient”, colonilized south and east.

Occident vs. Orient

What is your Africa view?

04/12/23 28

European “Explorers” “Discoveries of Geographers such explorers such

as Livingstone, Barth, and Stanely Roosevelt’s Game hunting Focus on the wild, dangerous, primitive, exotic,

diseased, native “dark continent” or focus on wildlife instead of people http://www.magicalkenya.com/

Neglected to inform: rich interconnected complicated culture, the churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia or the Great Zimbabwe http://www.galenfrysinger.com/lalibela_ethiopia.htm

04/12/23 29

White Man’s Burden European bringers of “Good News” and

“Civilization” Teaching discipline and work Unclothed to clothed Today popular image of passive African victims

helped by active westerners in western popular imagination

“Legacy of fundraising”

04/12/23 30

Hollywood’s African Geography Exotic Animals with white main

characters African Queen, Tarzan, “Out of

Africa” Recently trend continues

Blood Diamonds Last King of Scotland

04/12/23 31

Tragic Africa: Media representation Your hear, see, and read about

Famine War Genocide corruption

Presence of whites increases likelihood of story being told

04/12/23 32

Tragic Africa: continued You don’t hear about success

Indigenous Knowledge Kenya and Uganda’s HIV decline Uganda’s economic recovery Botswana's economic growth and recovery Africa self-reliance, self sufficiency and role of Africa’s

Diaspora in development Good things the exception not the norm

South Africa’s successful reconciliation Media and Africanist literature Afro-pessimism often

with Africans as passive victims waiting for white saviors 04/12/23

33

Afro-centrism Historic portrays of African sources in human

civilization; looking at the world through a African-centered world instead of Eurocentric world Emphasis on Nubian/Egyptian civilization, Great

Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, ancient Ghana, Panafrican view Decolonizing the mind Ngugi wa Thiongo What about culture in these representations?

04/12/23 34

Discovering Indigenous Knowledge

Previous research spoke out how to wipe out harmful traditional practices

There never was traditional only indigenous New systems of IK working to build upon and

preserve IK for development: Warren at IA state Kicards across the continent

Shift in policy rhetoric from WB in IK publications for development

Who owns IK? And what about human rights?

04/12/23 35