review of walter rodney's "how europe underdeveloped africa"
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Review of book "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by Walter Rodney, written for Dr. Festus Ohaegbulam's "Africa in World Politics" class at University of South Florida, Fall 1999.TRANSCRIPT
Brian SalmonsINR 4254OhaegbulamFall 1999
Critical review of Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1982.
In his book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney aims at
presenting a lucid and truthful explanation of Africa’s role in world affairs
today by examining its history, from the earliest kingdoms to the colonial
period, and demonstrating the relevance of this for today. He does this with
an explicitly socialist perspective. In his preface, he states that one of his
objectives is to ‘make a small contribution towards reinforcing the conclusion
that African development is possible only on the basis of a radical break with
the international capitalist system, which has been the principal agency of
underdevelopment of Africa over the last five centuries.’1 In addition to this,
he hopes that this book will ‘reach Africans who wish to explore further the
nature of their exploitation, rather than to satisfy the “standards” set by our
oppressors and their spokesmen in the academic world.’2
It is perhaps most convenient to arrange a discussion of Rodney’s
views in correspondence to the chapters in the book. Thus, in the first
chapter he defines at length the concept of underdevelopment, which is
essential in understanding the subsequent chapters. In Chapter II, he gives
on outline of the development which took place in Africa before the coming of
the Europeans. In Chapters III and V, an analysis of Africa’s contribution to
Europe’s present “developed” state is presented, divided respectively
between the pre-colonial period (1445-1870)3 and the colonial period (roughly
1 vii2 viii3 96
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1870 to 1960.) Finally, in Chapters IV and VI, an analysis of Europe’s
contribution to Africa’s present “underdeveloped” state is given, this too
being divided between the two chapters using the same historical
chronology.
Underdevelopment, as presented in Chapter I, is characterized by a
number of things. First, Rodney emphasizes the comparative nature of the
concept of development. Africa, Asia, and Latin America are only
underdeveloped in comparison with Europe, North America, and the few
other industrialized nations of the world. Second, underdevelopment does not
simply describe the relative economic inequality of different countries or
continents; but it also implies a relationship of economic exploitation
between two or more countries, the exploiter becoming developed and the
exploited becoming underdeveloped. The underdevelopment of the countries
of Africa, Asia and Latin America is indicated by many things, including
amount of steel used (level of industrialization), agricultural output, amount
of protein-food consumed, life expectancy, death rate among children,
malnutrition, presence of diseases which are virtually non-existent in
developed countries, and illiteracy. Other characteristics of
underdevelopment are the inability to concentrate on sectors of the economy
which would generate growth, weak or no ties between different sectors of
the economy, and the frittering away or expatriation of any savings
accumulated.
In the second chapter, Rodney gives a general overview of what
“uncontaminated” African society was like south of the Sahara, as well as
specific examples the more socially complex societies in existence in Africa
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before the arrival of Europeans. In general, family and kinship were the
determining factors in the ownership of land, recruiting of labor to work the
land, and distribution of the fruits of that labor. This contrasts markedly with
feudalism or capitalism, where either serfs or hired labor are employed to
work the fields, these usually being from outside of the lord’s or employer’s
family or kinship group. Other key aspects of pre-1445 African culture which
Rodney mentions are music, dance, art, and religion. Religion ‘pervaded
African life just as it pervaded life in other pre-feudal societies, such as those
of the Maoris of Australia or the Afghans of Afghanistan or the Vikings of
Scandinavia.’4 He asserts that although Africa exhibited a great deal of
variety in social formations (hunting bands, communalism, and feudalism),
the majority of African societies prior to the coming of Europeans were ‘in a
transitional stage between the practice of agriculture (plus fishing and
herding) in family communities and the practice of the same activities within
the states and societies comparable to feudalism.’5 Particular examples of the
complexity which some African societies achieved are given by Rodney and
discussed at length. Among them are Ancient Egypt, Axum, Kush, the
empires of Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and Kanem-Bornu, as well as Bunyoro-
Kitara, Zimbabwe, Mutapa, Oyo, Benin, and Kongo.
In chapter III, Rodney points out the error in traditional scholarship,
which tends to portray the rise of modern European civilization as something
Europeans achieved by themselves, solely through their own hard work. He
argues instead that trade with non-European societies was crucial in
European hegemony. In particular, the African slave trade, which Europeans
4 35; the Maori were actually of New Zealand.5 38; hunting can probably also be added to the types of subsistence activities practiced.
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engaged in from the fifteenth century onwards, was a key factor in this
matter. For example, slave labor was used to mine gold and silver in the
Americas and in Africa, which was necessary to make coins for the growing
European economy. This new wealth created opportunities for further
exploration and capital accumulation. Many aspects of European society and
economy were affected by the slave trade, including shipping, insurance, the
formation of companies, capitalist agriculture, technology, the manufacture
of machinery, and the development of trans-national economic links within
Europe. The textile industry, regarded as a powerful factor in Europe’s
economic growth, was partly spurred on by gum imported from Africa, and
naval technology, in particular ship-building, was greatly improved upon
between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries as a result of Europe’s
monopoly of sea trade between themselves, Africa, and the rest of the world.
The rise of seaport towns such as Liverpool and Seville were a consequence
of the slave trade, and later were connected with the rise of manufacturing
centers and the onset of the Industrial Revolution. One very negative result of
the slave trade was the development of white racism towards Africans. This
came about largely as a way of rationalizing their exploitation of human slave
labor, which Europe depended on in such great measure. The colonial era,
discussed in Chapter V, was also a period in which Africa played a crucial role
in developing Europe and the international capitalist system. During this
period, many sectors of the European economy were involved in the
exploitation of African resources, including shipping and banking services, the
colonial governmental administrations, and of course trading companies, the
most notorious being CFAO, UAC, and Unilever. Monetary gains were the
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most obvious benefits derived from these enterprises, but, Rodney says, ‘the
colonial system (also) permitted the rapid development of technology and
skills within the metropolitan sectors of imperialism. It…allowed for the
elaboration of the modern organizational techniques of the capitalist firm and
of imperialism as a whole. Indeed, colonialism gave capitalism an added
lease of life and prolonged its existence in Western Europe…’6 Examples of
technological advances are to be found in the military (rivalry over colonies
encouraged new ways of making war, such as destroyers and submarines), in
scientific research, and in shipping (refrigeration, oil tankers, and new kinds
of port installations.) The international division of labor (which saw Africans
working the mines and Europeans doing the ore extraction and gem cutting,
metal casting, etc.) insured growth in both employment and the level of skills
existing in the capitalist nations in Europe. Other advantages Europeans
derived from colonial rule include the acquisition of valuable African art and
the use of African soldiers to fight in white people’s wars on African soil and
in other parts of the world.
The effect of all of this on the economy and social systems of Africa
was, of course, immense, and this is discussed in Chapters IV and VI in
Rodney’s book. In Chapter IV, he focuses on the role the slave trade played in
this. The most immediate effect of enslaving people and sending them across
the Atlantic was obviously a stagnation in population growth. This in turn
affected the availability of labor and markets within African. In addition, much
of the remaining population was engaged in slave-hunting and acquiring
other goods which the European traders wanted, thus neglecting local
agricultural and technological industries. The borrowing of new technology,
6 173
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another way in which development can occur in society, was entirely non-
existent at this time due to the nature of the contact between Europeans and
Africans, which was unfavorable to the spread of positive ideas and
technologies from “civilized” Europe to “barbarous” Africa. Another effect of
the new preoccupation with slave trading was the breakdown of
interterritorial links established before the advent of the slave trade. Rodney
also points out that right up to the period of colonialism, Africans were still
making their own history and development continued along the lines it was
following before the arrival of Europeans. This can be accounted for by the
fact that European impact was confined mainly to the coastal areas and that
the ideological systems, and political and military organization were scarcely
affected. He gives many examples of societies which continued to evolve
along independent avenues, among them the Yoruba (Oyo), Dahomey, Babito
and Buganda, Rwanda, and Ama-Zulu. Many of these societies proved
themselves forces to be reckoned with militarily. During the colonial period,
the primary mechanism for the underdevelopment of Africa (discussed in
Chapter VI) was the expatriation of surplus produced using African labor and
natural resources. In addition to this, colonialism meant the virtual
eradication of African political power, impeding the further evolution of
national solidarity, neglect of local subsistence economies, and insufficiency
of health facilities and educational opportunities, all of which go part and
parcel with underdevelopment.
It truly takes much more space than this to explain everything Rodney
did in his book. I found that he did achieve the objectives stated in his
preface. The points he makes are valid and down-to-earth. I think he may
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have stressed the socialist perspective a little too much, and his comments
about the success of the Soviet Union obviously sound strange today and do
him no credit. But otherwise, I would be inclined to agree with him. In
particular, I find interesting the argument that everyone who has partaken in
the capitalist systems of Europe and North America has tasted the fruits of
African exploitation, and is thus partly responsible. His style is very readable
and he doesn’t confine himself to any one discipline, but incorporates history
and economics as well as social and political science. In conclusion, an
excellent book, accessible to Africans and non-Africans alike, and highly
relevant to the subject matter of this course, in that it explains the historical
factors which have influenced Africa’s contemporary role in world affairs.
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