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all categoriesFeaturedRecentPeopleAuthorsStudentsResearchersPublishersGovernment & NonprofitsBusinessesMusiciansArtists & DesignersTeachers+ all categoriesMost FollowedPopular..Sign Up|Log In..inShare.0Embed DocCopy LinkReadcastCollections4 CommentsGo BackDownload Brian SalmonsINR 4254OhaegbulamFall 1999Critical review of Rodney, Walter. How E urope Underdeveloped Africa.Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1982.In h is book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney aims atpresenting a luc id and truthful explanation of Africas role in world affairs todayby examining it s history, from the earliest kingdoms to the colonial period, anddemonstrating t he relevance of this for today. He does this with an explicitlysocialist perspec tive. In his preface, he states that one of his objectives is tomake a small cont ribution towards reinforcing the conclusion that Africandevelopment is possible only on the basis of a radical break with theinternational capitalist system, wh ich has been the principal agency of underdevelopment of Africa over the last fi ve centuries. 1In addition to this, hehopes that this book will reach Africans who wish to explore further the natureof their exploitation, rather than to satisfy the standards set by ouroppressors and their spokesmen in the academic world. 2It is perhaps most convenient to arrange a discussion of Rodneys viewsin corresponde nce to the chapters in the book. Thus, in the first chapter hedefines at length the concept of underdevelopment, which is essential inunderstanding the subseque nt chapters. In Chapter II, he gives on outline of the development which took pl ace in Africa before the coming of the Europeans.In Chapters III and V, an analy sis of Africas contribution to Europes presentdeveloped state is presented, divided respectively between the pre-colonialperiod (1445-1870)3and the colonial period (roughly 1870 to 1960.) Finally, inChapters IV and VI, an analysis of Europes con tribution to Africas present1 underdeveloped state is given, this too being divided between the two chaptersusin g the same historical chronology.Underdevelopment, as presented in Chapter I, is characterized by anumber of things. First, Rodney emphasizes the comparative na ture of theconcept of development. Africa, Asia, and Latin America are onlyunder developed in comparison with Europe, North America, and the few otherindustriali zed nations of the world. Second, underdevelopment does not simplydescribe the r elative economic inequality of different countries or continents;but it also imp lies a relationship of economic exploitation between two or morecountries, the e xploiter becoming developed and the exploited becomingunderdeveloped. The underd evelopment of the countries of Africa, Asia andLatin America is indicated by man y things, including amount of steel used (levelof industrialization), agricultur al output, amount of protein-food consumed, lifeexpectancy, death rate among chi ldren, malnutrition, presence of diseases which are virtually non-existent in de veloped countries, and illiteracy. Othercharacteristics of underdevelopment are the inability to concentrate on sectorsof the economy which would generate growt h, weak or no ties between differentsectors of the economy, and the frittering a way or expatriation of any savingsaccumulated.In the second chapter, Rodney give s a general overview of whatuncontaminated African society was like south of the S ahara, as well asspecific examples the more socially complex societies in existe nce in Africabefore the arrival of Europeans. In general, family and kinship wer e thedetermining factors in the ownership of land, recruiting of labor to work t heland, and distribution of the fruits of that labor. This contrasts markedly wi th2 feudalism or capitalism, where either serfs or hired labor are employed to workt he fields, these usually being from outside of the lords or employers family orkin ship group. Other key aspects of pre-1445 African culture which Rodneymentions a re music, dance, art, and religion. Religion pervaded African life justas it perv aded life in other pre-feudal societies, such as those of the Maoris of Australi a or the Afghans of Afghanistan or the Vikings of Scandinavia. 4Heasserts that al though Africa exhibited a great deal of variety in social formations(hunting ban

ds, communalism, and feudalism), the majority of African societiesprior to the c oming of Europeans were in a transitional stage between thepractice of agricultur e (plus fishing and herding) in family communities and thepractice of the same a ctivities within the states and societies comparable tofeudalism. 5Particular exa mples of the complexity which some African societiesachieved are given by Rodney and discussed at length. Among them are AncientEgypt, Axum, Kush, the empires o f Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and Kanem-Bornu,as well as Bunyoro-Kitara, Zimbabwe, Mut apa, Oyo, Benin, and Kongo.In chapter III, Rodney points out the error in tradit ional scholarship, which tends to portray the rise of modern European civilizati on as somethingEuropeans achieved by themselves, solely through their own hard w ork. Heargues instead that trade with non-European societies was crucial in Euro peanhegemony. In particular, the African slave trade, which Europeans engaged in from the fifteenth century onwards, was a key factor in this matter. Forexample, slave labor was used to mine gold and silver in the Americas and inAfrica, whic h was necessary to make coins for the growing European economy. This new wealth created opportunities for further exploration and capitalaccumulation. Many aspe cts of European society and economy were affected by3 the slave trade, includin g shipping, insurance, the formation of companies,capitalist agriculture, techno logy, the manufacture of machinery, and thedevelopment of trans-national economi c links within Europe. The textileindustry, regarded as a powerful factor in Eur opes economic growth, was partlyspurred on by gum imported from Africa, and naval technology, in particularship-building, was greatly improved upon between the s ixteenth and nineteenthcenturies as a result of Europes monopoly of sea trade bet ween themselves,Africa, and the rest of the world. The rise of seaport towns suc h as Liverpooland 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 suchgreat m easure. The colonial era, discussed in Chapter V, was also a period in which Afr ica played a crucial role in developing Europe and the internationalcapitalist s ystem. During this period, many sectors of the European economy were involved in the exploitation of African resources, including shipping andbanking services, the colonial governmental administrations, and of coursetrading companies, the m ost notorious being CFAO, UAC, and Unilever.Monetary gains were the most obvious benefits derived from these enterprises,but, Rodney says, the colonial system (a lso) permitted the rapid development of technology and skills within the metropo litan sectors of imperialism. Itallowedfor the elaboration of the modern organiza tional techniques of the capitalist firmand of imperialism as a whole. Indeed, c olonialism gave capitalism an addedlease of life and prolonged its existence in Western Europe 6Examples of 4 technological advances are to be found in the military (rivalry over coloniese ncouraged new ways of making war, such as destroyers and submarines), inscientif ic 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 skillsexisting in the c apitalist nations in Europe. Other advantages Europeansderived from colonial rul e include the acquisition of valuable African art and theuse of African soldiers to fight in white peoples wars on African soil and inother parts of the world. T he effect of all of this on the economy and social systems of Africa was,of cour se, immense, and this is discussed in Chapters IV and VI in Rodneysbook. In Chapt er IV, he focuses on the role the slave trade played in this. Themost immediate effect of enslaving people and sending them across the Atlantic was obviously a stagnation in population growth. This in turn affected theavailability of labor and markets within African. In addition, much of theremaining population was eng aged in slave-hunting and acquiring other goods which the European traders wante d, thus neglecting local agricultural andtechnological industries. The borrowing of new technology, another way in which development can occur in society, was e ntirely non-existent at this timedue to the nature of the contact between Europe

ans and Africans, which wasunfavorable to the spread of positive ideas and techn ologies from civilizedEurope to barbarous Africa. Another effect of the new preoccup ation withslave trading was the breakdown of interterritorial links established before theadvent of the slave trade. Rodney also points out that right up to the period of 5 colonialism, Africans were still making their own history and developmentconti nued along the lines it was following before the arrival of Europeans. Thiscan b e accounted for by the fact that European impact was confined mainly tothe coast al areas and that the ideological systems, and political and militaryorganizatio n were scarcely affected. He gives many examples of societies whichcontinued to evolve along independent avenues, among them the Yoruba (Oyo),Dahomey, Babito an d Buganda, Rwanda, and Ama-Zulu. Many of thesesocieties proved themselves forces to be reckoned with militarily. During thecolonial period, the primary mechanis m for the underdevelopment of Africa(discussed in Chapter VI) was the expatriati on of surplus produced usingAfrican labor and natural resources. In addition to this, colonialism meant thevirtual eradication of African political power, imped ing the further evolution of national solidarity, neglect of local subsistence e conomies, and insufficiency of health facilities and educational opportunities, all of which go part and parcel with underdevelopment.It truly takes much more s pace than this to explain everything Rodneydid 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 have stressedthe socialist perspective a little to o much, and his comments about the successof the Soviet Union obviously sound st range today and do him no credit. Butotherwise, I would be inclined to agree wit h him. In particular, I find interestingthe argument that everyone who has parta ken in the capitalist systems of Europe and North America has tasted the fruits of African exploitation, and isthus partly responsible. His style is very readab le and he doesnt confinehimself to any one discipline, but incorporates history a nd economics as well as6 social and political science. In conclusion, an excellent book, accessible toA fricans and non-Africans alike, and highly relevant to the subject matter of thi s course, in that it explains the historical factors which have influencedAfricas contemporary role in world affairs.