African Studies 2

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AFRICAN STUDIES

INTRODUCTION/PROLOGUE

African studies, is a field of study/study of knowledge in the multi-disciplinary and inter-

disciplinary approach in the study of Africa. (In known of the history, cultural, social,economic, political, scientific and technological development of the continent.)

African studies, has been an important course of study in many universities all over the

world with the aim to reconstruct and rewrite the history of the African, study in cultural,

social, economic, political, science and technological development. Indeed the purpose

of understanding African studies as a discipline is to correct misconception held about

Africa by some early and some modern Europeans and others that Africa is a dark

continent; as a people without identity, second rated people, scientific and

technologically backward, and to restore African heritage, confidence and to promote

appropriate education for development.

It is worthy to note that many people including students openly expose their ignorance

about the social and economic environment of Africa and would therefore appreciate the

need to work harder to improve the poor socio-economic circumstances of Africans after

going through the course.

It is a well known fact that the African continent is the least developed or

underdeveloped in the world.

In the commission for Africa Report, 2006, Mr. Tony Blair (former Prime Minister of

Britain) has said about Africa only one region of the world became poorer in the last 30years. Half of Africans live on less than $1 (one dollar) a day and life expectancy is

falling.

Average incomes in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1970s were more than twice that of

South East Asia. Now the opposite is true.

In the same period, South Asia irrigated 40% of its lands and invested in infrastructure.

Manufactured goods rose from 20% to 80%. Meanwhile Africas irrigation was static and

its range of exports narrow.

From 1980 to 2000, sugar prices fell by 77%, cocoa by 71%, coffee by 64% and cottonby 74%.

Doctors, teachers, engineers, and scientists- in other words, professionals are leaving

African countries as African economies cannot support them.

The continent has the highest disease burden and lowest access to education. During

the cold war, the West backed corrupt regimes that plundered Africas wealth and


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resources on weapons. Wars were fought over diamonds, gold and oil and other

valuable resources. All these attributable legacy- colonialism and imperialism.

It is to be noted that in the first and last quarters of the twentieth and twenty-first

centuries, the world has emerged into a gigantic society- a global society. The making

of this global society has been made possible because of several interacting factors: thedevelopment informational mass media and the fast means of communication and

transportation, the rapid growth of international economic and political interdependence,

the increase both in the number and quality of international association, organisations

and institutions, and the expansion universality of intellectualism, academicism and

morality.

As this positive movement towards a global society pushes ahead, a strong negative

politico-economic under current split the global society into four division: the first world

peoples made up of the former soviet union and USA; the second world peoples

consisting of most European countries, China and Japan and their satellites; the thirdworld peoples comprising the independent African countries, the Arab and Asian

countries; and those of the fourth world consisting of the Australia aborigines, and the

red Indian tribes of Canada and the USA.

The present political and economic struggle that exists amongst the countries that

constitute the global society is both a conscious and unconscious effort to transform

these divisions into a gigantic class system. The mobility of countries within this global

structure is determined by the techno-economic and techno-political level attained by

member countries.

There is a conscious effort by these countries that have acquired advanced

technological knowledge to hide the key secrets of technology from those countries that

have not acquired it or just acquiring it in a bid to foster the dependency syndrome.

Similarly, there is conscious effort by these countries that are just acquiring the

advanced technological knowledge to search for the Treasure Island where the key

secrets of technology are hidden.

The third world peoples in Africa and Asia have been subjected for centuries to the

material and intellectual attitudes to life of the first and second-world peoples. They

recite the philosophy and ideologies of these peoples as if they are infallible. Above all,they have learnt to use most of their technological products without knowing how to

make them. (E.g. mobile phones)

The major problem facing the peoples of the third world is probably not poverty, as the

first-world and second-world peoples want them to believe their problem is the

sociological problem of changing over- in the midst of the technological hide-and-seek


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which is internationally organised from an industrial oriented consuming unit to an

industrially orientated producing unit.

If the third-world and fourth-world peoples have to depend for their entire development

on the part of cultures of others, they are doomed to stagnation. Their greatest period of

cultural dynamism and development will come when they are able to generate a healthydialogue between their total cultures which are at their own doorstep and the part

cultures they have acquired from others. But they cannot create a condition for such a

healthy dialogue if they do not fully comprehend the nature and character of their total

cultures- traditional cultures.

Interest in traditional African cultures and societies transcends the wearing of African

traditional costumes. It should be a positive effort to understand and appreciate Africa.

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Anthropology is composed of two words. anthropos that is man, and ology that is,

science. Thus, anthropology is the science of man. But, man is not only sociological, he

is also social and cultural, and thus, when anthropology studies man, it studies him in all

his multiple aspects.

The current approach to the meaning and definition of anthropology is perhaps best

exemplified by the definition given by John Lewis: (1982, Anthropology, Heinemann,

London) ; Anthropology is the general term for the science of man: the cultural, social,

physical development, and behavior of man throughout his history. The general termincludes the special term, physical anthropology, human evolution, archaeology (pre-

history), cultural anthropology, social anthropology and linguistic anthropology.

Thus, according to Lewis, anthropology is very comprehensive in its scope and includes

an elaborate classification of it. It also interprets system approach and cultural focus.

OBSERVATIONS

1. Anthropology is a broad social science which includes biology, organicism, andsocial and cultural systems.

2. It is, therefore, both a biological science and social-historical science.


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3. As a biological science it studies physical anthropology, human evolution. And,

as a social science, it studies social system and culture.

4. The approach to the anthropology in the European continent is oriented to

human biology. In England, which is part of the continent, anthropology is

generally termed as social anthropology or ethnology. In USA, however, the

approach to anthropology is culture-specific. People there understand

anthropology by the term cultural anthropology.

5. Broadly, anthropology is the science of the study of man. Man is studied in his

totality. That is, in his biological, social, cultural aspects.

6. Laboratory, fieldwork, and comparative methods are the basic truth of an

anthropological study.

SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

According to Evans-Pritchard, (1964) Social Anthropology includes the study of all

human cultures and societies. The basic idea is that it tries to find out the structure of

human societies all over the world. What social anthropology seeks to establish is that

all societies not withstanding any country are an organised whole. It is not just the

separate customs or beliefs that are different, but the whole pattern of working, living,

marrying, worshipping, organizing politically, and keeping order and so on. Everything is

different from the way we do things because the structure, the plan and the idea behind

them are different.

SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES


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Social anthropology is one of the social sciences. The scope and subject matter of

social sciences consists of social institutions, polity, economy, crime and several other

aspects of society. On the basis of this study certain empirical generalizations are

made, which in course of time, are found in social theory. In a broad sense, social

sciences, namely, economics, political science, history, anthropology, sociology, and

others focus on the study of man as a member of a group or society. Thus the nature of

social science is essentially mental and cultural.

Indeed, social anthropology is rich in its skills to study the indigenous knowledge of the

masses of people living in hills, forests and villages; if then, the argument is simple- that

if social anthropology has the guts to help the colonial regimes to settle in the colonies

and consolidate its power, it also has the potential to carry the people to the road of

progress and development. It is an academic tool; it is a weapon which leaves us to

decide how to use it.

THE SCOPE OF AFRICAN STUDIES

As earlier stated, African studies is the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary study of the

cultural, social, economic, political, science and technological developments of Africa

from the pre-colonial, colonial, and pre-independence and post independence of Africa.

THE MAIN AIMS OF AFRICAN STUDIES

i) To correct the misinformation, misrepresentation, and miseducation about Africa

and its people by Europeans/Arabs and Africans.

ii) To restore the lost confidence, dignity and esteem of Africans

iii) To help Africans to do away with the mental enslavement of inferiority

iv) To manage their own affairs for appropriate development and self-dependent to

regain international respect

TOPICS TO BE TREATED


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1. Some theories of culture and society

a) Introduction to some theories of culture and society

b) The concepts of culture and society

c) The concepts of the primitive society and the advanced society

d) The parts played by innovation and diffusion in culture change

2. Pre-colonial Africa

3. Africas contact with the outside world

4. Colonialism and the rise of nationalism/independence

5. Conflicts in Africa after independence

6. New agenda for Africans

7. Return to democracy and socio-economic development in Africa- democratizing

Africa

8. Dependency and development in Africa

9. Science and Technology

10. Socio-cultural practices

11. Epilogue. Next steps

Trevor Ruper- How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

REF: I/M. Angular Onwufjeogwu. The Social Anthropology of Africa- An

Introduction (1975 Heinemann, London)

N.J.K Brukum: The Guinea Fowl, Mango and Pito Wars- Episodes in the History

of Northern Ghana, 1980-1999.

Ghana University Press

Accra. 2001


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E. Gyimah Boadi: Democratizing Africa: Halting Progress, Outstanding Problem

and Serious Dilemmas

Ghana University Press

Accra. 2001

SOME THEORIES OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Three theories about culture and society have been put forward by both scholars of

anthropology and sociology. They are the evolutionary theory, diffusionist theory and

sociological theory.

THE EVOLUTIONARY THEORY

The evolutionary theory assumes that complex societies develop out of simple ones.

Some evolutionists argue that the so-called primitive societies that still exist today are

survivals from the past. Max Muller and Mac Lennan were among the earliest

evolutionists.

RELEVANCE

1. Society is dynamic and keeps changing over a period

2. Change is inevitable because society cannot be static forever

3. Helps us to understand the concept of certain societies

THE DIFFUSIONIST THEORY

By the end of the nineteenth century a number of scholars have begun to attack the

evolutionists. They argued that evolution alone cannot account for all differences

between primitive or small scale societies. They became interested, for example, in

the distribution of cultural traits and elements, which means they hoped to find out how

cultural traits have diffused from a common origin or origins. These diffusionists were

condemned mainly for categorizing culture into elements.

THE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

In the nineteenth century, Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist, began to study society

as a unit whose different parts are related. He is now regarded as the father of the

sociological approach. In other words, he owns the systems theory but in contemporary

analysis Talcott Parsons is also a figure to reckon with.


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These three theories are important to understanding society. The question is, how do

we see the three theories coming together to explain society.

THE CONCEPTS OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Three main groups of anthropologists have come to be associated with the

development of culture and society as concepts in the study of social science. These

consist of;

1) Anthropologists who define culture as all-embracing, including society. One of

such anthropologists is Malinowski. He saw culture and society as

interconnected and cannot be separated.

2) Anthropologists who distinguish between society and culture, for example

Radcliff-Brown, Evans Pritchard, Leach, and most of British and American

anthropologists. They saw society and culture can be separated.

3) Anthropologists who tow the middle course by accepting that society and culture

are two aspects of social realities viewed from different dimensions: that of

relationship and grouping, and that of actions and behaviour. The chief

advocates of this approach are Bateson, Nadel, and levi-Strauss, a French

anthropologist. They saw culture and society being of different dimensions.

These theories came about as a result of extinguishing and promoting the other.

Kroeber was one of the earliest anthropologists to state that societies do exist without

culture and that culture marks human from other animals. He contends that in the main

it is mens culture that directs the kind of life that they can lead. This is what has been

ascribed to as cultural determinism-culture determines what society should do. He

further contended that: no society, no culture; no culture, no society.

Reference: Kroeber A.L. (1953) Anthropology Today; Primary University Press, London

At this juncture, an examination of concepts of culture and society may now be

attempted.


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Tylor defined culture as: the complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,

morals, law, custom, and many other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a

member of society.

Reference: Tylor E.D. (1891). Primitive Culture

Kroeber on the other hand defined culture as the mass of learned and transmitted

motor reactions, habits, techniques, ideas and values and the behaviour they induce.

Leach, who is the proponent of the structuralist school, defines culture as: culture

emphasizes the component of accumulated resources, immaterial as well as material,

which the people inherit, employ, transmute, and add to, and transmit.

Ques: Is there a connection between the three definitions of culture and their

differences.

Since culture is a concept it can be considered from various operational aspects:

Firstly, as having traits and complexes originating through innovation and spreading

through diffusion, thus having a geographical distribution;

Secondly, as having patterns, structure, and function;

Thirdly, as static or dynamic, continuum (endless) and as symbolic.

Question: What is the relationship between culture and development? UNESCO

report (assignment)

It may be treated as a whole or as made up of systems and sub-systems. None of these

has been found to be effective on its own for understanding cultural realities.

The concept of society has been chiefly developed by sociologists. Anthropologists

have adopted it, and some, have made it their central theme in analyzing group

behaviour.

Society may be defined as an aggregate network of social relationships of a group or

groups.

As a concept, society is far broader in scope than culture. A society may be made up ofa handful of people and it may embrace a huge number of people. Society has been

conceptualized as static, dynamic, structural and functional. The variety of any type of

approach is a matter of what one is looking for.

Society and culture may or may not be coterminous, but both are in fact aspects of the

same phenomenon. The essential relationship between the concepts lead to the

frequent use of a compound term socio-cultural as applied to group behavior.


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It seems that the concept of culture as all-embracing is the most useful one. In this case

human societies are one aspect of culture.

REFERENCE

1)White, L.A. the Evolution of Culture (New York); Mc Graw-Hill, 1959.

2) Radcliffe-Brown, A.K. Structure and Function in Primitive Society (London:

Cohen and West, 1953)

3) Nadel, S.F. The Foundations of Social Anthropology (London: Cohen and West,

1953)

4) Kroeber, A.L. Anthropology Today ( Cambridge University Press, 1953; Chicago;

University of Chicago Press, 1953)

5) Evans-Pritchard, E.E. Social Anthropology (London: Cohen and West, 1951)

THE CONCEPTS OF THE PRIMITIVE SOCIETY AND THE ADVANCED

SOCIETY

Early European observers and writers used words like savages barbarians primitive

pagans heathen, to describe other culture in the American, Africa, Asia and the

Islands in the Pacific Ocean. At that time the word primitive meant simple and the

word heathen meant unpolished, not civilized, of low mentality. But as colonialism and

imperialism gained ground the word primitive took on a different meaning (the

Germans saw the Bushmen as subhuman inferior beings. The Australian whites

regarded the Australian aborigines as human beings with very low intelligence. The

white South African sees the black Zulus as inferior human beings who should always

be their servants. Some North American whites regard the American blacks as second-

rated citizens. )

It is obvious from the discussion that in the history of racial tension it is always the white

people, some of whom are colonialists, who regarded peoples of other cultures as


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inferior, dirty pigs, monkeys, subhuman beings, primitives and heathens. This may be

regarded as the appalling failures of western civilization.

In the 1960s when many African began to regain their independence and colonialism

began to give way to African rulers, the concept of superiority of the white peoples

began to alter in both form and context. Adjectives such as small-scale, non-technological, under-developed, began to occur in various literatures to describe

these societies. In order not to annoy Africans, many Europeans now talk of developing

countries.

Social scientists must put aside sentiment and face realities of social facts. When two

extreme societies such as the Eskimo or Hottentots on one hand and the British and

Japanese on the other hand are studied, basic differences will be seen, of which the

major ones may be set out as follows:

Eskimo or Hottentots British and Japanese

1. No developed technique of writing 1. Developed technique of writing

2. Rudimentary technology 2. Developed technology

3. Low output 3. High output

4. Low density of population 4. High density of population

5. Little specialization 5. High scope of specialization

6. Homogeneous production 6. Diversified production

7. Low ratio of capital to consumer goods 7. High rate of capital to consumer goods

8. Distribution is chiefly non-market, and

the monetary sector is underdeveloped

8. Distribution is chiefly by market, and the

monetary sector is developed

9. Mainly multi-interest social organization,

in which status holding and wealth holding

are increment status and roles are mainly

ascribed

9. Mainly single-interest social

organization, in which wealth and status

and roles are mainly achieved (multi-

interest occurs in Japan)


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10. Unspecialized political and legal

institutions

10. Specialized political and legal systems

Eskimo or Hottentots society is frequently referred to as primitive, small-scale, non-

technological, or non-literate. Some large scale societies may have a rudimentary

technology with all its economic and social consequences. It is also possible for a

literate society with a rudimentary technology to exist, and a small-scale society with an

advanced technology. Since these variations occur, the terms small-scale and non-

literate may not be inclusive. The two most inclusive terms are primitive and non-

technological. As shown above, the word primitive is loaded with meaning derived

from unfortunate white-black race relations. The terms non-technological seem to put

all the emphasis on technology, and so might be misleading.

Those who wish to side track the issue avoid the use of the word primitive, instead

they use words like simpler, non-technological. Those who do not mind stick to the

word primitive, because it is a technical term which ought not to have additional

connotations of inferiority. It is also a relative term, for one society may be primitive in

a technological way while another is not. For example, Britains space technology is

primitive compared to that of the USA. Similarly, the industrial technology of Ghana is

primitive compared to that of the Britain. In 1910, Japans industrial technology was

primitive compared with Britain or Germany, but in the 1970 Britain was primitive in

certain technological fields compared with Japan.

Development in rituals, philosophy, arts etc, is not included in the comparism above

because they cannot be described in relative terms, but are subjective and

immeasurable. Technological development, however, has a direct influence on

economic, social, and political behaviours and may be subjected to statistical analysis. It

seems that the word primitive may be used to describe only certain aspects of a

society. It may not be advisable to use them to describe a society as a whole. Thus if

we refer to the Krobo/Dagomba/Nzema economy as primitive, one is thinking of the

state of its technology and its economic consequences. The concept of primitive

implies a continuum of a certain aspect of societies at different levels of technological

advancement. In such a continuum, a Kung/Masai society is placed at one pole, aGhanaian society will be placed near the middle, while a British or Japanese society will

be at the other pole, without any implication of respective evolutionary development.

THE PARTS PLAYED BY INNOVATION AND DIFFUSION IN CULTURE CHANGE


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Firth R.W (1964) in his essay: Comment on dynamic Theory in Social Anthropology;

explores at least three types of conceptual approach that seem to have been involved in

the study of the dynamics of culture change:

1. The approach advocated by Firth in which the forces of repetitive change

operates in an unaltered social system, as illustrated in the dynamics of Taleclanship and lineage

2. The approach advocated by Malinowski, which stresses that the operation of

change results in both immediate and partial disintegration of the existing society,

finally leading to the creation of a new form which is the blending of the old and

new elements.

3. Worsleys approach, which assumes that change, is as a result of forces of

opposition and that changes of revolutionary kind are inevitable- typical Marxist

approach.

In his exposition, Firth ignores American anthropologists approaches: the evolutionary

are advocated by White and the diffusionists are spearheaded by Kroeber and Boas.

The second approach is popular among those who call themselves historicalists.

Historicalists consider that the minimum unit of culture that may be isolated byobservation in time and space is a trait. Interrelated traits group into a trait-complex. The

historic nature of culture involves invention and diffusion which result in a distribution of

cultural elements at any one time into cultures or well-defined culture areas.

American anthropologists were influenced by the type of material they handled, such as

the distribution of the sun dance among the Indians, the diffusion of the horse complex

and the spread of tobacco smoking from the new world to Europe.

Dixon R.B (1928) The Building of Cultures (New York: Charles Scriber) says that the

origins of culture are based on discovery and invention. Thus the diversity of humanculture is to be explained mostly by invention and partly by diffusion.

Wissler, C. (F. Boas, ed) 1923 Man and Culture (Boston: D.C Heath) defined diffusion

as the transfer of elements from one culture to another and called the process natural,

based on chance contacts, and organized, when purposively transferred.


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Kroeber classifies the types of diffusion into Contact Diffusion and Idea Diffusion and

stresses the process of cultural extinction.

Early anthropological writers laid much stress on invention. Later student of culture

change introduced a wider term; innovation this term not only stresses the original

inventor but also emphasizes the fact that there are innovators who experiment withincultural systems.

Some anthropologists recently supported that initial acts of discovery and invention

should be called primary innovation, and initial acts of adoption into another cultural

system might be called secondary innovation.

However, this method of dealing with culture change was vehemently criticized by

Malinowski who studied the changes which had taken place in Africa. This is the crux of

the difference between the approach of Kroeber and Dixon and that of Malinowski.

Malinowski dismisses all diffusionists, historicalists, approaches based on culture

element distributions. He branded them incapable of scientific control and said they

were frivolous.

In his book, The Dynamic of Culture Change edited by Phyllis Kaberry, he revealed that

his theory of culture. He based his theory on his early concept of need and the cultural

whole. He postulated that the process of cultural change is based on the interaction of

institutions. Thus European institutions and systems interact with those of the Africans.

Both institutions impinge on each other and the impact produces conflict, co-operation

and compromise, and the result is the emergence of a new African culture.

He maintains that there are five basic factors which govern the scientific study of the

processes in Africa (and elsewhere).

These are:

1. The influence of the white man, his interests and intentions

2. The processes of culture contact and change

3. The surviving forms of tradition

4. The reconstructed past

5. The new factor of spontaneous African reaction

Several anthropologists have criticized Malinowskis approach. Radcliffe-Brown pointed

out that culture change is not due to the interaction of cultures but to the interaction of


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individuals and groups within an established social structure which is in itself in the

process of change.

Malinowskis concept of the transformation of culture based on organised system is

valid in some cases, for instance, Lord Lugards indirect rule in Africa, which is a

blending a new institution with African traditional system. But it does not explain culturalfacts such as the introduction or acquisition of new technology in a society, the well-

known spread of tobacco smoking from America to Europe, tea drinking from Asia to

Europe, the adoption of foreign words into language.

Similarly, Radcliffe-Browns structural approach, based on the theory that situations are

created in which individuals are forced to enter into a new social relationship, does not

explain these phenomenon either, although it is useful in many other cases.

It seems therefore, that the historicalists diffusionist approach has to be accepted in

order to explain certain phenomena. When tobacco smoking is diffused it is simply asan element of culture, not as an institution as such, and its diffusion may not even effect

structural changes. Even where the acquiring of techniques causes structural change,

what we are dealing with are two different phenomena, the causes and the effects. We

need two different methods to analyze the two.

When applying the diffusionist approach care should be taken not to treat cultural

elements as transferable in units mechanically from one culture to another. Diffused

elements are likely to undergo complicated changes of structure and functions as they

enter new cultural settings.

Furthermore, social change can viewed as changes in value systems. At this level it is

difficult to account for such changes only in terms of structural changes or the clash of

institutions. Here again the diffusionist theory of change may be of great one.

It seems that the methods discussed here are valid and useful different ways. The

validity of each depends on what level and types of changes in culture are being

analyzed. Therefore, contrary to Malinowskis advice, we may consider seriously some

aspects of the historicalists approach to the diffusion of traits and complexes, for its

utility depends on the type of material being dealt with.

REFERENCES

1. Dixon, R.B. The Building of Cultures (New York: Charles Scribner, 1928)

2. Amin, S. Neo-Colonialism in West Africa (Harmondsworth: Renguin, 1973)


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3. Foster, G. Traditional Cultures and the Impact of Technological Change (New

York: Harper, 1962)

4. Tylor, E.B. Primitive Culture ( London: Murray, 1891)

5. Murdoch, G.P. Africa- Its People and their Culture History (New York: McGraw

Hill, 1959)

6. Firth, R.W. Comment on Dynamic Theory in Social (1964) Anthropology In

Essays on Social Organizations and Values

7. Boas, F. Evolution or Diffusion? American Anthropologist (1924).26

8. Malinowski, B. (P.M Kaberry ed) The Dynamics of culture change, an inquiry into

Race Relations in Africa (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1948; London:

Oxford University Press, 1948)

Ques. No society, No culture; No culture, No society.Kroeber (1953)

Discuss the uniqueness of this quotation in the development of theories on culture and

society.

PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA (how Europe under developed Africa page.

SUMMARY

Pre-colonial Africa refers to the period before European colonial rule in Africa. The

continent of Africa had been occupied by black Africans several millions of years ago.

(Evidence buried in archeology, ancient documents, ancient monuments ethnography,

numismatics, musicology and rock art).


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1. archeology in Africa discovered the Olduvai Gorge site.

2.Trading was on going in Africa, under the trans-saharan trade, where people brought

good to the south for sale to the people down south that is according to ancient

documents.

3.

Ancient monuments, the great wall of Zimbabwe, there was a civilization there

meaning there was a trading activities centuries back in Africa.

The Pyramid of Egypt serves as the monumental evidence of existence of black man in

the continent of Africa. (the Hamitic hypothesis African are not in the position to

develop such level of architecture meaning that every good thing is not done my

African)

Africans were also challenged by the northern African who claimed they were in Africaby geographical accident. Qathafi did not see himself as African until he was made the

AU chairman and Mubarak did not attend any AU meetings.

The interactions with north Africans were more tilting towards European countries than

Africa.

4.

Ethnography

5.

Numismatics the study of coins (money) metals and effigy on the necklace and the

symbols on them, this tells about the existence of people.

6.

The music in the world that existed before, there were various types of music that

existed long ago. It tells the story of the live of the people, sorrow, and celebration

among others. This tells us how old a society has been.

7.

The rock art is rock paintings

During the period Africa was organised into political, social, economic institutions.

STATE SYSTEM (POLITICAL)


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There were 2 (two) types of state systems. The first comprised the states where

authority was vested among elders, priests and age grade systems, thus by generation:

the older generation formed the executive; the next formed the warriors followed by

infants/public. This political arrangement has been categorized as non-centralized

systems or as acephalous societies. Many societies in East Africa had this form of

government.

The second is often referred to as centralized system where power was vested in the

hands of powerful kings and high ranking chiefs like the rulers of Asante or Cayo

(Yoruba) in West Africa. They were assisted by bureaucratic systems. The following are

some of the principles that guided the operations of government.

1. Consensus

2. Legitimacy

3. Removal of bad leaders

4. Good governance

5. Economic wellbeing

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

The people were organised into small family units, grouped into several big units often

referred to as a clan. The clans were organised as corporate bodies with the following

characteristics;

1. Head of clan

2. Council of elders. The elders represented various family groups

3. The clan had a name, symbols and appellation

4. They owned properties such as land

5. They practiced clan exogamy (sexual relationships between close relations was not

allowed)

6. The clan was the insurance or responsible for the economic wellbeing of the

members

7. Clan members shared solidarity and shared successes and failures of members

SOCIAL VALUES


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1. Respect for authority

2. Respect for the elderly

3. Care for younger generation

4. Sexual sanctity and chastity

5. Good neighbourliness and communal solidarity

6. Amicable solutions to disputes or conflicts

7. Protection of the natural environment- land, trees, rivers etc

8. Care for the unfortunate and destitute

9. Adherence to cultural practices regarding birth, adulthood, marriage, divorce and

death

10.Honesty, truth and commitment

11.Hospitality- care for strangers

COLONIALISM IN AFRICA

Stewart C. Easton: The Rise and Fall of Western Colonialism. New York 1964 (Fredrick

A. Praeger, Inc,)

RISE OF THE NEW IMPERIALISM

Among the European nations at the beginning of the 19th, only Portugal could lay claim

to the possession of real empire in Africa. The Portuguese had controlled the African

slave trade for centuries.

By the beginning of the 19th, Britain had shown little interest in Africa. The first

permanent British colony in Africa was the Cape colony, taken from the Dutch in the

Napoleons war. This was an old settlement at the southern tip of Africa, peoples ofmostly by descendants of French Huguenots and Dutch Calvinists who farmed the land

in patriarchal manner with the aid of slaves. There were few black Negroes, and the

country was populated largely by white men, since most of the Hottentots and the

Bushmen, the original inhabitants, had been driven into the interior by the European

immigrants.


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EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The anti-colonialist position began to be eroded seriously in the latter part of the

century, as all European nations were increasingly affected by the industrial revolution.

The growth of manufacturing capacity made it desirable for manufacturers and

merchants to find ever more export markets for their products. It was not possible to

sell manufactured products to underdeveloped countries, some of them only recently

discovered by the West.

There was plenty of money to be lent to the underdeveloped countries. The major

problem was how it could ever be repaid at a respectable rate of interest. A few tropicalproducts could be bought, and sold profitably in Europe, as had been done for

centuries. But to ensure a large and regular supply of such products, railroads would

have to be built and European ideas of organisation injected into primitive economies.

The Europeans soon found it impossible to do these things without taking over a

country and administering it themselves. Then the natives could be compelled by one

device or another to work for their new masters, a regular supply of raw materials could

be assured, and sufficient profits could be made to pay interest on capital invested in

improved communication and in the government.

STRATEGIC MOTIVES

Thus, economic motives lay behind the recrudescence/return of imperialism in the latter

part of the century. However, once the process has been set in motion, other

consideration became important, and imperialism began to take on a life of its own.

Trade routes had to be protected against competitive European nations, and fueling

centres had to be provided for shipping. This required the building of fortified ports

under European control, and the land for such ports had to be taken from foreigners, by

either purchase or military action. When areas close to Europe was involved, theEuropean powers were brought into direct contact with one another, and the

competition between them became severe, sometimes bringing the various nations

close to war as each sought a strategically valuable position for itself. Most important of

all, the European nations began gradually to feel that not only their wealth and power

but their national prestige depended on the possession of colonies.


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Thus an irrational motive entered into what had previously been a simple pursuit of

wealth and power; and it was this emotional involvement, on the part not so much of the

merchants and statesmen as of the people whom they ruled, that was the most potent

factor in the competitive imperialism of the last quarter of the century.

NATIONAL PRESTIGE

It became no longer enough to possess lands of economic and strategic value. It was

important to the national pride of a people for them to possess colonies, whether or not

they could pay for their upkeep. It was equally important that no possession ever be

ceded to another power, since this would involve less of national prestige. Such a loss

was felt by the people themselves, spurred on by the popular press, as an unendurable

insult to their self esteem. Thus, late in the race for the partition of Africa, France picked

up huge quantities of almost valueless real estate, such as the Sahara desert, which

was not greatly desired by others.

Germany under Bismarck for a long time looked upon the pursuit of colonies as a

distraction from her real national aim, power and prestige in Europe. Nonetheless, such

was the scramble for colonies that even a Bismarck had to give way to public pressure.

When Wilhelm II became Kaiser in 1888, he took up the quest with enthusiasm and

demanded stridently that Germany be given a place under the sun. So Germany was

permitted to win a few of the less desirable African lands before the continent was

entirely divided among her competitors.

Italy, the last and least powerful of the European imperialists, had to content herself with

a few deserts, which loomed large on the map of Africa but were always heavy liabilities

to a poor country with few resources to spare. It was honestly felt by some European

statesmen that their countries, as Jules Ferry of France expressed it, would fall to the

rank of second class powers if they did not own colonies. Few weighed rationally the

question of whether or not the colonies really added anything to national power or

wealth, or even contributed to the favourable balance of trade they sought.

CONTRAST WITH THE MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY

All these colonies have now been lost by the European nations that conquered them.

The rise and fall of the colonial system is primarily a phenomenon of the last 145 years.

Can colonialism now be regarded as an almost completed process?

THE PARTITITON


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The continent of Africa is divided by the almost uninhabited Sahara Desert, and it is

customary to distinguish between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa because there

are major ethnic and religious differences between the two. Nevertheless, the northern

areas of sub-Saharan Africa are inhabited by some peoples racially akin to groups in

North Africa, most of whom were long ago converted to Islam. Moreover, the Saharan

desert does not stretch completely across Africa- Sudan and Ethiopia share more in

common with North Africans than with the negroes in Uganda and territories to the

South.

AFRICA IN THE 19TH CENTURY

-ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE

For centuries, the major commercial interest in Africa was in the exporting of slaves. But

early in the 19

th

century it became clear that slave trade was doomed. It had beenforbidden by the French Revolutionary Government, in the 1790s by Britain, in 1807; by

the congress of Vienna, in 1815. In 1833, the British emancipated all slaves in their

empire. Although the Arabs were not bound by European laws and regulations, and

Portuguese colonialists continued to deal in slaves for much of the century, despite

formal prohibition by the Portuguese Government, the British, encouraged by

missionary and philanthropic interests, assumed responsibility for policing the ban on

slavery.

ROLE OF THE MISSIONARIES

Several groups other than traders were interested in Africa. The rise of science in the18th century had stimulated the growth of numerous scientific societies devoted to the

pursuit of knowledge. Among these was the Royal geographic Society, which was

especially interested in the exploration of the great African rivers. Many of the mid-

century voyages of exploration were sponsored, and to some degree financed, by the

Royal Geographic Society. By far the most influential groups is the pious. The 19th

century saw the various missionary societies devoted to converting the pagan Africans

to one or another of the branches of Protestantism (Britain) or to Catholicism (France

and Belgium).

THE CHARTERED TRADING COMPANIES

Ironically, it was the activities of the missionaries and the explorers that drew the

attention of commercial interests to the possibilities of new profits and fields of

investment in Africa. For a brief period in the 1880s, it was official British policy to


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sponsor the activities of chartered trading companies as a means of developing distant

areas.

South Africa

Rhodesia

Angola and Mozambique

German south-west Africa

French Equatorial Africa

Congo independent state and the Belgian Congo

- British West Africa

Gambia

Sierra Leone

The Gold Coast

Nigeria

French West Africa

German West Africa- Togoland and Cameroun

Portuguese and Spanish possessions Madagascar

-East Africa

Britain and Germany in Zanzibar

German East Africa (Tanganyika)

Uganda

Kenya

THE SPECIAL CASE OF LIBERIA


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By the outbreak of the World War I, Africa had been thoroughly partitioned by the

European powers. Only Abyssinia (Ethiopia), which had successfully resisted Italian

penetration, and Liberia on the West Coast of Africa, more still independent; even they

were subjected to foreign influence.

In 1847, the Republic of Liberia was constituted, with a form of government closelymodeled on that of the United States. Liberia is genuinely independent and, by virtue of

her independent status, was able to become a charter member of the United Nations,

twelve years before the first newly independent African State (Ghana) joined her.

ARTIFICIAL BOUNDARIES OF AFRICAN STATES

Attention has been drawn to the manner in which the European imperialists divided

among themselves the boundaries of their various colonies without reference to the

actual ethnic similarity and difference between the African peoples who made up the

population. Even the Europeans had been aware of the ethnic composition of their newsubjects; it is unlikely that the knowledge would have made any difference in their

policy. In fact, competition for prestige among the powers took precedence over any

humanitarian or ethnic consideration when the question arose which power should

possess which territory, the matter was divided by negotiation. If one power lost some

territory it claimed, compensation was usually offered elsewhere.

In the delimitation of boundaries, little attention was paid even to natural frontiers such

as rivers or mountains and more at all to the wishes of the Africans involved in the

transfer of territory.

More often the divisions were made on the basis of the relative power wielded by the

Europeans in Europe. Behind the policy adopted by Europeans, including most

missionaries, lay the assumption that Africans were backward children whose wishes

could neither made known nor consulted. It was up to their new parents and religious

advisers decision for them, and any European power was so much more civilized than

the Africans that its rule could only be of benefit to them.

As a result, the boundaries of the colonies were wholly artificial, and it was largely a

matter of chance which European state became responsible for their development,

while European language became the language of governance and commerce, and

while European institutions in a modified form were transferred to the colony.

Nonetheless, a kind of unit was imposed on the colonies during the half century or more

that the European ruled them; and except in the case of the United Nations trust

territories where plebiscites with limited choice were held, the boundaries of the various

colonies became those of the independent nations that have emerged since World War

II.


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REFERENCES

1. UNESCO - General History of Africa VII Africa Under Colonial Rule

Domination: 1880 1935; Editor A. Adu Boahen

2. UNESCO General History of Africa VIII Africa since 1935. Editor. Ali A.Mazrui

3. Oliver R. & Atmore A. (1969) Africa since 1800, Cambridge University Press,

London

Question: The circumstances that prompted the scramble and subsequent partitioning

of Africa were generated in Africa rather than Europe. Discuss

Prestige rather than anything else accounted for the wanton scramble and subsequent

partitioning of Africa. Discuss

COLONIALISM IN AFRICA: ITS IMPACT AND SIGNIFICANCE

By 1935, colonialism has been firmly established in Africa. However, within a matter of

only some forty-five years from 1935 (1980), the colonial system had been uprooted

from over 90% of Africa and confined only to that part of the continent south of the

Limpopo river. That is to say, colonialism lasted in most part of Africa fro under a

hundred years, indeed from the 1880s to the 1960s.

Questions:

1) What legacies did colonialism bequeath to Africa, or what impact did it make on

Africa.

2) What is the significance of colonialism for Africa?

THE COLONIAL IMPACT

Probably nothing has become as controversial a subject as the impact of colonialism on

Africa. To some historians such as Gann, Duignan, Perham and Lloyd, its impact was

on balance either a blessing or at most not harmful for Africa. Others, mainly African,

black and Marxist scholars and especially the development and underdevelopment

theorists, have contended that the beneficial effect of colonialism in Africa was virtually


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nil. The black Guyanese historian, Walter Rodney, has taken a particularly extreme

position. As he contends;

- The argument suggests that, on the one hand, there was exploitation and oppression,

but, on the other hand, colonial governments did much for the benefit of Africans as

they developed Africa. It is our contention that this is completely false. Colonialism hasonly one hand it was a one-armed bandit.

Such are the two main opposing assessment of colonialism in Africa. From the

available, however, it would appear that a much more balanced assessment is

necessary as this is one question here.

THE IMPACT IN THE POLITICAL FIELD (POSITIVE)

The first positive effect was the establishment of a greater degree of continuous peaceand stability following the consolidation of colonialism in Africa than before. The 19 th

century in Africa, as in Europe, was a period of political instability and insecurity

Mfecame, the jihads, disintegration of Oyo and Asante Empires in Africa- a situation

comparable to the Napoleonic Wars, the intellectual revolutions, the German and

Italian wars of unification, the Polish and Hungarians uprisings and imperial rivalries

culminating in the First World War in Europe. In Africa, while it should admitted that the

first two or three decades of the colonial era, that is from 1880 to the 1910s, even

intensified this state of instability, violence and disorder, not even the anti-colonial and

Marxists schools would deny the fact that, after the colonial occupation and the

establishment of various administrative machineries, such wars of expansion and

liberation came to an end, and most parts of Africa, especially from the end of the First

World War onwards, enjoyed a great degree of continuous peace and security.

The second positive political impact is the very geographical appearance of modern

independent states of Africa. The colonial partition and consent definitely resulted in a

revolutionary reshaping of the political face of Africa. In place of the hundreds of

independent clan and lineage groups, city-states, kingdom and empires, without any

clearly marked boundaries, were now established fifty (50) new states, in most cases,

fixed boundaries, and its rather significant that the boundaries of the state as laid down

during the colonial era have not been changed since independence.

Thirdly, the colonial system also introduced into most parts of Africa two new institutions

namely, a new judicial system and a new bureaucracy or civil service. No doubt, in

practically all the independent states except the Muslim ones, the highest court of

judicature introduced by the colonial rulers have been retained. The machinery

introduced for the administration of the colonies also steadily led, to the emergence of a


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civil service whose membership and influence increased with the years. There is no

doubt that the British bequeathed a better trained numerically larger and more

experienced bureaucracy to her colonies than the French, while the record of the

Belgians and the Portuguese is the worst in this respect.

The final positive impact of colonialism was the birth not only of a new type of Africannationalism, but also of pan-Africanism. The former was the fostering of a sense of

identity and consciousness among the various classes or ethnic groups inhibiting each

of the new status, or, as in the French West Africa colonies, a cluster of them; while the

latter was a sense of identity of black men the world over.

NEGATIVE IMPACT

In the first place, important as the development of nationalism was, not only was it an

accidental by-product, but it was not the result of a positive feeling of identity with or

commitment or loyalty to the new nation-state but a negative one generated by a senseof anger, frustration, and humiliation caused by a sense of the oppressive,

discriminating, humiliating and exploitative measures introduced by the colonial rulers.

With the overthrow of colonialism, then, that feeling was bound to lose, and indeed has

lost, its momentum. The problem that has faced the rulers of independent African

states, therefore, has been how to replace this negative response with a positive and

ending feeling of nationalism.

Secondly, while admitting that the new geopolitical setup that emerged from the partition

was an asset, it has nonetheless created far more problem than it solved. The first of

these is the fact that some of the boundaries of these new states out across pre-existingethnic groups, states and kingdom. The Bakongo, for instance, are divided by the

boundaries of Angola, Belgian Congo (DR Congo, Zaire), French Congo (now Congo)

and Gabon. Today, some of the Ewe live in Ghana, some in Togo and some in Benin;

the Somalia are shared among the Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Djibouti; the Senuto

are found in Mali, Cote D Ivoire and Burkina Faso. Not only did this situation caused

widespread social disruption but it has also generated serious border disputes between

some independent African states- such as those between Sudan and Ugandan,

Somalia and Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia and Ghana and Togoland.

Moreover, because of the arbitrary nature of these boundaries, each Africa nation-stateis made up of a medley of peoples with different cultures, traditions of origin and

language. The problems of nation building posed by such a medley of peoples have not

proved to be easily solvable.

Another outcome of the artificiality and arbitrariness of the colonial division was that the

states that emerged were of different sizes with unequal natural resources and

economic potentialities. While some of the states are giants such as Sudan, Nigeria,


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and Algeria others like the Gambia, Lesotho, Togo and Burundi. Secondly, and worse

still, while some of the states have very long stretch of sea coast, others such as Mali,

Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Zambia, Uganda, and Malawi are landlocked.

Thirdly, while some states have very rich natural resources such as Ghana, Zambia,

Zaire, Cote D Ivoire, and Nigeria, others such Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso are not sofortunate.

Finally, while some such as the Gambia, have single borders to police, others have four

or more and Zaire as many as ten, which poses serious problem of ensuring national

security and checking smuggling. The problem of development posed by lack of or

limited natural resources and lack of access to the sea for the independent African

states which inherited these unfortunate legacies can be readily imagined.

Another negative political impact of colonialism was the weakening of the indigenous

systems of government. In the first place, most of the African states were acquired as aresult of the conquest and deposition or exile of the then rulers, which certainly brought

into disrepute the whole business of chieftaincy, especially during the period between

the First World War. The way in which the colonial administration used the traditional

rulers to enforce measures hated by their subjects, such as forced labour, further

reopened this disrepute. Besides, the colonial system of administering justice, in which

subjects could appeal to the colonial courts, further weakened not only the authority but

also the financial resources of the traditional rulers, while the spread of the Christian

religion undermined their spiritual basis. In all these ways, then, the colonial system

certainly diminished the authority and standing of the traditional system of government.

Another negative impact of colonialism in the political field was the mentality that it

created among Africans that government and public property belonged not to the people

but rather the while colonial rulers and could and should therefore be taken advantage

of at the least opportunity. This mentality was the direct product of the remote and

esoteric nature of the colonial administration and the elimination of an overwhelming

majority of Africans, both educated and uneducated, from the decision making process.

Indeed this mentality is still with most Africans even after decades of independence and

is part of the explanation for the reckless way in which government property is handled

in many independent African states.

A product of colonialism and one which is often ignored by most historians, but which

has turned out to be of crucial and fundamental importance, was, a full-time or standing

army, which was unknown in many parts of Africa, where all adult males, including even

members of the ruling aristocrats, became soldiers in times of war and civilians in times

of peace. These armies were originally created, most of them in the 1880s and 1890s,

for the conquest and occupation of Africa, then for the maintenance of colonial control,


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and, finally, preservation of global wars and the suppression of independence

movements in Africa. After the overthrow of the colonial movements, these armies were

not disbanded but were taken over by the new independent African rulers and, as will

be seen, as a result of their repeated and unnecessary and unjustifiable interventions in

politics, have become serious impediments for the peoples of Africa.

The final and probably the most negative impact of colonialism was the less of African

sovereignty and independence and with them the right of Africans to shape their own

destiny, plan their own development, determine their own strategies and priorities and

borrow freely from the outside world at large the latest and most appropriate technology.

In short, colonialism deprived Africans of one of the most fundamental and inalienable

rights of a people, the right to liberty.

Moreover, as Rodney has shown, the seventy year period of colonialism in Africa was

the very period which witnessed tremendous and decisive development and change in

both the capitalist and socialists countries. It was that period, for instance, that saw theentry of Europe into the age of the motor vehicle, the aeroplane and the nuclear bomb.

Had Africa been in control of her own destiny, she could have benefited from or even

been part of these phenomenal changes. But colonialism completely isolated and

insulated her from these changes and kept her in a position of dependency.

THE IMPACT IN THE ECONOMIC FIELD

Ref: - Gunder Frank: The Political Economy of Underdevelopment (1965)

The first of the positive impacts was the provision of an infrastructure of motor roads,

railways, the telegraph, the telephone, and in some cases even airports. These did not

exist in pre-colonial Africa as observed by J.C Caldwell until the colonial era. This basic

infrastructure had been completed in Africa by the 1930s and not many new kilometres

of railways have been built since then.

Another significant impact of colonialism was on the primary sector of the economy.

Every effort was made to develop or exploit some of the natural resources of the

continent. It was during the colonial period that the full mineral potential of Africa was

realized and the mining industry boomed. Cultivation of cash crops such as cocoa,coffee, tobacco, groundnuts, sisal and rubber spread. During this period, Ghana for

instance, became the leading producer of cocoa, while by 1950 farm crops accounted

for 50% of the gross domestic product of French West Africa. This economic revolution

led to commercialization of land, which made it a real asset. The economic revolution

led to increase in purchasing power of some Africans and subsequently increase in their

demand for consumer goods and higher standard of living. Furthermore, the cash crop


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economy enabled individuals of whatever social status, especially in the rural areas, to

acquire wealth.

Another revolutionary impact of colonialism in many parts of the continent was the

introduction of the money economy, which in time had some interesting effects. Firstly,

by 1930s, a new standard of wealth had been introduced which was based not only onthe number of sheep or cows or yams one possessed but on actual cash. Secondly,

people were engaged in activities not for subsistence alone but also to earn money and

this led to the emergence of a new class of wage earners and salaried groups. Thirdly,

the introduction of money economy led to the commencement of banking activities in

Africa, which have become another significant feature of the economy of independent

African states.

The introduction of currency and with it banking activities and the tremendous

expansion in the volume of trade between colonial Africa and Europe in time led to the

total integration of the economy of Africa into that of the world in general and into that ofthe capitalist economy of the colonial powers in particular. The years after 1935 mainly

deepened this link and not even independence has fundamentally altered this

relationship.

Question: Was the colonial impact in the economic field such a very enviable one? Can

most of the present day developmental problem facing African countries be traced to

this?

NEGATIVE IMPACTS (ECONOMIC)

Kaniki M.H.Y (chapter 16) has pointed out that, the infrastructure that was provided by

colonialism was not as adequate or as useful as it could have been. Most of the roads

and railways were constructed not to open up the country or facilitate inter-African

contacts or promote the overall economic development of Africa but mainly to connect

the areas having mineral deposits and potentialities for the production of cash crops

with the sea. Such economic growth as occurred in the colonies was based on the

natural resources of the area and this meant therefore that areas not naturally endowed

were totally neglected. Again, a typical feature of the colonial economy was the total

and deliberate negligence or disengagement of industrialization as the processing of

locally produced raw materials and agricultural products in most of the colonies. Simple

and basic items such as matches, candles, edible oil etc all of which could easily have

been produced in Africa, were imported. African countries were therefore, in accordance

with the workings of the colonial capitalist economy, turned into for the consumption of

manufactured goods from the metropolitan countries and producers of raw maw

materials for export.


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Besides, not only was industrialization neglected but such industries and crafts that

existed in Africa in the pre-colonial times were almost destroyed. Had these

manufacturers been encouraged and promoted through the modernization of productive

technologies, as was done in India between 1920 and 1945, Africa not only could have

increased her output but could have steadily improved her technology. But these crafts

and industries were all virtually killed as a result of the importation of cheap

commodities produced on a mass basis into Africa. African technological development

was thoroughly halted and was never resumed until after independence.

In addition, no attempt was made to diversify the agricultural economy of the colonies.

By 1935, the production of single or at best, two cash crops had become the rule

cocoa in the Gold Coast, groundnuts in Senegal and the Gambia, cotton in Sudan,

coffee and cotton in Uganda, coffee and sisal in Tanganyika (Tanzania). Africans were

compelled to ignore the production of food for their own consumption. Food therefore,

had to be imported and bought at high prices. Thus, under the colonial system, Africans

were in most cases made to produce what they did not consume and to consume what

they did not produce; a clear evidence of the exploitative nature of the colonial

economy.

Furthermore, the commercialization of lands led to the illegal sale of communal lands by

unscrupulous family-heads and to increasing litigation over land, which caused

widespread poverty, especially among the ruling houses. In East, Central and Southern

Africa not forgetting Ghana, it has led to large-scale appropriation of land by Europeans,

which generated bitterness, anger, and frustrations and constituted the fundamentalcause of the serious explosion that occurred in Kenya known as Mau Mau.

The colonial presence also led to the appearance on the African scene of an increasing

member of expatriates banking, shipping, and trading firms and companies, and from

the 1910s onwards their amalgamation and consolidation into fewer and fewer

oligopolies. It was these trading companies that controlled the exports as well as the

import trade and fixed the prices not only of imported commodities but also the exports

produced by Africans, the huge profits that accrued from these activities went to them

and not to the Africans. The consequences of this development was the elimination of

Africans from the most profitable and important sectors of the economy altogether. TheAfrican princes of the second half of the 19th century therefore virtually disappeared

from the scene during the period under review, while their descendants had to become

employees of the expatriate firms and companies in order to survive.

Colonialism according to Rodney virtually put a stop to inter-African trade. With the

establishment of colonialism, such inter-African short-and-distance trade was


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discouraged if not banned altogether. This prevented the strengthening of old links as

the development of new ones that could have proved of benefit to Africans.

Finally, whatever economic growth achieved during the colonial period was done at a

phenomenal and unjustifiable cause to the African in forced labour, compulsory

cultivation of certain crops, compulsory seizure of lands, forced movements ofpopulations, with a consequential dislocation of family life, the pass system, the high

mortality rate in the plantations, etc. It can be concluded, in spite of protestations of

Gann and Duignan, that the colonial period was a period of ruthless economic

exploitation rather than of economic development in Africa.

THE IMPACT IN THE SOCIAL FIELD

The first important social effect was the increase of the population of Africa during the

colonial period by about 37.5% (Caldwell J.C), after its decline during the first two or

three decades of colonialism closely connected to the above was urbanization. Afijbo

A.E observed that urbanization was known in pre-colonial Africa but then, as a result of

colonialism the pace of urbanization was greatly accelerated. Completely new towns

such as Abidjan, Cote D Ivoire, Takoradi in the Gold Coast, Port Harcout and Enugu in

Nigeria, Nairobi in Kenya, Salisbury now Harare, Southern Rhodesia now Zimbabwe,

and Luluaburg in the Belgian Congo now D.R Congo came into existence. These towns

grew so rapidly during this period simply because they were either the new capitals or

administrative centres of the colonial regimes or the new harbours and railway stations.

There was improvements in the quality of life especially for those living in the urban

centres. Caldwell showed that, that was the product of the provision of hospitals,

dispensaries, pipe borne water, and sanitary facilities and the increase in employment

opportunities.

The spread of Christianity and Islam was another important impact of colonialism.

Christian missionaries and Muslim clerks pushed their activities further and further

inland. Asare Opoku observed that Christianity had gained far more ground during the

colonial period than had been the case during the previous three or four centuries put

together.

Closely associated with Christianity was that of western education. Indeed, the Christian

missions were mainly responsible for this. Western education had far reaching social

effects among which was an increase in the number of the westernized educated

African elite.


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Provision of linguafranc for each colony or set of colonies. It is significant that except in

North Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, and Madagascar, these foreign languages have

remained the official languages even to this day.

The final beneficial social impact was the new social structure to replace the pre-

colonial structure.

NEGATIVE IMPACT

Documents

African Studies 2