Role of African Elites in Dismantling Decolonization

Jamaicans should look to Africa for their model of value rather than to Europe, which was seen as foolish and a

Africa has been viewed as the antithesis of Europe. It has been undermined as some may say it is underdeveloped. It has been portrayed as the exact opposite of “civilised” Europe as it is viewed as uncivilised. Africans have been eliminated as a human factor and seen as animals. In this essay I will outline how African literature have been able to reclaim African stories through their authenticity. I will use the novel Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga and two short stories “A Private Experience” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and “The Prophetess” by Njabulo Ndebele to show how Africa has been successfully reclaimed from the stereotypical view of Europeans drawing as a basis for further development from Chinua Achebe’s article, “An Image of Africa. I will first analyse the novel Nervous Conditions under the theme of gender and patriarchal oppression. The short story A Private Experience will focus on class divisions whilst The Prophetess will focus on beliefs.

“African Perspectives on Colonialism” is a book written by A. Adu Boahen. This book classifies the African responses to European colonialism in the 19th century. Boahen begins with the status of Africa in the last quarter of the 19th century and follows through the first years of African independence. This book deals with a twenty year time period between 1880 and 1900. Boahen talks about when Africa was seized and occupied by the Imperial Powers of Europe. Eurocentric points of view dominated the study of this era but Boahen gives us the African perspective. There are always two sides of the story and Boehen tells us the side less talked about informing us of what he knows.

The process of decolonization in Africa during the 1950’s through the 1970’s was a very smart yet risky idea. For some places independence was easily gained yet in other areas it was a battle. During the time periods where colonization existed, Africa was peaceful and kept things in order. People had control over their specific locations and there were no questions to be asked. Once it was decided to remove these rights, things got out of hand rather quickly. Violence was a main occurrence during the decolonization timeframe because rules, rights, leaderships, etc. got altered and drastically changed. Sometimes nonviolence was used but it usually wasn’t as effective. A major example of using nonviolence actions to gain independence is when

The Transatlantic slave trade, a catastrophic event in the 15th to 19th century, affected millions of Africans and Europeans alike. Slaves were ripped from their homes and sent to the foreign lands, becoming the fundamental source of labour for mining and agricultural industries in the New World. Historians Hugh Thomas, Walter Rodney and John Thornton have contradictory beliefs about the effects of the Transatlantic slave trade on Africa. Thomas argues that the slave trade was beneficial to Africa, while Rodney argues a more negative position, claiming that the unequal trade lead to population loss and warfare. Thornton argues neutrally states that the slave trade “was simply an internal trade diverted to the Atlantic.” Although historians such as Hugh Thomas believe that the Transatlantic provided short-term economic stimulus to Urban Empires, the slave trade was overall detrimental, leading to economic consequences and social and political conflict. The African Slave trade, as stated by Hugh Thomas in “The Atlantic World in the Age of Empire” brought an influx of European goods and employment, providing a short-term benefit that was, in the long term, detrimental to the African economy. Contrary to John Thornton 's speculation of Europe and Africa’s partnership, Europe imposed economic dependency and involuntary trade on Africa, which deprived Africa of labor, impaired its development, and

Why was process of decolonization peaceful in some countries and violent in others? (Before Independence)

In this regard, literature is viewed as both a product and a representation of the social realities in Africa. In this way, from a sociological perspective, the selected texts for the study were read against the social situation which determined their creation and functionality in society.

In many ways, language can be the most powerful weapon of all. Stories can have a great and lasting impact on their readers, and those who cannot make their voices heard can find themselves excluded from collective thought and memory. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie puts it, there is great danger in exposure only to a “single story;” as per the oft-quoted axiom, “history is written by the winners,” and thus the voices of those on the proverbial losing end—or, indeed, those whose stories simply cannot permeate the barrier separating them from another culture—often go unheard. Such was the case for many Africans during the early twentieth century, as Europeans invaded the continent and suppressed the voices and cultures of those who already lived there. Set during this time are Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, which tells of an African clan’s encounter with European settlers, and Athol Fugard’s one-scene play “Master Harold”…and the boys (hereinafter Master Harold), the story of the relationship between a South African boy of European descent and his family’s African servants. In both texts, the story told by many Europeans of a “primitive” culture in need of “civilization” is clearly the dominant view of Africa in European culture. However, the horrifying ramifications of this ignorant viewpoint quickly reaffirm Adichie’s argument. The danger of the "single story" Europeans tell is its silencing of the voices of the Africans whose supposed story is being told,

"...modern engines of destruction, may yet succeed in accomplishing... For from the evils of the latter, scientifically applied and enforced, there is no escape for the African. (Morel, 1)." Once Europe was able to successfully colonize Africa, they worked on gathering raw materials, so the Industrial Revolution could be sustained. European Imperialists forced Africans to mine for said raw materials in the same fashion they forced their own working class. Africans were mandated to work in harsh conditions, such as through the blistering heat of the African Sun. "Climatic conditions forbid it. When the system is forced upon him, the tropical African droops and dies (Morel, 2)."Millions of Africans suffered due to the capitalistic exploitations of the European Imperialists. To the imperialists, they were just a means to an

As the most widely read work of African fiction, Things Fall Apart has played an instrumental role in introducing African literature to readers throughout the world. In particular, Achebe's fiction has contributed to world literature by retelling African history, as well as the history of European colonization, from an Afro-centric perspective rather than a Euro-centric one. By shifting the narrative focus from the perspective of the colonizer to the perspective of the colonized, Achebe's novels reveal and correct many of the biased assumptions found in previous historical and literary descriptions of Africa. Specifically, they reaffirm the value of African cultures by representing their rich and complex cultural traditions instead of stereotyping them as irrational and primitive. As Achebe explains in his frequently quoted essay, "The Novelist as Teacher," his novels seek to teach Africans that "their past—with all its imperfections—was not one night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God's behalf delivered them." To say that Achebe affirms African culture and history, however, is not to imply that he simply inverts European ethnocentrism by romanticizing African culture as perfect or vilifying European cultures as entirely corrupt. Instead, Achebe presents a remarkably balanced view of how all cultures encompass both good and bad dimensions.

Africa is made up of 54 nations and is today the least developed region of the Third World, this despite its immense possessions of for example minerals and natural resources. The majority of Africans, particularly in the Sub-Saharan parts, lack the most basic needs and as a result falls to the bottom of list of growth income per capita (UNDP, 2007). The Sub-Saharan in addition inhabits 13 percent of the earth’s residents and in addition accounts for 25 percent of the malnourished group in the developing world (FAO, 2006). The data found on Africa’s postcolonial development is abysmal, not only has the developmental fruition been austere but it has drastically fallen behind other Third World countries. An illustration of this is revealed in 1997, when the GPD per capita for Africa was the trivial sum of $560, compared to $4,230 in Latin America. Between 1986 and 1993 Africa’s real GNP per capita declined by 0.7 percent, at the same time as it inflated by an average of 2.7 percent in the rest of the Third World. When going back to the pre independence period it can be affirmed that Africa is worse off now than it was before. Real income per capita has descended by 14.6 percent and the reality is that only half of the debts have been paid off, whilst the rest of the restitution is constantly being rescheduled. The majority of Africa’s overseas arrears (which measures up to approximately 80 percent) is owned by Western authorities and monetary establishments, this

Analyzing the processes of decolonization and early post-colony in Africa is a complex task. Especially when looking through the perspective of different nations that each followed their own path. Chinua Achebe’s There was a Country and Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s Dreams in a Time of War, are both exceptional novels that grapple with the social and political struggles going on in their respective countries. They also help explore the complexities of nation building as well as political conflicts expression in communal form. On one hand, Thiong’o’s piece is a child’s recollection of his childhood with the lead up to the Mau Mau Emergency and colonialism in the backdrop. Achebe’s on the other hand takes place later in history and focuses on the political and social struggles that ultimately led to the Biafran war.

The Jamaican government strongly monitored Rodney’s movement and decided to ban him from re-entering the country while he was attending the 1968 Black Writer’s Conference over in Montreal, Canada. Consequently, widespread riots and uprisings occurred in Kingston, known as “the Rodney Riots”. Rodney returned to Tanzania after a brief stay in Cuba. While in Tanzania, he lectured for approximately six years and continued to spread his message of black empowerment and liberation. His lectures and participation in the African Liberation Struggles inspired him to write, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”, a novel which explained how Africa was deliberately taken advantage of by the colonial powers, thus making it politically and economically unstable. As a Pan-Africanist, he formed close relationships with leaders of liberation movements in Africa. In 1974, Rodney engaged in discussions that lead up to the Sixth Pan-African Congress.

To further use Thomson’s writing in order to examine the case study I will be doing about Burundi, we have to acknowledge that when Africans were captured and made into slaves, it destroyed local and political and social formation. And the fact that the people who could have contributed to the economical advancement of Africa were sent to work in Europe, means that imperial powers underdeveloped Africa by stealing their labour force. Colonialists after forcing them to partake in hard labour did not pay them the same wages enjoyed by the European labourers. Taking into consideration that the was a vast difference when comparing their standards of living, as well having African labourers being paid salaries that did not match their basic needs, this being a colonial inheritance that still persists in rural parts of Africa still in post-colonial Africa. Thomson then raises a good point when he says that perhaps if African workers had been paid more in the colonial era, maybe enough capital could have been accumulated locally to ensure that

Emmanuel then goes on to highlight the problem of the writers in Africa, and how hard it is for an African novelist to remain true to his or her own essence when there are hardly any publishers in the country to support him in his endeavor to write something worthwhile and when he has to go to aboard to earn a living where people come with their own idea of what Africa and how one should write or portray it in literature. Thus an African writer has to bow down and concede to whatever is expected of him, thus the situation is ‘ He teaches in colleges in America, telling the youth of America