Pan Africa rising : the cultural political economy of Nigeria's afri-capitalism and South Africa's ubuntu business

184 Pages·2017·1.54 MB·English

by  Edozie

CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN
POLITICAL ECONOMY
“PAN” AFRICA RISING
The Cultural Political Economy of Nigeria’s
Afri-Capitalism and South Africa’s
Ubuntu Business
RITA KIKI EDOZIE
Contemporary African Political Economy
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Eunice N. Sahle
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill
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BerthaO.Koda,UniversityofDaresSalaam,Tanzania
BrijMaharaj,UniversityofKwaZulu-Natal,SouthAfrica
ThandikaMkandawire,LondonSchoolofEconomicsandPoliticalScience,
UK
James Murombedzi, Council for the Development of Social Research in
Africa,Senegal
JohnPickles,theUniversityofNorthCarolinaatChapelHill,USA
WisdomJ.Tettey,UniversityofBritishColumbia,Canada
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesat
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Rita Kiki Edozie
“ ”
Pan Africa Rising
’
The Cultural Political Economy of Nigeria s
’
Afri-Capitalism and South Africa s Ubuntu Business
RitaKikiEdozie
McCormackGraduateSchoolofPolicyandGlobalStudies
UniversityofMassachusetts
Boston,USA
ContemporaryAfricanPoliticalEconomy
ISBN978-1-137-59537-9 ISBN978-1-137-59538-6 (eBook)
DOI10.1057/978-1-137-59538-6
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F
OREWORD
ItwasG.W.F.HegelwhoonceclaimedthatAfricahasnohistory.Therise
oftheIbadanSchoolofhistoryhelpedtosuccessfullycontestthisclaim.The
advanced civilization and history of Egypt also proved impossible for
denialistsofAfricanhistorytoignore.Forcedbythetruth,denialistsfinally
concededonlytoturnaroundandclaimthat,while“White”Africanswere
capable, Black Africans were incapable of innovation, leadership, self-rule,
andadvancedcivilization.So,inthecaseofEgypt,itwas“White”Egyptians
or “White” Africans in Apartheid South Africa who were the capable
Africans. Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop counted this revisionist
doctrine in his path-breaking book, The African Origin of Civilization:
Myth or Reality (1974), where he demonstrated that the Pharaohs in
Egyptwere,infact,Black.
Africanscontinuetobeinferiorizedtoday.Inparticular,theirwayoflife,
ideas,andvalues,inshort,theircultureistheprimarysourceofmainstream
explanationoftheirsocialconditionsjustifiedbymainstreameconomistsas
reflectingthepoor“humancapital”ofAfricans.FirstusedtodescribeBlack
slavesasmereanimalsandthingswhosesoleusewastohelpWhitecapital-
ists,humancapitalexplanationspositAfricancultureasresponsibleforthe
problemsofcontinentalAfricaandtheexclusionandexploitationofBlacks
around the world. From this perspective, Blacks, the “deserving poor,”
needmoreEurocentriceducationandcastawaytheirculture,whichholds
themback.
But it is not just the mainstream of society that is associated with this
bastardization of African culture. The left, on its part, advances the most
v
vi FOREWORD
patronizingformof“Africanculture”:villagelife.Inthisrepresentationof
AfricaasthelostgemeinschaftintheWest,thecommonsinAfricaisnaively
seen—and often appropriated—as natural reserve, much like how the
colonizer saw the relationship between nature and society. Without
“decolonizing nature,” so-called Western “progressives” objectify Africa
and Africans. Cheikh Anta Diop was appropriately harsh in describing
such currents as “the headlong flights of certain infantile leftists” (1974,
p. xiv) because it does the continent injustice by misrepresenting it. More
fundamentally, this representation by the left diverts attention from major
causal mechanisms, in particular imperialism. In his well-known 1986
speech at the International Conference for the Protection of Trees and
Forests in Paris, Thomas Sankara, revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso,
once noted that “This struggle to defend the trees and forests is above all
astruggleagainstimperialism.Becauseimperialismisthearsonistsettingfire
toourforestsandsavannahs.”
Yet, the misrepresentation of Africa continues, more recently as “Africa
rising.”StyledasapositivespinonAfrica,incontrasttotheviewof“Africa
as a hopeless continent,” this view is defended and extended mainly by
banks,neoliberalthinktanks,andinvestorsofmostlyforeignorigin.“Africa
ontherise”servesforeigninterestsbycelebratinggrowthachievedthrough
the exploitation of Black people, adoring growth that destroys African
waters, forests, and biodiversity, and endorses growth processes that tear
society apart through the eviction of the poor, and the exclusion of the
masses from the economic process. Short-term in nature, this type of
growth entails no structural change (Obeng-Odoom 2015; Nega and
Schneider 2016). If at all, it is a case of “reprimarisation”1 or the rolling
backofthelittleindustrialbaseforgreaterexpansionofthemineralssector.
The very calculation of the so-called rise, is highly contentions, often
centered on inaccurate data and manipulated history that suggests that
Africa has never experienced growth when, in fact, Africa has always risen,
perhaps even more in the days of greater care by the African state—as we
know from Morten Jerven’s book, Africa: Why Economists Get it Wrong
(2015).
There have been many alternatives to this narrative, but they are prob-
lematic too. Consider the post-development view. On the surface it looks
radical, but in practice it merely equates African culture to village living.
Otherssuch as homo culturalisare similarly problematic. Athird isregion-
alism, but that is similarly Eurocentric. Europeanist views are no longer
persuasive, certainly not when eminent Europeans and European scholars
FOREWORD vii
suchasIvanBerendconclusivelyshowthehorrifyingstructuralproblemsin
thisregioninthebook,EuropeinCrisis:BoltfromtheBlue?(2013).
Together with the seemingly better life in Asia generated by the “East
Asianmodel”andunconditionalaid,Africanshaverecurrentlybeenadvised
togoEast.Whether“lookingEast”amountstolookingforward,however,
iscontentious.AsRobertCollins(2006)remindsusofthepainful“African
Slave Trade to Asia and the Indian Ocean Islands” and, in recent times,
many Asianists and Africanists have shown in publications such as the
African Review of Economics and Finance (vol. 5, no. 1; vol. 8, no. 1),
Asian“generosity”maynotbeasbenignasitappears.Chineseinvestment
in Africa, for example, is often extolled for being benign and
non-interventionist, but we know from the work of Lloyd G. Adu Amoah
(2014)inJournalofAsianandAfricanStudiesthatitis,infact,a“Chinese
imperium,”seekingtoprojectChineseworldpowerinAfrica,strikinginthe
heartsofAfricanstheneocolonialColdWarideathatAfricaisthetrophyof
the strong. Then, there is, the systemic exploitation of Black labor by
Chinese capitalist firms and the exclusion of Blacks from Chinese invest-
mentbecauseof—note—thecultureofBlackpeople,whichdoesnotmake
themworkhardenough(Odoom2014).
Asargued elsewhere (Obeng-Odoom 2017),it isavery African ideato
enterintoalliancewithAsia—indeedwiththeentireglobalSouth—andthis
can be very powerful, especially when patterned after the principles of the
Bandung Conference. As with Europe, however, existing Afro-Asian con-
tradictionsdetractfromthatspiritandhencehavegivenanewmeaningto
the African dream of Africanizing their continent and the world. This
mission is different from what Leopold Senghor was accused of doing by
the Congolese: “We asked for the Africanization of the top jobs and all
SenghordoesisAfricanizetheEuropeans”(1961,p.10).Anewversionof
this “Senghorist” leadership style can be found in the extractive industries
sector in Africa these days in terms of “local content.” Programs based on
supporting Africans’ rise to the top, but only merely to implement Euro-
centriccapitalistvisions.Africanistleadershiptypes,perseremainburied.In
Private Enterprise-Led Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: The
HumanSideofGrowth(2015),JohnKuada,identifiesanemergingleader-
shipmodelinAfrica,butdoesnotfullyelaboratewhatthisleadershipmodel
cando(see,forexample,chapter14ofKuanda’sbook).
What Kuanda leaves out, Rita Kiki Edozie offers in the book in your
hands. The book trumps and transcends the doctrine of growth. It looks
instead at structural change and change in social relations. Drawing on
viii FOREWORD
Ubuntu–Africanistvaluesofsharingandcooperation—andPanAfricanism
(theneedforAfricanstotakechargeoftheireconomy),thisbookdoesnot
onlycallfortheAfricanizationoftheeconomiesinAfricabutalsotheuseof
Afrocentric ideas to run the regional economy. The book is controversial
because it turns the mainstream on its head by arguing that, in fact, the
highly discredited cultureof the Africans isthat missinglink the continent
needs.Anti-individualism,cooperation—notcompetition—andhumanness
represent key features of this approach. Edozie shows that adopting this
approachwillhelptobreakthedependentnatureofAfricaneconomiesand
create,instead,aself-sustainingeconomicstructure.
This is, indeed, a third war to the Western capitalism/Socialism ping-
pong.AsEdozieargues,“TheirkeyobjectiveforUbuntuEconomicsisto
use it as a platform to serve people instead of people slavishly serving the
economy.LikeAfri-Capitalism,accordingtoMfuniselwaJ.Bhengu,theaim
for Ubuntu Economics is to “create an African self-understanding in eco-
nomicterms”(pp.74–75).Here,thesuccessofthecollectiveisacondition
for the success of the individual. And, the “individual” is but a communal
being.Ifthisphilosophyechoesintheeconomicsystem;thesocialinstitu-
tionstoomustechothephilosophy.Byregarding“culture”moreas“con-
structionist”(p.27),associalprovisioning,analytically,theapproachhelps
toresolvethestructure–agencytensioninpoliticaleconomy.
In this sense too, Edozie’s book advances our knowledge by boldly
naming which specific cultural practices make a difference, how, and
where,whileanalyzingthetransformativeroleofcultureonsocialstructure
and agency and vice versa. By actually grounding her analyses in
SouthAfricaandNigeria,herbookismorespecificthanmost.Thisuseof
casestudiesisjustified,Edozieargues,becausetheyarethebiggestecono-
miesinAfricaandremainthehomeoftheprimaryideasbehindthebook.
While obviously important, for me what makes her choice crisp and com-
pellingisthattheyrepresentthecrucibleofthetensionsandcontradictions
in Africa today. Vast in geography and economy, Nigeria also engaged in
the growth accounting much of which accounted for the “Africa on the
rise”moment.And,SouthAfricaremainsoneofthemostunequalnations
in the world, intermsofclass, gender, and race. Combined, Edozie could
not have chosen a better set of case studies for The Cultural Political
EconomyofAfri-CapitalismandUbuntuBusiness.
It is not just to Africa, though, that this book is an asset because it
advancestheglobalpoliticaleconomyliteratureof“varietiesofcapitalism.”
Characterized by collective advancement, care, and compassion,
FOREWORD ix
cooperation,andequality,Africa’sculturalpoliticaleconomyseekstocom-
bineecologyandmaterialprogress.Whetherthisbroadphilosophyshould
be called “capitalism” is controversial. Why not name it Africanism, for
example? The answer appears to be that not all capitalism must look like
theonedescribedbyMarx—Europeancapitalism—ortheaccountofWer-
ner Sombart in The Jews and Modern Capitalism (1911/2001). Indeed,
analytically, if such accounts are seen as valuable, then an African account
mustalsobevaluable.InTheAfricanOriginofCivilization:MythorReality
(1974), Cheikh Anta Diop makes the point even more forcefully in
respondingtocriticsofhistime:
Haveforeignintellectuals,whochallengeourintentionsandaccuseusofall
kindsofhiddenmotivesorridiculousideas,proceededanydifferently?When
they explain their own historical past or study their languages, that seems
normal. Yet,when anAfrican does likewiseto helpreconstruct thenational
personalityofhispeople,distortedbycolonialism,thatisconsideredbackward
oralarming.Wecontendthatsuch astudyisthepointofdepartureforthe
culturalrevolutionproperlyunderstood.(1974,pp.xiii–xiv)
Edozie calls ours “Pan Africa Rising!” This rising, though, is not the
ZionistandimperialEnlightenmentofEuropewhoseadvancementmeant
thedestructionofallothers.Rather,“PanAfricarising”seekscollaboration
and equality of race, gender, and class, as the forebears of the continent
taught,lived,andpracticed,forexampleinseekingallianceonequalterms
withAsiaandinshunningfalseantimoniesof“East”and“West.”PanAfrica
risingisnotsimplycultureintheabstract;butcultureinaction:valuesand
practicesthatshapeormustshapeallsocialrelations.Cultureherestandsas
part of; not apart from social relations such as property and “culture” in
Africanculturalpoliticaleconomyisacritiqueofmainstreamsocialscience.
Thisthirdwayisuseful,butasEdozieshows,itcanalsobecontradictory.
It is in part neoliberal not in terms of ideology but certainly in terms of
practice.Thereinliesthetension.IsAfricanculturalpoliticaleconomymore
caring of the needs of workers? Does it commodify land? In principle,
Africans’thoughtcoversallthesefacetsbutitisalsointermixedwithforeign
encounters,somecolonial;othersneocolonial,andtherestneoliberal.Any
cultural approach must, therefore, be contradictory. But, political econo-
mists,unlikemainstreameconomists,arenotafraidoftensionsandcontra-
dictions. Edozie certainly shows courage in questioning, wit in juggling
diverseperspectives,andcandorinpresentingthetruth,ararecombination